The real reason I fired my primary care doctor

She never really acknowledged my breast cancer diagnosis. Five years later this still irks me. In April 2007, I had my annual physical and she made sure I was scheduled for a mammogram. Which was the bad one. After my diagnosis, I stopped by her office at the hospital while I was there for one of my billion other appointments and left her a note that I had been diagnosed with breast cancer. I never heard from her.

In the next couple of years I never even saw her, I had my physicals with the nurse practitioner. I gave up and found a new primary care. If you are a doctor and you have a patient diagnosed with cancer, shouldn't you care enough to see them?

I was talking to a friend yesterday who is in chemo for a second cancer diagnosis. She told me she fell a couple of weeks ago and ended up in the emergency room. Her primary care insisted she come back in and see her to make sure she is doing okay. I think that is how doctors should be.

I had my annual physical a few weeks ago, my second one with her, and I was pleasantly surprised at how she knew what was going on with me, was glad she hadn't seen me for four months - which means I had not required medical care for that brief period of time (even if I had seen numerous other doctors). She was also happy to talk to my oncologist about a possible prescription. She even seemed like she cares.