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If there is one thing I’ve learned from this whole breast cancer journey, is that you have to be your own best health advocate.

Medical staff being overworked is well known. They have more patients than there are hours in the day to see. And each patient is unique. It’s almost preposterous for us to expect them to remember our individual diagnosis, prognosis, and special circumstances.

However, sometimes, the system makes me question things.

Be Your Own Health Advocate

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. The only problem with that is that sometimes you don’t know that there is anything to even ask about!

My oncologist (aka chemo doc) ordered an echocardiogram because 1) Herceptin can damage the heart, and 2) because of this, it is recommended to have an echocardiogram every 3 months and I was overdue for the last one. They somehow neglected to order it, resulting in a significant delay. I could have taken the initiative and inquired about it, but I was unaware of the requirement for a quarterly echocardiogram. SMH!

So I got the echo done and the tech said that the results should be in the next day. I had an appointment with my survivorship counselor, who is my chemo doc’s former PA, later that week and figured we would discuss the results then. Well, I showed up for my appointment, and she said that the results aren’t in yet. She couldn’t answer why not, and I don’t blame her because it’s not her fault – they simply aren’t there.

Okay, well, if there’s a problem, I’m sure they’ll say something when the results finally do come in…right?

Is anyone even reading these ordered tests?

About a week later, a friend, who had the exact same diagnosis as I had (triple positive) and also undergoing chemo treatment, called me. She told me that she just got denied Herceptin treatment for the day because our doc (we have the same one) told her that he didn’t like the decline in her heart health looking at her most recent echo…which was over TWO MONTHS AGO. Meanwhile, she’s had two Herceptin treatments in that time.  She also figured that if there had been a problem with her last echo she wouldn’t have had more Herceptin treatments. So now she’s concerned that she might have irreparable damage to her heart because they weren’t on top of her echocardiograms.

What – in – the – world??

Now, I’m not hating on our doctor or medical staff. I actually really like our doctor and adore our medical staff. But they have a lot of patients to treat and, as I said before, not enough hours in the day. Things fall through the cracks and you just never want it to be you.

Be your health advocate because nobody else will

Follow up on test results

So this serves as a great lesson to never assume anything, especially when it comes to your health, and that you are your own best advocate. Check out my FREE GUIDE for empowering yourself to be your own best health advocate!