Sorry Randi, that’s awful. I was also diagnosed last year with breast cancer for the second time. But the radiologist didn’t catch it. My plastic surgeon did. After that the oncology surgeon was scrambling to find my cancer and finally admitted she saw something in my last 2 mammograms that was the cancer but the radiologist deemed it “stable “ I’ve been asking myself are they incompetent? And now that I’m finished with treatment I’m asking my oncologist what’s the point of mammograms if they didn’t flag my last cancer. So, succeeded in advocating for an MRI every year as well as the mammogram staggered by 6 months. I don’t know what to think but I do know your pain.
Ughhh. Thank you for sharing that. I’m very sorry you had to go through that, especially a second cancer diagnosis.
What troubles me most is how similar our experiences sound. In your case, something was visible on prior imaging but was dismissed as "stable," and only after someone else recognized the problem did the medical team go back and acknowledge what had been there. That leaves patients wondering whether these were unavoidable misses or failures in judgment and communication.
I completely understand why you're questioning the value of mammograms when the very cancer they were supposed to detect was visible but not acted upon. Your decision to advocate for annual MRIs in addition to mammograms sounds like a reasonable response to what you've experienced. No patient should have to become their own quality-control department.
What frustrates me is that patients are often told to trust the system, yet when errors or delays occur, it is frequently the patient who catches them. In my situation, I found myself correcting significant errors in my own records and now waiting on important imaging results that should have been reported promptly. The emotional toll of constantly having to monitor the people who are supposed to be monitoring us is exhausting.
I appreciate you reaching out. While I wish neither of us had a story like this to tell, it does help to know I'm not the only one asking these questions.
Dear Randi, Your intelligent persistance drew me into your crowd of willing suppli’cans’, and I so regret your having to employ ulyoir talents in this deadly fight for your own existance! Damn the mediocrats!! The only caveat to that is the existance of righteous caregivers who I’m sure you’ve come across. But, where our lives are concerned we HAVE to be pitbulls in pursuit of follow-through! One weak link, as you’ve stumbled over, delays a process where time is of the essence. I’ve just suffered my 4th stroke and, even though I have great pride and confidence in my neurologists and techs, I’ve spent hours tying communications together for appointments with therapists and care givers plus, after firing my PCP, finding another vompetant PCP even though, here in Portland, OR, we’re blessed with great medical support and facilities! I’m still able to tie my shoes, hike, bike, garden and landscape (totally lucky bastid, I!) I continue with you, dear Goddess of the Sacred Path of Truth , Honesty, and the American Way (as envisioned by the founders), as you fight your continuing battle, the warrior’s tale of all who pursue excellence in an imperfect world. Love and strength to you and yours, dear Randi !!
This is an excellent, revealing and poignant article. Advocating for one self is the right wing methodology....soon we will have to diagnose our own god damned selves
Miss you every single day. This world is a crazy place and being sick here is so unfair. I am sorry to hear your results are taking so long to get to you but am ever hopeful the news will be good when it arrives. Sending you healing & lots of hugs. I listen to Amy Goodman now but it's just not the same. <3
Unbelievable seems not enough word to describe our healthcare system. As the father of a daughter who is a medically fragile quadriplegic cebral palsy I know too well the madness of our systems. Boatloads of paperwork, difficulty connecting with providers, providers that don't listen, and on an on. Hospitals are their own animal. Full tilt during the week, but a ghost town on the weekends. Madness.
Randi, I think of you often and pray that you are responding to treatments.
This is horrible. Unbelievable that this happens in the greatest country of all time. More proof that "we the people" are in charge of "we the people". We're so sorry for you Randi, and all the others who are suffering and don't have anyone to advocate on their behalf. Thank you for another huge reminder and wake-up call to fend for ourselves. Love you always,
Whoa, how outrageous! There's the harm that illness and treatment do to the body, and then there's the harm that their idiocy does to our intellect! It gives a new, corporate meaning to "Adding insult to injury." I wish we could blame this on Trump/RFK, but it seems to be hardwired.
Hang in there, Randi! We love you, and we need you now more than ever.
My wife/lover of 50 years died of ovarian cancer, already a death sentence. But I advocated for her and I believe that it spared her a lot of suffering - while she was tough, and went back to finish her 25th year of school teaching!
It's so important to take charge of your own medical care, and it also helps to have others monitoring, or at least rooting for you as we do. And thank you for your frankness!
