Not all patients with the same cancer receive the same treatments. Even if that treatment may be the nationally recommended standard of care. 

 The first time I heard this I was shocked. Now it just makes me mad. When I was diagnosed with HER2+ breast cancer there was no discussion about Herceptin other than it was the standard of care, it had changed the survival rates significantly and it was a targeted treatment with fewer challenging side effects. It was a foregone conclusion that it would be in my treatment protocol.

When I heard from a friend that she has been an advocate for people who were not offered Herceptin even though they were HER2+ my brain could not do that math. How in 2020 or 2021 could this be happening when it was clearly the right thing to do and the best defense for positive outcomes. It made it clear to me that nothing is guaranteed. We can never make assumptions that the treatment we receive is the same or similar to someone whose cancer looks like ours. One more reason why asking questions is good and asking until we have a full understanding of why something is or is not happening is so important.

Did you have an experience where you were surprised by what was left out of the conversation?

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