My new oncologist

I have a new oncologist. Dr. Bruns was fine, but I never connected with him that I have with my other doctors and I wanted to have that. So after the conference in February, I started looking around. I used the names that I saw at the conference and looked people up. The cancer center that was featured in the conference was on the west side of Portland so I knew that was out. I was getting frustrated. My oncologist office is in Vancouver and I searched out the one in Portland. I wanted to get someone who specialized in breast cancer and I was getting discouraged because I didn't see anyone who fit what I wanted. I didn't want someone who did general cancer or if they did breast cancer, I wanted someone who could help me as a younger woman with breast cancer instead of an older person in their 50s or older which is the norm for most breast cancer patients.

HALLELUJAH!!!! I found someone!!! She is in the sister office of Norwest Cancer Specialists in Portland. Her name is Dr. Devon Webster and she fits exactly what I want. Her specialties include: Breast cancer treatment, including metastatic breast cancer, male breast cancer, and breast cancer in pregnant or very young women; Post-treatment survivorship planning; Clinical trials of biologic therapies; Patient education and empowerment.

I felt guilty wanting to switch doctors. But I never felt completely 100% satisfied in Dr Bruns bedside manner towards me. He was very knowledgeable but I researched a lot before I came in and he never pushed to do the most for me in my situation. I was never looking to have lots of surgeries or medications or tests or anything, but he didn't seem to feel the urgency or feel how different I felt my case was. There just aren't many younger women with breast cancer and I felt like I was lumped with everyone else who had it and not treated differently because I was younger. My needs are different than someone older and it never was acted on.

So I'm thinking there's no way I'll get in to see her. She seems like she would be a very popular doctor. I call and I'm not supposed to see my oncologist until June. But if I wanted, they said I could come in much sooner, say within 2 weeks. I immediately said yes. And for my first appointment, she gave me an hour appointment! An hour! That was cool. Also, another nice thing is that since Dr Webster is still with NW Cancer Specialists like my other one, all my paperwork and patient history is in their computer system and so I don't have to go through and fill anything out all over again. I love that!

I go to see her and she walks in and I feel immediately at ease. I tell her why I was there and why I changed. She takes charge and asks me lots of questions and we talk and take up the entire hour appointment. She examined me and seemed okay with everything. I was concerned because I had gained weight recently and it wasn't like me and I didn't know if it was due to any meds or if I had just eaten tons over the winter. She wanted me to have blood work down right away to check my Vitamin D levels and my thyroid to make sure things were okay on that level. I have troubles with vaginal atrophy and she is trying to get me set up with a medication that would help make the horrid pain go away or lessen a lot of it. The medication is expensive and she is trying to get help from the pharmaceutical company to let me have it for a cheaper amount.

Another concern I had, was that I could feel that my lymphedema was not doing so well. She set me up to visit a physical therapist near my home instead of across town like the last attempt had been. We had a wicked storm in December, right around the time I was going to start seeing the first pt at Good Samaritan hospital in SW Portland and it was such a hassle and other stuff going on that I cancelled my appointments. So she set me up with a nice lady less than a mile from my home across from Adventist hospital. I was nervous to go but the exercises the lady has my doing seem fairly simple and I just have to remember to do them. I forget all the time.

Also, Dr. Webster wanted me to have genetic testing done for the BRCA gene. All it took was a simple blood draw and within a month or so, I would have results. Well, I had this done this month and I will get the results on Monday. I have absolutely no idea is I have this gene or not, it's something that Dr. Bruns never really pushed. I'm glad Dr. Webster did. I'd rather know than not know if I'm at risk for something instead of hiding my head in the sand.

Holy cow it's been a long time since I've been on here. I would click on the link, get here, and then decide it could wait until another time to update. It was nice for a little while to put cancer in the background.

But I have some things to write down or I know I will forget them. Tonight is the 3 year anniversary of my mastectomy. It blew my mind to realize this. It's been 3 years since this all started. Wow. I don't think I can look back with fondness and remember, but I can look back and appreciate all that I've been through and how I have changed.

But to update first.

At the end of February, I went to a Susan G Komen event in Portland. I would have loved going to the YSC conference in Dallas, but I can't get to go on a scholarship 3 years in a row, so I stayed home. I tried not to read any threads on the YSC bb about it because I was so upset and sad that I wouldn't see all my friends. I found out about the event in Portland and immediately was interested. There were classes I wanted to learn more about and even better, they had scholarships. I signed up early and was able to get one which meant I didn't have to pay to get in and I didn't have to pay for any of the classes. The lunch was awesome. It was very fancy though they jammed 10 of us to a table when 8 would have been comfortable. It was very common to hear conversations start with, "So what's your status?" and not anyone bat an eye when someone walked by with a wig or if someone whipped it off to show a bald head.