Time Between Diagnosis And Treatment

My 47 year old son was diagnosed with Hodgkins on November 29th of this year and will not see an oncologist until January 3rd of '05. This seems to be a long time between discovery and consultation. I'm fearful for him, as his older brother passed away a year ago with undiagnosed liver cancer. His brother was getting liver function tests every three months for Dilantin toxicity values, and every other value was ignored. I know my younger son is thinking of this travesty of errors, and am wondering if anyone else has gone this long before having a consultation with an oncologist. (He had a biopsy in September that showed multiplying cells, but was labeled 'incomplete'). Also, shouldn't he have been told what stage it was in? Thanks for any feedback. Dorothy P's

Yes, find out what stage. They should have that info already based on the diagnosis. It is never a good idea to waste any time at all, but it is up to you. You have to take control of the situation and be on top of everything. You can't count on the doctors to do the right thing because with cancer there usually isn't a right or wrong thing. Do your homework. Nobody is gonna do for you, like YOU WILL. Learn all you can and weigh all of your options. The decisions you make at the beginning may effect other options available down the road. God be with you.

Learn your disease...doctors treat you they don't educate you...I mean no offense but I learned all I could about my Lymphoma...as a matter of fact during my first Chemo the nurse asked if I was a doctor. Don't wait around on things...folllow your instint and if you're not happy with the care...GET A DIFFERENT DOCTOR.

Hello Patty,
I know it's been awhile since you posted your message, but I loved it. Your absolutely correct. It's your future, therefore you have to learn everything possible about your disease and the options you have. I was also asked by my doctors and nurses if I was in the medical field. I took it as a compliment! I'd love to hear more about your experience and how your doing now... I will be done my 4 cycles of chemo in a couple of days, and now I'm researching more on forgoing radiation and instead having 2 more cycles of chemo. This is an area there starting to research more. How much, if any radiation is needed. Only because of long term side effects, like second cancers. My main goal is to treat this, and treat it right the first time. Let me know if you have any advice or info on this.

God Bless and hope all is well
Erin