Getting Started

webassets/lynne_3.jpg

Getting Started

If you have decided that our innovative cancer treatment may be a good option for you, making the decision and getting started is easy.

You may want to schedule a full initial consultation and start of treatment, or a preliminary conference.

Initial consultation

If you feel sure that you want to pursue treatment here, you'll want to schedule a pair of consultation visits as a new patient. This is a very comprehensive service. We allot at least an hour and a half for your first visit so that we can spend the time necessary to make sure you receive detailed personal attention. At that visit we'll review your medical history and any records you can provide for us, perform a thorough physical exam relevant to your cancer, evaluate your eligibility for treatment, and begin talking with you about exactly what will be involved. We'll make sure you're aware of every other reasonable treatment option as well, even if that means you won't choose to be a patient here. We'll also make arrangements to obtain baseline laboratory studies ("blood work") which are critically important to watch for any side effects of treatment once you start. If we're all in agreement that you are a reasonable candidate for treatment here and you choose to do so, we'll arrange the next appointment (usually the following day) to go over all those details and let you begin the dosing of the first of the medicines we'll be using. It's typical for us to spend at least two and a half hours with you and your family members at the second day's visit. You'll be guided every step of the way and wherever appropriate we'll stay in touch with your other doctors, too. After this pair of initial visits, your next in-person visit with us is usually about two months later.

Before your consultation visit, several things will be helpful. First, although you don't need approval from anyone to consult with us, it's a very good idea to inform your primary oncologist and any other doctors whom you see regularly about your upcoming visit here. You'll have better coordination of your health care if they're "in the loop" right from the start.

Next, you'll need to bring with you a very precise listing of every medication and every other supplement or other remedy that you take. We'll check for any possible conflicts or interactions. Your pharmacist may be able to help in providing a list for you.

Records are especially helpful when you come. If you have any recent notes or summaries of the previous events in your cancer care those will help us do a better job for you. If nothing else, you might even sit down and type out a summary of what has happened since your cancer was diagnosed in a page or less. We can fill in more detail as we talk with you in person. Previous lab results can be helpful too. And finally, if there are any imaging studies (CT or PET scans, etc) which demonstrate the extent of your cancer we'd like to be able to review those and have copies of the interpretation reports which go with them. You should plan to provide a copy of certain portions of your records to be kept in our files. Our office staff can help you with these details when scheduling your appointments.

We want to take really good care of you, and you can help us do that.

Preliminary conference

If you are seriously interested in our treatment but you're not fully sure it's the right choice for you, you may wish to schedule a preliminary conference instead of a full consultation. We charge even less than our hourly operating costs for this discussion, but we are happy to offer such a low cost opportunity because we believe it can be helpful to many prospective patients in knowing all their options and thus making the best decisions possible. When you schedule this appointment, we don't register you in as a patient yet and we don't have to have all your records. We allot plenty of time for detailed discussion and for you to simply ask us anything you'd like about our work and whether it might be suitable for you. It's an efficient and economical way for you to feel sure about whether you should proceed or not. If the program isn't right for you, you've saved time and resources.