Cancer in My Chart for MIL

[Ms. Toad]

15. It's better this way than my first cancer diagnosis.

I had my routine mammogram and waited for the two weeks they told me to wait before I called to track down the results. Turns out they had a whole batch of suspicious results and they forgot (or something) to make the call.

Way too many doctors delay making bad news calls - because they are hard, or even with good news, refuse to release results to patients. This prevents that. (Even after diagnosis, the doctor withheld results because she thought it would be better for me. I fired her)

There is a delay built in, and you can agree with your doctor to hold certain results you would rather hear in person. But, speaking personally, I would far rather have the results than not.

My second cancer diagnoses was much cleaner. The doctor called as soon as they had the results, and reached me during the brief delay before the results were posted to MyChart. Since then it's been about 50-50 as to whether I get them before the doctor calls.