The most important doctor throughout your treatment is the medical oncologist. A doctor who has special training in diagnosing and treating cancer in adults using chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, biological therapy, and targeted therapy. A medical oncologist often is the main health care provider for someone who has cancer.
Once again, I was referred to this doctor by my surgical oncologist. They all work for the same health systems (Baptist Health) which makes it a lot easier to share medical records and information. They personally know each other. When I called to make my first appointment with my medical oncologist I was told her next available appointment wasn’t until September. My surgery was planned on August 31, I couldn’t wait. It turned out she is a highly recommended doctor and has a lot of patients.
I called the surgical oncologist to ask him about another medical oncologist but he said: “no, Sara is the best, let me text her. I want you to see her”. I had an appointment two days later.
Dr Sara Garrido has her practice at the Miami Cancer Institute. A brand new facility that had only opened a few month before I was diagnosed. At the request of my surgical oncologist she had added me to a long day of seeing patients. We were finally called in after 7pm after having waited for over 2 hours. The wait was absolutely worth it. She is an incredible doctor. She is a petit lady with a punch. She knows her stuff, there wasn’t a question she couldn’t answer. We came with a long list! She explained everything in detail. The type of cancer I had, the stage. The risk of it spreading to the lymph-nodes and what treatment options were available. The main reason I went to see her was because the surgical oncologist wanted to know if it would be required to have chemotherapy prior to the surgery or afterwards. Because my cancer was multi-focal, chemotherapy would be given after. I was good to go on August 31.
I saw her again after the mastectomy. During the surgery they had removed 12 lymph-nodes and three returned positive for cancer. The cancer had started to spread. Chemotherapy and radiation were the next course of action.
Bump In The Boob 