Doctor do not abuse me I am not a lab rat

May 10,2013

“ Let’s try this new drug, it might work”, your doctor is staring straight at you  and he becomes agitated as you begin your long list of questions: what side effects, how do you know it will work, how long do we wait before we know it is working or not, if does not work then what do we do….. He looks at his watch, then gives you a generic all encompassing, “ Let’s try it and find out” With a pat on your head he walks out telling you over his shoulder, “ The nurse will be in and get you started, see you next week.”

You sit there, what just happened? Not one question was answered, you were just passed down the line, with a smile and good ole pat on the head like a puppy dog.  Do you still feel human?  If you like the puppy dog attention you will no doubt run around telling everyone how nice your doctor is to you. But, is he? Getting attention is not getting you well, especially if you are passed down the assembly line.

So there you are sitting in a sterile room, white walls, chrome legged chairs and pretty pictures hanging on the walls with a poster of two of caring doctors and nurses advertising some new drug.  The door opens, a nurse in scrubs enters, she yanks a pen out of her pocket, grabs the chart the doctor made notes on then sits in front of you on a stool with wheels. In one of her hands she holds a packet that she hands off to you. '’This  packet is all about the new chemo that the doctor ordered, there is even some neat stuff in there for you to feel better while taking it. I have the first dose ready and we will begin today, you will have six treatments, once a week starting today. “  She rolls the stool backward and gets up. “Any questions?” Oh yes you have some and you give her the same questions a few minutes before had been given the doctor.  The nurse looks at you and tells you, “Don’t be worried they say this is good, some minor complaints but that’s to be expected. Now lets get you out to the chemo room and get you started.”

There you are, escorted to the chemo room, your questions never answered, you are holding a packet with a pretty booklet telling you nothing more than what already don’t know. A sample of body cream, and a magnet for your frig. Okay so what is going on here? Do you still feel human or are you feeling like a lab rat with no control over what they are doing to you? And why are you going along with it? Too afraid of the cancer, people go along because the don’t know any other route.  But does that make it right?

We find the doctors don’t tell answers because they don’t know either; they read only the short description, never the long white pages, relying on a drug salesperson they will change your life, for better, maybe for worse. Surgeries, radiation, all just actions of ‘I hope it works’; there is little that is concrete; you have to roll along with it because the government says so, it is the designated norm; and there is no choice of treatment, if you intend to be in the world of normal, conventional cancer treatment.  The cancer arena is more regulated than any other category, with billions of dollars at stake, it stands to reason, there will be no threatening alternatives allowed here.

Your standard course of treatment continues, new drugs are administered when another does not work, your hair is gone.leaving you looking more like an alien with your bloated stomach from water retention, lack of healthy weight you lost over weeks of nausea and you hobble now because your joints hurt so much and no one knows if its more cancer or chemo side effects.; radiation is prescribed, chasing the cancer here and there leaving burns behind as horrid reminders; surgery cuts out tumors and some vital parts of you, forever you are changed.

At appointments you forget to ask questions but really do they matter anymore, you never got a good honest answer anyway. The doctor and nurses all know you now and ask you how their pretty girl is doing. If you don’t recognized a lie by now that is one. Who’s fooling who. You look like crap, and feel like crap. Face it, things are not going well but they keep telling you ‘what a fighter you are’  You tell them you forgot your questions and they laugh, pat you on the head and tell you ‘ that’s just chemo brain.’ They act like it is a reward not a huge alternation in who you were. 

All the questions, all the complaints of joint pain, little lumps that grew bigger, an ache in your gut that turned into a pain, too many complaints all pushed off as trivial to them, never addressed as serious; you find yourself at the end of a journey you truly did not willingly sign up for.  You felt you had no choice however regardless of whether these treatments were the only choice, the treatment need not be administered with lack of true compassion and empathy; doctor’s pats and smiles, insincere compliments don’t count.  Errors, abuse, lack of commitment is all too common, in fact, it is common place rather than an exception.  Mistakes and errors beyond the lack of real caring and empathy are is all too common, good cleaning, errors on charts, errors in administering doses, errors in surgery, lack of attention to surgical patients, infections from lack of cleansing and clinic or hospital environment, lack of expertise in proper the field, and lack of true diagnosis and outlook based on the doctor’s expertise, lack of getting all choices spelled out.

Patients, especially cancer patients, are not lab rats to do with what you want, to see what the outcome ‘might’ be; to ignore the complaints, to watch things unfold, to let things grow before giving it your attention; mutilate, burn and poison in a ‘let’s see if that will work’ attitude.  Doctors we are not lab rats, we are living humans, we are mothers, daughters, brothers, fathers, sisters, see us as this.

Below is a link to of a video of a doctor that was a cancer patient, he speaks out about the abuses and errors he experienced and wants to share it with the world so people will see the truth with their eyes wide open. It is a heartfelt lecture and one that will and should change your mind.   Alternative Cancer treatments may not be 100 percent but there is more hope in trying alternative cancer treatments with solid proven results than to become a lab rat.