Earlier this week I emailed several doctors I had been actively consulting with to inform them I would be seeking treatment elsewhere. The emails generally, with minor modification for each doc, went something like this:
Dear Dr. ______ I am writing to let you know I have chosen to seek CyberKnife treatment for my vestibular schwannoma at Stanford Neurosciences Health Center. I wanted to let you know how much I appreciated the time you took to consult with me and in particular your pragmatic assessment of my treatment options. It was a much harder decision process than I had anticipated and your guidance was an important part of that process. Thank you.
One doctor from a well respected clinic that specializes in surgery replied a day later with the following message:
Dear Terry, Thank you for your email. Quite frankly, I do not think that radiation is the best treatment for you. In fact, if you are going to choose that, my recommendation would be to simply observe the tumor. There is little evidence to support radiation to prevent hearing loss progression. I do not treat patients with radiation, unless they exhibit growth of tumor. As you know, many of these tumors will not grow. If I was in your position, I would simply observe the tumor. If it does grow, you could then opt for radiation treatment. I am attaching an article from our group regarding observation of tumors. I am not sure if I had sent this to you previously. If you decide to go ahead with treatment, I wish you all the best.
I found this response somewhat disturbing. I thought I would likely hear back with something more along the lines of, "Thanks for getting back to me and best wishes." Why suggest a watch and wait strategy now when he was perfectly willing to open up my skull and remove a potentially non-growing tumor? And then to offer up previously undisclosed research on conservative management also seemed disingenuous.
Of course this has put the slightest bit of doubt back in to my mind after going through this very difficult decision process. I know I am preaching to the choir about how difficult that process can be. The doctors in this business must all know and appreciate how difficult the decision is, so to have one undermine my peace of mind with this sort of response was maddening. I understand these are businesses that ultimately need to make a profit, and the doctors become, often unwillingly, the salesmen/women for the business. But I would have expected a more supportive response to what I expressed to be a difficult decision. To call in to question my treatment choice seems inconsistent with my perception of professional decorum.
Am I off base on this?
