I went back to radiology full time (meaning: looking at scans with Dr. G), and already it's off to a bad start. I've neglected my CT image studies so whenever Dr. G pointed to an object and asked me what it was, 4 times out of 5 I got it wrong. When she pointed at the thyroid I kept saying calling it the "thymus," and when half of it was missing, I had no idea what I was looking at. I mistook a giant lymph node for the IVC and couldn't tell the difference between a bladder and a uterus. *sigh* The list goes on. Tomorrow there's going to be a meeting between the oncologists and the radiologists as they discuss their patients and treatment plans. That should be interesting.
Our lady patient from Iowa has turned out not to be the perfect patient after all. I thought she was so on top of things by traveling to Texas every year for CT and PET scans, but we recently found out that she hasn't had a mammogram in at least five years. Apparently she figured that as long as her CT and PET scans were clean, there was no need for a mammo. Fortunately her oncologist forced her to get one before she left, though I can understand her way of thinking to some extent. Cheryl also shared the story of a woman who insisted on getting a breast MRI even though an MRI is NOT a good screening tool for breast cancer. She credited a MRI with diagnosing her cancer b/c she had a dimple in her breast and the tech had put the ultrasound probe directly over it (therefore finding the cancer) but to find tumors with U/S is like finding a needle in a haystack. Even Dr. J was unable to talk her out of getting the U/S, which was done for her peace of mind and not much more. *sigh* Where cancer is concerned, it's most important to keep the patient happy.
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