My third day at the clinic was… pretty sad. Remember the patient I talked about from my first day, AR? Well her results from pathology came back. The results indicated that a small mass found in her breast (which doctors initially thought had been from a trauma), was actually cancer. Not only that, but the bone marrow biopsy (which I witnessed on my first day), indicated that the same kind of cancer was found on her bones. Dr. Graham and Mrs. Blumenthal explained to me that this actually wasn’t bone cancer; rather, the cancer found in AR’s breast had spread down to that area, making the cancer metastatic (or able to spread). I had no idea that a cancer found in her breast could travel down to her bones especially when the mass was so small. In fact, it was so small that doctors couldn’t spot it the first time they reviewed it. Anyways, with the confirmation that AR did in fact have cancer, I sat in on the meeting where Mrs. Blumenthal explained to her and her partner what the situation was. It was truly disheartening to see her attitude change the second she heard the word “cancer.” However, Mrs. Blumenthal explained to AR the same thing she explained to me on my first day at the clinic: when patients hear the word “cancer,” their first thought is that they are going to die. That’s a horrible mindset to be in; while cancer is a really serious disease (no matter where it’s found), most kinds are treatable and have great survival rates. The second Mrs. Blumenthal told AR that her kind of cancer was treatable, AR was relieved. However, we would only know the severity of the treatment after further scans.
After the session with RA, Dr. Graham had introduced me to other patients dealing with breast, lung, and prostate cancer. He also told me that next week he was going to be a part of a conference at REX hospital to converse about RA’s cancer and he wanted me to join him! I was incredibly excited when he told me that I would get to be a part of a real medical conference and I cannot wait to participate!