Don’s Story: Fighting Head and Neck Cancer and Colon Cancer, Part Three

PART III: SUPPORT SYSTEM AND PLOT TWIST!

Continued from Part Two

As previously mentioned, my wife is my main support. She has gone with me to every appointment and did so for three years until COVID hit. She was most helpful in just being there taking notes and helping me to remember what to do, when to do it, and verifying that what I thought I heard and understood was actually what was happening and said. I also immersed myself in the internet and started reading everything I could find about head and neck cancer, treatments, outcomes, and all the doctors involved.

Part of that comes from our previous experience with my prostate cancer scare 14 years earlier and the lack of professionalism, knowledge, and expertise of the urologist, who we never saw again. Also, my younger brother is a major cancer research scientist, and I have always run everything medically by him before doing anything. During one of our calls after my diagnosis, he asked that I overnight him copies of all scans, discs, and medical records. I spent several days getting everything together while waiting for my first appointment with my new radiation oncologist. Upon doing my research on the web, I found out that she had three medical malpractice suits filed against her. This sent me into orbit, and I questioned what I should do about it. The wife and I met with her and agreed that it was probably the best to continue on even though I was hesitant. 

I spent $60 to overnight all the records to my brother, and within 24 hours he got back to me with the opening words of,

“Don, I have got more bad news for you.”

By this time, I was on the floor as he continued,

“Not only do you have head and neck cancer, but you have colon cancer, and it’s stage 2 from what I can see. That is what was causing the internal bleeding.”

At no time in the meeting with the doctors did this come up, and at no time in the original meeting with the radiation oncologist was this ever mentioned. I am so glad that my wife was by my side at both of these meetings taking notes. As they say, once you hear the “BIG C”, you are really not hearing anything else, but she was there and agrees that she also did not hear anything about colon cancer.

Needless to say, I lost it. I found the radiation oncologist the next day at a satellite facility 40 miles east of our home and went there to confront her. I entered the facility without an appointment and demanded to see the doctor. When I approached her with the colon cancer information, said she was not aware.

The next day my wife and I met with the head of the facility where I was to be treated, being received by a physician’s assistant. When we told him about the colon cancer suspicion, he looked at the films, immediately agreed, and went to get the head of the department. The department head came in and told us that my brother was correct, and they were going to address the colon cancer after the treatment for the head and neck. My wife and I left the facility absolutely stunned. How could they not have told us this, how did they miss this? How could we trust them, especially after we found out about the medical malpractice charges? We had lost all faith in them, and on the ride home I asked my wife, “What do we do now?”

As she had recently finished radiation for a breast cancer situation, my wife suggested we call the radiation oncologist who worked with her during her breast cancer treatment. I thought that sounded like an excellent idea, and we made an appointment with him for the following week. He was absolutely wonderful and had previewed all the reports, scans, etc. by the time we got there.

He had a medical hematologist on board, and I had called the colorectal surgeon that had treated me previously who said he would be glad to participate in treatment. That treatment would require hospitalization 65 miles from home for a week plus travel and inconvenience for the family, so he recommended a fellow surgeon in our community. Having now learned our lesson, I called my little brother who checked out everyone involved and came back with glowing recommendations. 

Continued in Part Four

colon cancer colorectal cancer head and neck cancer patient stories

Last modified: December 16, 2024