General
Did you get a second opinion?
Updated January 20, 2023
in General
I think 2nd opinions are so important but scary sometimes to wait! What did you do?
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I did get a second opinion, but mine wasn't scary because of the waiting. That first diagnosis hit me hard. I didn't think anything the second doc told me could make it worse. But it actually did. I had the 2nd opinion about 10 days after the first one, very busy days of testing and talking, and I went to a big cancer hospital to have it done. Looking around, seeing other patients, looking at a pamphlet that gave survival statistics, hearing the doc kind of lay out best and worst cases -- that's when it all hit me. I had cancer. I went into a deep depression for two weeks. Worst time of my life. That said, I still tell people to get a second opinion, especially from a specialist. Looking back at what he said to me, I could see that I had lots of options and lots of reasons to be hopeful, even if it was bad in the moment. Everything went up from there.
Honestly I totally felt that. Saying "I had Cancer" out loud was hard
I did! The first interaction I had with an oncologist felt like the information I was given felt short of what Cancer meant to me at the moment, which was urgency. That second opinion felt right- a sense of re-assurance but reality all at once, and I never looked back. So thankful for my oncologist and the decision to seek a second opinion regardless of my ignorance at the time with anything Cancer related. Your trust in your oncologist in so important in the short and long run and you deserve that.
You have to trust your oncologist for sure. I fired my first because he was not being proactive in my health!
Care Partner
I did get a second opinion. In fact, I got a third.
I don't think it got easier to hear.
Was the protocol the same for each doctor?
Care Partner
It was pretty much the same. Other than differences in delivery, the process was the same.
Although after the original shock it was less stressful.