An illustration · invented records
Our notes from the oncology visit
Record type: notes I typed in the car after the visit, then read back to Mom to correct. These are what we remember, not what the office wrote. The office’s version is the visit summary.
Who was there: Mom, me, the medical oncologist, and a medical assistant at the start. How long: about forty minutes.
What we both remember clearly
- Surgery comes first. He wants us back with the breast surgeon to schedule. Lumpectomy with a lymph node check sounded like what he expected, but that is the surgeon’s call.
- The receptor results are “the kind you want”: hormone-receptor positive, HER2 negative. He said this means anti-estrogen pills will almost certainly be part of the plan.
- He does not want body scans right now. He said scans of the rest of the body are not routine at this stage when the lymph nodes look normal, and that they can cause more worry than help. Mom asked twice; he said the same thing both times.
- Chemotherapy: “We will know more after surgery.” He did not say yes or no.
What Mom remembers that I did not write down at the time
- Mom: “He said there is a test they can do on the tumor that helps decide whether chemo would add anything. Something like Onco-something. He said it might not even be needed depending on the surgery results.”
- Me: I remember him saying “a test on the tumor” and I remember “after surgery,” but I did not catch a name and I did not write one. The visit summary does not mention a test at all.
- We agreed: we do not know the name, whether it has been ordered, or whether Mom would qualify. We saved the question in the question log. (Answered September 8: the office named it.)
Mom’s questions she did not get to ask
- “If I need chemo, how long, and would I lose my hair?” (She decided this can wait until someone actually recommends chemo.)
- “Can I keep going to my exercise class?” (Forgot; will ask the surgeon.)
Loose ends
- Labs were drawn before we left. Results
- He said second opinions are welcome and the office can send records. Mom wants one. We called the next morning.