Guest guest Posted March 4, 2006 Report Share Posted March 4, 2006 Caren, I can certainly understand your frustration. This run around it totally uncalled for but with having to use the Army's services it looks like you might have to put up with this. Is there anyone higher up that you can talk to? I am not familiar with the army so can't really help. You don't need the kick in the behind they DO! Maybe some of the other ladies who have dealt with the Army can give you better suggestions. I will keep you in my prayers. Hugs nne Breast Cancer Patients Soul Mates for Lifehttp://www.geocities.com/chucky5741/breastcancerpatients.html Check out my breast cancer ornaments at:http://www.geocities.com/chucky5741/bcornament.htmlalso check out my other ornaments and lots of nice gifts at:http://www.cancerclub.com Caren frustrated Hi ladies,went to meet with the civilian surgeon yesterday and I am so mmmaaaaadddd right now. After confirming with the military hospital that all needed paperwork would be faxed to the surgeons office, what do we find when we arrive????? A folder containig NOTHING but 3 pages of labwork. No path report, no written radiology report from the mammos and certainly not the letter promised by the army surgeon to be given to the civilian surgeon. Can you imagine HOW we felt!!!!! I am so angry right now, all this after we made clear how vital communication is between army and civilian. Hello, this is cancer we are talking about, not a broken leg!!!!!So here we are meeting with a great surgeon who is totally unprepared, but luckily we had our copy of the path and mammo report. He had to be clued in on my medical history and family history and right now we are still a bit uncertain as how to proceed.Since I am now officially 4th generation he feels I would greatly benefit from genetic testing and should I test positive he would most certainly recommend a double mastectomy. This is however somewhat timeconsuming and getting approval from tricare (militaryHMO) could prove difficult. For right now we agreed that taking out the tumor and doing a sentinal node bio should suffice to point us into the right direction for treatment. So now I am scared of having general anesthesia, since no one has my complete medical history and I have always been afraid of not walking up from it.....It is frustrating for me to not have a team communicating among one another and to not have a PCM really stinks. I am assigned to some doc in Fort Riley, but we have never met and getting an appointment to see him takes weeks....FRUSTRATION!!!!!!This is starting to wear us down, just when we think things are moving in the right direction, bamm ,just what we were afraid of to begin with happens...NO COMMUNICATION...I feel like a wandering trophy right now and my car is on auto pilot between Fort Riley and Manhattan....Thank you for listening and if you have any ideas or suggestions, please help....We have been so consumed with assuring that all records go to the right people, all authorizations are there that we barely had time or the memeory to ask the most important questions in all of this: How bad is it, what can we do, when do we start, what kind of op and what treatment.....Right now I feel so mad because i get the feeling that I am only getting bits and pieces and not the whole picture cause my focus is not where it should be....Ladies, I hope all of your day has and will go better than ours. I need some uplifting and maybe a kick in the behind...Thank you for being there, thank you for letting me vent. Hugs to all!!Caren in KansasIDC (no clue yet as to what stage) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 4, 2006 Report Share Posted March 4, 2006 Caren, I am so sorry for all you are going through. About all I can suggest is that you make certain you have copies of all your reports. I see civilian doctors and am doing that. I even scanned the MRI images into my computer. The doctor who read my breast MRI indicated that the cancer was in the left breast, it is in the right. I initialed and corrected the original report and made a copy for myself before I saw the surgeon. Glad I had the good sense to read the reports before turning them over to the surgeon. Leave NOTHING to chance! It does sound as though you are on the right tract with the civilian surgeon you have chosen. Take some comfort in that. Ruth > > Hi ladies, > > went to meet with the civilian surgeon yesterday and I am so > mmmaaaaadddd right now. After confirming with the military hospital > that all needed paperwork would be faxed to the surgeons office, > what do we find when we arrive????? A folder containig NOTHING but 3 > pages of labwork. No path report, no written radiology report from > the mammos and certainly not the letter promised by the army surgeon > to be given to the civilian surgeon. Can you imagine HOW we > felt!!!!! I am so angry right now, all this after we made clear how > vital communication is between army and civilian. Hello, this is > cancer we are talking about, not a broken leg!!!!! > > So here we are meeting with a great surgeon who is totally > unprepared, but luckily we had our copy of the path and mammo > report. He had to be clued in on my medical history and family > history and right now we are still a bit uncertain as how to proceed. > > Since I am now officially 4th generation he feels I would greatly > benefit from genetic testing and should I test positive he would > most certainly recommend a double mastectomy. This is however > somewhat timeconsuming and getting approval from tricare > (militaryHMO) could prove difficult. For right now we agreed that > taking out the tumor and doing a sentinal node bio should suffice to > point us into the right direction for treatment. So now I am