Leonard, I know what your wife and you went through. My mom was diagnosed 50 years ago when she was 52, with stage 3 ovarian cancer. No one knows how she did it, but she lived to 92! Loretta was fierce. She said she wanted to see her granddaughter born. That granddaughter was Jess! Your wife had a goal too. Maybe that's the answer? Love you lots, Randi
Hi Randi. I was diagnosed with colon cancer about the same time you received your diagnosis. Luckily for me, I had a great surgeon, the low level chemotherapy I had is over and left me with some of my hair, though thinned. I am now cancer free. NED. I'm so sorry that you are living in a state where you have to go through this stuff. We all know where the cuts have come from. Wishing you blessings and renewed health. Rikki
Dearest Randi, I feel you! I remember you sharing this issue last year and I'm certainly sending you love and light now for positive results from the latest scans! 😘💙
Hi Randi, I'm so sorry you have to deal with this! That's ridiculous. They are on vacation? What??? Oh no no no!!
I've been a listener of your show since Air America. In fact you got me interested in politics.
I miss your show. I've been listening to Tom Hartmann. I'm starting to call his show the podcast of doom these days. I love your sense of humor! He's brilliant but not funny! So I definitely miss you. My thoughts and wishes for you are a complete recovery! 💜
Oh, Randi! Of course, once again, you have to fix the world to fix yourself. Insanity! Thank you for sharing your experience. My experience was minor compared with yours, but I had a PCP blindly check a few boxes of health issues I didn't have and never had a few years ago. Trouble is, as you know, they are now part of my permanent medical record that follows me everywhere--and you don't just erase it or explain that it's wrong--nope, doesn't work. It took me two more doctors to fix the mistakes, but it finally happened. Having health issues or cancer is quite stressful enough without all the chaos of erroneous reports and, as you said, having to become the quality control expert. I implore everyone to read the notes from your doctor encounters no matter how minor, because big mistakes can be made even if your visit is routine--don't ever leave anything to chance or assume that your records are correct. Hoping you get this resolved ASAP. Miss you so much. You continue to be in my thoughts and prayers always. Love you to pieces!
YES! Exactly! You may not recognize yourself after reading those notes! My experience was that the doctor spent the entire visit glued to the computer screen checking boxes. The only eye contact made was when she had to check my heart --so she could check a box. That is why I reviewed the "visit summary" because I couldn't imagine what was happening. I had actually never done that before. What an awakening! A few days later, the nurse from the office called to tell me they'd called in a prescription for my osteoporosis. Yes, no discussion of side effects or what I thought about it--and my scan said I was still in osteopenia territory. That is when I walked away to doctor no. 2 and then doctor no. 3. And this is all small potatoes compared to your experience, but it's all up and down the chain it appears. You cannot take anything for granted! You must stay vigilant at all times, and when you aren't well, it's tough to have to do that on top of everything else, but that seems to be where we are. Thanks for helping us make our way through the system--and blazing trails for us that no one else has been able to do... forever grateful.
That’s ridiculous that you have to go through all this with all the trouble you had at the beginning of your diagnosis. I hope you’re feeling better and glad to see you back 💜
Competence and good service cost money and these companies want higher profits by cutting expenses. Pump your own gas, scan and bag your own groceries, check your own medical records. They don't pay someone to do a job when you'll do it for free. You might say, "I don't work for Texaco, I don't work for Albertson's, and I don't work for Allied Health," but the truth is you do, you just don't get paid, you "volunteer" because they've set it up that way, and they love it... as you get your life sucked away doing their work, they float around on yachts, fire more people, and buy up the world.
Randi, How frustrating and disheartening. My sister was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer that spread to her liver. She's basically been on chemo for more than a year and had radiation treatment as well. She's hanging in their, but I think the quality of her care is really good. She has been up and down a lot, but has had a good stretch for several months, but it's complicated. One kidney is barely functioning. She's had back problems for years and lost two inches of height - gained 40 or 50 lbs. I think her docs are pretty on top of things and I wish the same for you. It's hard enough to deal with the physical, psychological and emotional challenges that go along with this kind of illness/treatment, but how unnecessarily aggravating when the providers at least give the impression they are less than careful and competent. I wish for you all good things and hope you continue to kick cancer's ass!
So you're fighting for your life and you have to go through this shit?? There's no excuse for this! Me thinks that they messed with the wrong lady! 💪💪👊
Sorry Randi, that’s awful. I was also diagnosed last year with breast cancer for the second time. But the radiologist didn’t catch it. My plastic surgeon did. After that the oncology surgeon was scrambling to find my cancer and finally admitted she saw something in my last 2 mammograms that was the cancer but the radiologist deemed it “stable “ I’ve been asking myself are they incompetent? And now that I’m finished with treatment I’m asking my oncologist what’s the point of mammograms if they didn’t flag my last cancer. So, succeeded in advocating for an MRI every year as well as the mammogram staggered by 6 months. I don’t know what to think but I do know your pain.
