Dr. Who?

To help you with your battle against breast cancer, you’ll have a team of medical
specialists, part of whom may already be in place. Your primary provider, family doc-
tor, or gynecologist probably sent you for your mam-
mogram. A radiologist read this x-ray, and when it
showed something suspicious, a radiologist—perhaps
the same one—did a biopsy. If the biopsy showed
a pre-cancerous or cancerous condition, you were
probably referred to a breast surgeon. Then there’s the
medical oncologist, the radiation oncologist, the plastic
surgeon, and all their respective nursing and associated
staff. It’s quite a team.
Choosing a doctor/surgeon is a rather daunting task
on a good day, but in the midst of the post-diagnosis
chaos—well, it’s plain overwhelming. And knowing
that you’ll have multiple decisions to make about a
whole team of medical specialists may cause a mo-
ment of panic. Then, in the midst of that panic, you
realize that you’re about to meet a total stranger who,
in the next few days or weeks, is probably going to
do something fairly drastic to your body. But never
fear! We have solid suggestions for making the right
choices.
Of course you want the best medical care you can get. Take the surgeon, for instance.
It’s a one-shot deal with this surgery, and it’s your life lying there on the table under
this person’s knife. If he or she is going to take out part of your breast—or take off all
of it—you need someone whom you can trust, someone with whom you can talk eas-
ily, and someone who has the time to listen to and answer your questions.
There are lots of surgeons, and all of them are trained to perform breast surgery.
There are far fewer surgeons who specialize in breast surgery, but that’s probably who
you want for your surgeon. The specialists are the folks with the most experience and,
in all likelihood, with the most up-to-date knowledge about breast cancer in its many
forms. If they perform lots of breast surgeries, they will also be far more able to iden-
tify individual differences, namely yours. Just for a ballpark figure, try to find a sur-
geon who does at least 50 breast surgeries a year.
Say What? Trust and Tact
How do you find a good medical team? Where do you begin? One common practice
is for your primary care provider to recommend a surgeon who in turn recommends
the rest of the team. But your doctors may handle the process differently, and part of
the procedure is dependent on your insurance carrier. Nevertheless, rest assured that
you will have one or more recommendations readily available.
How do you know if you want to follow the recommendation? Three big issues tell
the story: licensing, experience, and personality.
Certificates on the Wall
Your first concern, of course, is your doctor’s or surgeon’s credentials. Sure, they’ve
graduated from some medical college and have a license to practice in your state.
What you don’t know is whether they graduated at the top of the class or the bot-
tom, and the diploma won’t tell you. But there are other sources.
Generally, your best choice for a surgeon is one certified by the American Board of
Surgery. You can check by calling The American Board of Medical Specialists at 847-
491-9091 or by checking its Web site at www.abms.org. If your recommended surgeon
has been practicing long enough, he or she may have earned credibility with other
organizations as well, so ask about membership in the American College of Surgeons
and the Society of Surgical Oncology, two organizations that work jointly to develop
standards for breast cancer surgeries.
For other specialists, ask about board certification in their specialty (such as radiation
oncology) and then in their subspecialty (breast cancer). And ask if they’ve earned
the AMA Physician Recognition Award, an indication that they have attended a mini-
mum of 150 hours of continuing education in the past three years. That means they
have been keeping up with the research and new treatments that come out at warp
speed these days.