When you first hear that you have a brain tumor, it can feel totally overwhelming.  Fear, confusion, and desperation are all normal experiences when it comes to such a diagnosis.  There is suddenly a flurry medical terms and data being thrown around.  MRI scans are done, CT scans performed.  There may be PET scans, blood tests, appointments with neurologists, oncologists, and more.  I often see people racing to Dr. Google to try and make some sense of all the terminology, prognostications and treatment options.  It makes sense, you desperately want more information, to know if its going to be OK, and what to do next.  But unfortunately Dr. Google is not always correct, and the internet more often than not lead you down a road of misinformation and bad directions.  Amidst that chaos, the last thing on your mind in those moments is the need to get additional opinions from actual experts in the field with years of experience under their belts. But that is exactly what you need!

So what do you do?  First, you need to pause, catch your breath, and make sure you have all the information you actually need in order to guide your decisions.

 

There is a general assumption that all medical care is equal, that all experts in white coats and with medical credentials decorating their office walls, are drawing from the same playbook.  And while we as doctors all take oaths to Hippocrates and our community broadly to provide the best care possible and to do no harm, there are real practical differences in the levels of training, experience, know-how, and technical skill that any one person can provide.  Acknowledging that we are all human, even the doctors that are treating us, is a critical part of giving yourself the best care possible when faced with a potentially life altering diagnosis.  I can not tell you how many times I have taken care of patients that have come to me from other hospitals, regions of the country or world, or even different clinics up the street that I felt might have been better suited if they had seen our team earlier for a different opinion.

In those instances their problem may not have been best handled by my hands.  I don’t hold such an ego around these matters to think that I am the be-all end-all of neurosurgical care.  But at the same time, I could have provided a different perspective that could have directed them differently.  I feel terrible when I see people who have gone down a suboptimal path, because I feel like they deserved better.  We all do.  I would want the same thing for myself or my family.

And let me be clear that we as physicians, as humans, all make mistakes including myself!  But it has just impressed upon me over these years of practicing neurosurgery how important it is to get additional thoughts and opinions when it comes to something as epically important as our brains.

When that little voice in the back of your head says, “maybe I should ask around about this” or “perhaps I should get another set of eyes on this problem,” that is your gut giving you an important sign post.  It is correct.  You DO need to get a second set of eyes on a problem of that magnitude.  Its your brain!

If you were buying a car, you wouldn’t just purchase the very first one you saw on the lot.  If you were like me, you would get online, research all the different makes and models.  You would compare prices, quality, reviews.  You would ask your friends what they would do.  If you had a car expert in the family, you would pick up the phone and get their opinion.  Shouldn’t it be even more so

when it comes to how to take care of your brain!?

Similarly, imagine you are shopping at the grocery store and picking out apples from the produce section.  You don’t always just purchase the very first apple you pick up in the pile.  You inspect it, examine its quality, and make a judgement call on if it is the right one for you.  That food is going to become part of your body, yourself, and you want it to be the best quality.  Similarly, you need to pick the right clinicians to take care of your body when you face something so important and daunting as a brain tumor or a disorder of the brain.

This expertise, this quality, and this careful examination of all your options is your right and an important one!  Listen to that intuition!

So, what are you supposed to do?  You may not have a neurosurgeon in your family to pick up the phone and call.  You may not be in a community or part of the world where such an opinion is easily accessible.

However, if you are reading this, then a second of eyes, another opinion, is right at your fingertips.  All you have to do is reach out and let me provide my thoughts on your circumstances.

 

But let us be clear here, I am not a used car salesman, to take a spin with our earlier analogy.  I am not here to say that I have all the answers.  Far from it.  I definitely do not have all the answers.  But I do have a lot of experience, and a unique perspective, and you might benefit from it.  Our conversation about your treatments or strategies could just as well be to commend you on the excellent care you are already receiving from your stellar clinicians.  I could suggest that you see one of my colleagues, or another clinician that I think would be better suited than myself.  I have done all of these for the many people that have reached out to gather my thoughts on their problems over the years.

And yet you might also find that I have a perspective that you resonate with, or that I might be able to provide you the care you need.  And if that is the case, then wonderful!  It would be my pleasure to serve you in that way.

But it all starts with you taking the step to get a second opinion.  To get it from me is EASY and FREE.  Just follow this link below to the contact page and reach out today.  We will give you information on how to send your imaging and medical data, I will take a and give you a call, and we will have a conversation about what you or a family member are facing.  Do not hesitate, you deserve the best care possible!

 

-Patrick

www.drpatrickcodd.com

 

 

 

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