As I have professed since Day One of our conversation, I do not claim to have all, many, or any of the answers to the numerous questions perplexing the hearts and minds of any cancer patient or their family. Nor would I presume to give advice - particularly on a matter of choice along your journey.
And with equal consistency, I have extolled the virtues of my medical team and how positive my treatment experience was with them. That said, I continue to be fascinated by the preponderance of advertising flooding the media on the choices of oncology care and treatments.
To this day I'm still not sure how it was that the stars aligned in such a way that we managed to find ourselves in the care of Dr S, and virtually right here in our own backyard - a mere 30-minutes away. I was not driven by the radio ads that I hear daily, the bus wraps that I am exposed to, nor the billboards that populate the horizon. Though an Ad Man myself at the core, consider the very non-traditional criteria and parameters that I used to make the choice of a lifetime:
- Feed your head but then don't be afraid to go with your gut.
- All other factors being equal, choosing an oncologist because you like them more than the other choice, is not necessarily frivolous.
- This is more than a clinical connection, this is a collaboration and camaraderie that affects your health, along a path that passes thru your heart.
- Don't overlook the emotional aspect of the relationship for the pure sake of the intellectual or medicinal.
In the end, I had my own personal Solomon moment when I had to choose between two NJ-area experts for the treatment of my Multiple Myeloma. I didn't end up cutting the baby in half, but the one who was prepared to let me "go" ended up begin the right choice after all.
143 - L
