Week 5 - Karin

I finished extracting relevant cases for our study (~100) and pulled the slides (consults and in-house) for review during Week 6.

During this week, I also had the opportunity to shadow Dr. Tessa Cigler, a medical oncologist. She usually sees patients after they've had surgery and reviews their physical treatment as well as their emotional well being. I sat in a few cases, but one case in particular stood out in my mind. A woman had a past history of ovarian cancer and a family history of cancer from her maternal side (grandmother, mother, aunt all had ovarian and/or breast cancer). She had a small, stage I cancer in her left breast that was relatively straight forward in terms of treatment (excision and radiation therapy). However, she also had severe anxiety and an aversion to taking any sort of medication (not taking medication for her anxiety). Her aversion may make it difficult for her to take medications to lower her estrogen levels (to prevent future breast cancers). She did not want to get genetic testing to see if she had a mutated BRCA1 gene (which codes for Breast Cancer Type 1 susceptibility protein), a gene that when damaged, does not repair damaged as it should and thereby increases the risk of cancer. Additionally, she refused to get a prophylactic mastectomy. Therefore, all that can be done for her is to perform mammograms every six months. I wish this patient this best and hope Dr. Cigler can work with her to give her the best care possible.