Ughhh. Thank you for sharing that. I’m very sorry you had to go through that, especially a second cancer diagnosis.
What troubles me most is how similar our experiences sound. In your case, something was visible on prior imaging but was dismissed as "stable," and only after someone else recognized the problem did the medical team go back and acknowledge what had been there. That leaves patients wondering whether these were unavoidable misses or failures in judgment and communication.
I completely understand why you're questioning the value of mammograms when the very cancer they were supposed to detect was visible but not acted upon. Your decision to advocate for annual MRIs in addition to mammograms sounds like a reasonable response to what you've experienced. No patient should have to become their own quality-control department.
What frustrates me is that patients are often told to trust the system, yet when errors or delays occur, it is frequently the patient who catches them. In my situation, I found myself correcting significant errors in my own records and now waiting on important imaging results that should have been reported promptly. The emotional toll of constantly having to monitor the people who are supposed to be monitoring us is exhausting.
I appreciate you reaching out. While I wish neither of us had a story like this to tell, it does help to know I'm not the only one asking these questions.
Dear Randi, Your intelligent persistance drew me into your crowd of willing suppli’cans’, and I so regret your having to employ ulyoir talents in this deadly fight for your own existance! Damn the mediocrats!! The only caveat to that is the existance of righteous caregivers who I’m sure you’ve come across. But, where our lives are concerned we HAVE to be pitbulls in pursuit of follow-through! One weak link, as you’ve stumbled over, delays a process where time is of the essence. I’ve just suffered my 4th stroke and, even though I have great pride and confidence in my neurologists and techs, I’ve spent hours tying communications together for appointments with therapists and care givers plus, after firing my PCP, finding another vompetant PCP even though, here in Portland, OR, we’re blessed with great medical support and facilities! I’m still able to tie my shoes, hike, bike, garden and landscape (totally lucky bastid, I!) I continue with you, dear Goddess of the Sacred Path of Truth , Honesty, and the American Way (as envisioned by the founders), as you fight your continuing battle, the warrior’s tale of all who pursue excellence in an imperfect world. Love and strength to you and yours, dear Randi !!
Bruce in Portland
Typos no extra charge!
You brave fucker! Love and strength right back at ya.
We love you Randi and are here for you. Thanks for staying the course and reminding us who we are. By being who you are.
Great to hear from you again.. always get excited when I see your name pop up. Hope your health is improving every day. Tell Howard and Jessica hi..
Faithful servant
This is an excellent, revealing and poignant article. Advocating for one self is the right wing methodology....soon we will have to diagnose our own god damned selves
Many already do
Miss you every single day. This world is a crazy place and being sick here is so unfair. I am sorry to hear your results are taking so long to get to you but am ever hopeful the news will be good when it arrives. Sending you healing & lots of hugs. I listen to Amy Goodman now but it's just not the same. <3
Unbelievable seems not enough word to describe our healthcare system. As the father of a daughter who is a medically fragile quadriplegic cebral palsy I know too well the madness of our systems. Boatloads of paperwork, difficulty connecting with providers, providers that don't listen, and on an on. Hospitals are their own animal. Full tilt during the week, but a ghost town on the weekends. Madness.
Randi, I think of you often and pray that you are responding to treatments.
Try to stay positive.
Peace.
You sound like a wonderful Dad! It IS a maze of madness.
How kind of you to respond.
I had great teachers. My folks were the best.
Cheers
This is horrible. Unbelievable that this happens in the greatest country of all time. More proof that "we the people" are in charge of "we the people". We're so sorry for you Randi, and all the others who are suffering and don't have anyone to advocate on their behalf. Thank you for another huge reminder and wake-up call to fend for ourselves. Love you always,
Whoa, how outrageous! There's the harm that illness and treatment do to the body, and then there's the harm that their idiocy does to our intellect! It gives a new, corporate meaning to "Adding insult to injury." I wish we could blame this on Trump/RFK, but it seems to be hardwired.
Hang in there, Randi! We love you, and we need you now more than ever.
My wife/lover of 50 years died of ovarian cancer, already a death sentence. But I advocated for her and I believe that it spared her a lot of suffering - while she was tough, and went back to finish her 25th year of school teaching!
It's so important to take charge of your own medical care, and it also helps to have others monitoring, or at least rooting for you as we do. And thank you for your frankness!
