Care For Your Elder

Today, I want to tell you a personal story about ovarian cancer. When our family moved our parents to Houston, TX from Deltona, FL one of the main concerns was that we find them a good physician. We had planned to have home health agency, which was connected to the assisted living facility they were going to live in, do the major care for them. They decided at the last minute that our parents were in too bad a shape for them and we needed to find different care givers for them. One of the things I was able to get from them, before they dumped us, was the name of a local physician, Susie Davis-Roberson.

She quickly became known to our family as “Dr. Susie.” She took wonderful care of our parents. If one of them was admitted into the hospital she always took the time to visit them that first night even if it was 2 am when they were admitted. Dr. Susie was a blessing for our family.

One day when Dad had an office visit she told us that she was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer and would still be seeing patients, but had to work in her own chemotherapy. Dr. Susie would take off from her practice for three weeks at a time, do her chemo and then come back to work when she felt better. She would have her patients be seen by a fellow physician when she was unable to work and she also didn’t see hospital bound patients. In the office she would wear gloves and a surgical mask to keep her exposure down to her patient’s diseases.

My sister, Anna, also saw Dr. Susie has her primary physician also. Dr. Susie told Anna that she went in for her regular “well woman exam” and the doctor found something suspicious and wanted to wait 6 months to “see what happens.” Dr. Susie told her physician that if they found something, they would find out what that something was, not just wait and see. She was soon diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

We recently found out that Dr. Susie passed away in July 2009 (just a year after Dad). Actually, she was the doctor that found out that Anna had breast cancer this February. We don’t know all the facts about Dr. Susie’s personal battle with ovarian cancer, but we do know that she lived a wonderful life and was an excellent physician. Thank You Dr. Susie!!

You may ask why I am telling you this story about Dr. Susie; well it is really two fold. One is that she was the best thing that happened to our parents in terms of their health and I wanted to “brag” about her skills. Secondly, I want to emphasize to all my readers that you are the one that controls your and your elder’s health. When a doctor tells you to “wait and see” perhaps you can remember Dr. Susie’s story. If she did “wait and see,” she may have died in a few months instead of a few years. In those few years she was able to care for many patients and to have that extra time with her family.

So, think carefully about a “let’s wait and see” comment from your physician. Do you really want to wait 6 months or whatever time period they suggest? Do you want to get another opinion from another doctor? Do you want to do like Dr. Susie and stay with the same doctor and insist they run more test? The decision is up to you. You have to be comfortable with the choices you make. You want to be able to sleep at night and feel you made an informed decision. With healthcare as it is today (and I won’t get into any politics) you really have to think about all the choices you have.

Tags: cancer, cancer risk, diagnosis, Elder care, ovarian cancer