Ian is a 55 year old male, T10 paraplegic, with metastatic pancreatic cancer.
He's being treated with third line chemotherapy. Recent staging scans show disease progression.
Ian's oncologist is unavailable due to an extended medical leave, therefore a covering
physician will be meeting with Ian virtually, to disclose the results of the imaging studies,
and discuss his treatment options.
To be honest, I'm terrified, and I'm trying to remain hopeful. Uh, I'm not expecting the best news. I'm never eager to go see a provider, especially one who I don't know.
Ian, hi, my name is Katie Stowers. I know that usually you meet with my colleague, and
so I appreciate you being willing to meet with me today. You know your doctor told me a lot about,
the medical side of you, but I would really love to learn a little bit about who you are
as a human, and as a person. Yeah, that actually would be great. Tell me a little bit about
who you are, and what you think is important for me to know about you, as your doctor.
So, I'm a rapidly aging middle-aged guy, with a family, and a useless dog, and all sorts
of stuff, and I have a bucket list that is not complete.
Ian, I would love to explore the bucket list with you in a little bit more detail.
I'm curious if you could tell me a little bit about what day to day looks like for you?
I get up early, and I'm trying to get back into exercising. That's been a big part of my life
since forever, and I'm just trying to live each day and then do the most fun stuff, the most
meaningful stuff I can. My wife and I have a teenage kid, a teenager some call them.
So I like to try and help out in the kitchen. I'm trying to get back into full-time work. A doctor
once said do you work to live or live to work? I'm working to live.
Wow Ian, I can tell there are so many aspects of your life that you have such passion for. I'm curious if you could
share with me some of the other things that bring you joy in your life?
We like to ride bikes and get out and try to be active. My extended family is very important to me. I've become pretty much
a homebody, but prior to that we traveled a little bit and we've got some trips we still want to make.
I appreciate you allowing me to have a little bit of a sneak peek into
who you are outside of the medical record which is the only peak that I had into you before.
I'm wondering if there's anything that you feel like I need to know about
you as the doctor to be able to help care for you as best as I can?
I get the feeling that I'm important to you, and I haven't always had that experience in
the healthcare realm. Well Ian, thank you for for sharing that, and I'm sorry that
your experience with the healthcare system hasn't always been as positive as it could be. I think
that's really helpful for me to know. If it's okay with you, maybe we'll switch gears a little bit
and talk about the CT scan and where we go from here.
I tried to impart on Dr. Stowers that my life was full, and that it was important and I could tell by the way she responded
to particular things that I said, that she understood, and that made me believe
that it was important to her. Nobody was going to receive better care from her
than I did. I never have to doubt a provider who I trust. I never have to ask myself
would I have received different care if I didn't use a wheelchair? When I trust a provider,
I can think about the treatment. I can think about getting better, and I can think about recovering.
I don't have to worry about, I don't have to spend any energy at all
wondering if I'm getting their best.