Perhaps as a sign of my overall good fortune, my life with cancer was really the first major (or even minor) exposure that I ever have had to a significant medical situation. As a result, perhaps my perspective and views on the amazing Dr. S. are prejudiced not only by the fact that the man saved my life, but also by the understanding that I don't have a lot of frame of reference behind me to evaluate the R&R of a variety of physicians (R&R = 21st century hipster office-speak for roles and responsibilities). That said - here we go.
Submitted for your approval:
The Cardiologist treats the heart, the Nephrologist treats the kidneys, the Pulminologist treats the respiratory system, and on and on. But, the oncologist treats all of it at once, and must be able to contend with the physiological interdependence (life-affecting interdependence - I might add) of ALL the comorbidities roiling around inside any given cancer patient. From what I have learned, through educating myself and first-hand experience, it's not about: find the cancer and treat it, it involves any number of other associated and affected factors that come with or can be exacerbated by the disease.
When I first presented (was diagnosed) with cancer, two days later we had our meet-and-greet with Dr. S. to see if that's who would be right for my needs. It's not like I knew the difference or had the desire to shop-around, but we clicked. Within an hour of that first "interview" with Dr. S., I got a call at home from him saying that he had already seen some of my initial results of the blood work drawn during that first encounter and wanted me to come right back to the hospital to start chemo. Was my cancer that bad? Was my prognosis that dire? Was my situation that life-threatening? No - he was worried about my kidneys and the beating that they had been taking for unknown months trying to process the extreme levels of Bence-Jones protein in my system from the rampant cancer.
He has since dealt with shortness of breath from my low hemoglobin level (decreasing effective oxygenation of my blood), predicted loss of hair from the last blast of chemo to prepare for my stem cell transplant, fevers from the different types of chemo and related chemicals in my "cocktails", the ongoing aforementioned kidney concerns (vigilantly and successfully working to keep me off dialysis - for life), and even a spot-on diagnosis of ingrown toenail (a common side effect of chemo; which he also stopped as a result of the big toe trauma). Literally from head to toe, he is cognizant of all my medical conditions and their relationship to my cancer . . . and my overall health improvement.
Mind you, this is not intended to imply that any other medical specialist isn't as aware or focused on similar interdependencies, but it does appear from my naive outlook that Dr. S. needs to know about all of them, and how anything else going on anywhere within my crazy compromised cancerous body is his responsibility to ascertain, analyze and abate. This poor guy is in theory "on call" for anything that could happen to me medically (literally and figuratively - as he willingly shared his cellphone number with me and encourages/insists on my using under any circumstances of concern; which I have done very judiciously/sparingly - he actually texts/calls me more often than I reach out to him).
