Day 5 – My Healing Journey

The day after the cancer diagnosis came, I sprung into action and started googling everything I could get my hands on about the subject matter. Being more prone to alternative methods and holistic approaches, I decided to flood my brain with research on those methods instead of the standard and traditional Western chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

I read endless articles by renowned scientists with mind blowing data to support their scientific evidence which in turn backed up their research. I was very encouraged.

I listened to podcasts, read books written by others who faced the same diagnosis, but the arduous journey they took left me questioning everything. 

I couldn’t bring myself to entertain chemotherapy treatments at that point, but coming from a family in the medical field, I didn’t realize at the time that they would conspire to make me consider that treatment.

I continued to make my case for using alternative approaches but was continually met with additional scientific evidence along with 1 million reasons why they could not fathom why I would choose to do that. 

No matter what literature, clinical trials or other evidence I showed them, relayed to them, and expressed to them, it fell on deaf ears.

I decided to give myself a break from all my research as i was on information overload. There was plenty of time to research it because it was going to take a few months to even be able to get an appointment with the oncologist which was very frustrating.  When you have a diagnosis, and you know something is growing in you, the only thing you want to do is get it out as quickly as possible.

Dealing with my medical provider was like watching grass grow, totally ridiculous and a waste of time with empty promises of returned phone calls and endless hours of being on hold just to find out you’re not even talking to the right people.

With my newfound confidence in advocating for myself, I took it upon myself to research oncologists and read reviews from other patients.

As luck would have it, my sister, being a nurse for decades happened to know a breast surgeon from California that one of her friends had gone to. I researched her and found out that she also had moved to Albuquerque which was very fortuitous for me since that’s where I lived at the time.

I called her office, relayed the information from my mammogram and my biopsy and told them I wanted to have the surgery as soon as possible.

I was amazed that I was able to make my own appointment and thankfully it was a lot sooner than what my medical provider had offered. Add to that the fact that it was with someone who was well known in the industry and who came with wonderful reviews from patients; it was a definite win-win situation for me.

Unfortunately, I needed to see an oncologist first so they recommended someone to me. Based on when I could get the oncology appointment and agreeing to send over my medical records, they were willing to let me schedule my initial consultation with the surgeon and get it on the calendar. 

Advocating for myself got me an appointment with her a month earlier than my medical provider offered so I was beyond thrilled.

I contacted the cancer clinic and based on the fact that I already had an appointment with the surgeon, I was able to schedule an appointment with the oncologist before that date which also ended up being a lot sooner than had previously been offered.

I learned that taking things into my own hands and not waiting for my medical provider to get in touch with me at their convenience made me feel much more comfortable and in control of my own situation; that was empowering.