scared > of having general anesthesia, since no one has my complete medical > history and I have always been afraid of not walking up from > it.....It is frustrating for me to not have a team communicating > among one another and to not have a PCM really stinks. I am assigned > to some doc in Fort Riley, but we have never met and getting an > appointment to see him takes weeks....FRUSTRATION!!!!!! > > This is starting to wear us down, just when we think things are > moving in the right direction, bamm ,just what we were afraid of to > begin with happens...NO COMMUNICATION...I feel like a wandering > trophy right now and my car is on auto pilot between Fort Riley and > Manhattan.... > > Thank you for listening and if you have any ideas or suggestions, > please help....We have been so consumed with assuring that all > records go to the right people, all authorizations are there that we > barely had time or the memeory to ask the most important questions > in all of this: How bad is it, what can we do, when do we start, > what kind of op and what treatment.....Right now I feel so mad > because i get the feeling that I am only getting bits and pieces and > not the whole picture cause my focus is not where it should be.... > > Ladies, I hope all of your day has and will go better than ours. I > need some uplifting and maybe a kick in the behind...Thank you for > being there, thank you for letting me vent. > > Hugs to all!! > Caren in Kansas > IDC (no clue yet as to what stage) > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 4, 2006 Report Share Posted March 4, 2006 Caren, my name is Patti - my mother and several other family members have/had breast cancer. My best suggestion is take someone, or a tape recorder and a notebook with you. I would keep the notebook with you at all time so when you think of a question you have it with you to write it down before you forget. I read and read and read and forgot almost everything unless I wrote it down in my book. I suggest that you take someone who can/will absorb everything. Patti -- Caren frustrated Hi ladies,went to meet with the civilian surgeon yesterday and I am so mmmaaaaadddd right now. After confirming with the military hospital that all needed paperwork would be faxed to the surgeons office, what do we find when we arrive????? A folder containig NOTHING but 3 pages of labwork. No path report, no written radiology report from the mammos and certainly not the letter promised by the army surgeon to be given to the civilian surgeon. Can you imagine HOW we felt!!!!! I am so angry right now, all this after we made clear how vital communication is between army and civilian. Hello, this is cancer we are talking about, not a broken leg!!!!!So here we are meeting with a great surgeon who is totally unprepared, but luckily we had our copy of the path and mammo report. He had to be clued in on my medical history and family history and right now we are still a bit uncertain as how to proceed.Since I am now officially 4th generation he feels I would greatly benefit from genetic testing and should I test positive he would most certainly recommend a double mastectomy. This is however somewhat timeconsuming and getting approval from tricare (militaryHMO) could prove difficult. For right now we agreed that taking out the tumor and doing a sentinal node bio should suffice to point us into the right direction for treatment. So now I am scared of having general anesthesia, since no one has my complete medical history and I have always been afraid of not walking up from it.....It is frustrating for me to not have a team communicating among one another and to not have a PCM really stinks. I am assigned to some doc in Fort Riley, but we have never met and getting an appointment to see him takes weeks....FRUSTRATION!!!!!!This is starting to wear us down, just when we think things are moving in the right direction, bamm ,just what we were afraid of to begin with happens...NO COMMUNICATION...I feel like a wandering trophy right now and my car is on auto pilot between Fort Riley and Manhattan....Thank you for listening and if you have any ideas or suggestions, please help....We have been so consumed with assuring that all records go to the right people, all authorizations are there that we barely had time or the memeory to ask the most important questions in all of this: How bad is it, what can we do, when do we start, what kind of op and what treatment.....Right now I feel so mad because i get the feeling that I am only getting bits and pieces and not the whole picture cause my focus is not where it should be....Ladies, I hope all of your day has and will go better than ours. I need some uplifting and maybe a kick in the behind...Thank you for being there, thank you for letting me vent. Hugs to all!!Caren in KansasIDC (no clue yet as to what stage) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 4, 2006 Report Share Posted March 4, 2006 Caren, It seems to me that you need some expert advice from someone who has experience dealing with the military. There must be a commander??? Someone you can go to and say, "I have breast cancer, my life depends on immediate treatment, I need you to cut through all the red tape". What about calling your Senator? I have no idea how urgent immediate care is for you specifically, but I do know that once you're diagnosed with bc, treatment needs to begin NOW. Please keep us posted - I'm sorry you are going through this run-around, surely it's the LAST thing you need to deal with!!!!!!!!! Ann Weiss Chemo Hats: www.cjhats.com Brings words and photos together (easily) with PhotoMail - it's free and works with Yahoo! Mail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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