Leonard, I know what your wife and you went through. My mom was diagnosed 50 years ago when she was 52, with stage 3 ovarian cancer. No one knows how she did it, but she lived to 92! Loretta was fierce. She said she wanted to see her granddaughter born. That granddaughter was Jess! Your wife had a goal too. Maybe that's the answer? Love you lots, Randi
Hi Randi. I was diagnosed with colon cancer about the same time you received your diagnosis. Luckily for me, I had a great surgeon, the low level chemotherapy I had is over and left me with some of my hair, though thinned. I am now cancer free. NED. I'm so sorry that you are living in a state where you have to go through this stuff. We all know where the cuts have come from. Wishing you blessings and renewed health. Rikki
Congratulations JL. It's a hard road. FYI, I lost my hair twice. Once after chemo, once again after brain radiation. I now have a fierce brown AFRO.
Dearest Randi, I feel you! I remember you sharing this issue last year and I'm certainly sending you love and light now for positive results from the latest scans! 😘💙
Sorry this is still an issue. My heart is with you. My hopes are that all is well in your thoracic cage. Hugs!!
Hi Randi, I'm so sorry you have to deal with this! That's ridiculous. They are on vacation? What??? Oh no no no!!
I've been a listener of your show since Air America. In fact you got me interested in politics.
I miss your show. I've been listening to Tom Hartmann. I'm starting to call his show the podcast of doom these days. I love your sense of humor! He's brilliant but not funny! So I definitely miss you. My thoughts and wishes for you are a complete recovery! 💜
Oh, Randi! Of course, once again, you have to fix the world to fix yourself. Insanity! Thank you for sharing your experience. My experience was minor compared with yours, but I had a PCP blindly check a few boxes of health issues I didn't have and never had a few years ago. Trouble is, as you know, they are now part of my permanent medical record that follows me everywhere--and you don't just erase it or explain that it's wrong--nope, doesn't work. It took me two more doctors to fix the mistakes, but it finally happened. Having health issues or cancer is quite stressful enough without all the chaos of erroneous reports and, as you said, having to become the quality control expert. I implore everyone to read the notes from your doctor encounters no matter how minor, because big mistakes can be made even if your visit is routine--don't ever leave anything to chance or assume that your records are correct. Hoping you get this resolved ASAP. Miss you so much. You continue to be in my thoughts and prayers always. Love you to pieces!
Check Doctors notes on your PORTAL. Lots of bullshit is written at doctor's visits.
YES! Exactly! You may not recognize yourself after reading those notes! My experience was that the doctor spent the entire visit glued to the computer screen checking boxes. The only eye contact made was when she had to check my heart --so she could check a box. That is why I reviewed the "visit summary" because I couldn't imagine what was happening. I had actually never done that before. What an awakening! A few days later, the nurse from the office called to tell me they'd called in a prescription for my osteoporosis. Yes, no discussion of side effects or what I thought about it--and my scan said I was still in osteopenia territory. That is when I walked away to doctor no. 2 and then doctor no. 3. And this is all small potatoes compared to your experience, but it's all up and down the chain it appears. You cannot take anything for granted! You must stay vigilant at all times, and when you aren't well, it's tough to have to do that on top of everything else, but that seems to be where we are. Thanks for helping us make our way through the system--and blazing trails for us that no one else has been able to do... forever grateful.
That’s ridiculous that you have to go through all this with all the trouble you had at the beginning of your diagnosis. I hope you’re feeling better and glad to see you back 💜
Competence and good service cost money and these companies want higher profits by cutting expenses. Pump your own gas, scan and bag your own groceries, check your own medical records. They don't pay someone to do a job when you'll do it for free. You might say, "I don't work for Texaco, I don't work for Albertson's, and I don't work for Allied Health," but the truth is you do, you just don't get paid, you "volunteer" because they've set it up that way, and they love it... as you get your life sucked away doing their work, they float around on yachts, fire more people, and buy up the world.
Randi, How frustrating and disheartening. My sister was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer that spread to her liver. She's basically been on chemo for more than a year and had radiation treatment as well. She's hanging in their, but I think the quality of her care is really good. She has been up and down a lot, but has had a good stretch for several months, but it's complicated. One kidney is barely functioning. She's had back problems for years and lost two inches of height - gained 40 or 50 lbs. I think her docs are pretty on top of things and I wish the same for you. It's hard enough to deal with the physical, psychological and emotional challenges that go along with this kind of illness/treatment, but how unnecessarily aggravating when the providers at least give the impression they are less than careful and competent. I wish for you all good things and hope you continue to kick cancer's ass!
So you're fighting for your life and you have to go through this shit?? There's no excuse for this! Me thinks that they messed with the wrong lady! 💪💪👊