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I am new in the area and need recommendations for an oncologist specializing in breast cancer. Also need recommendation for a radiologist with special interest in treating breast cancer.
I am interested in going to Duke, UNC-CH or Wake Forest and finding which is on the cutting edge of research and treatment of breast cancer.
Will these centers help access clinical trials at other tx. centers when appropriate? Thanks for all help.
Duke has a phenomenal reputation for cancer treatment. My mother was treated by them (not breast) after her Dx and "beat the odds" by a couple of years.
I work in Oncology for Duke. Here are some medical oncologists who specialize in breast cancer:
P. Kelly Marcom, MD
Kimberly Blackwell, MD.
Gretchen Kimmick, MD.
Jeffrey Peppercorn, MD.
All are very knowledegable and up on the latest research. I think the choice wqould come down to personality.
I go to Cancer Centers of North Carolina. I like it very much. Duke is wonderful and you can get into clinical trials, etc., but a lot of other survivors I've met have complained about the bad bedside manner there. My onc. is Dr. Elizabeth Campbell. The radiation techs were amazing there, too. The other folks I've met have said UNC's bedside manner is better than Duke's.
I go to Cancer Centers of North Carolina. I like it very much. Duke is wonderful and you can get into clinical trials, etc., but a lot of other survivors I've met have complained about the bad bedside manner there. My onc. is Dr. Elizabeth Campbell. The radiation techs were amazing there, too. The other folks I've met have said UNC's bedside manner is better than Duke's.
My mother also goes to Cancer Centers of NC (not for breast cancer though). She's had wonderful care, and I've been impressed by everyone I've met there.
Dr. Campbell at CCNC is also my oncologist and I like her very much. I also like CCNC staff and facility (though I've only been in the infusion area a few times).
I just celebrated six years since my breast cancer diagnosis. I should note, however, that I did not have my treatment here in the Triangle; Dr. Campbell has been closely monitoring me for three years, due to my BRCA+ status, etc.
My oncology experience at Duke is not breast-related, but after a year of dealing with Duke for my husband's radiation and chemo treatments for a different kind of cancer, I feel qualified to comment on the "bedside manner" comment. Every PERSON with whom we interacted was caring and kind. The MEDICAL TREATMENT was excellent! However ...
"The SYSTEM" there is a godawful mess and caused us so much stress. It was all stupid stuff like them not being able to get lab results from one floor to another in less than 1.5 hours! Or a patient intake process in the chemo lab where we'd wait for a couple of hours without anyone keeping us updated as to why we were waiting. (And it was usually something that could've been resolved in 15 minutes if they'd let us know.) Billing was occasionally problematic. And like any large provider, there were numerous different offices to consult for different needs -- who do you call to REschedule an MRI? I had to be SO aggressive in dealing with these "system-related" things. It caused a lot of unnecessary stress.
Would I go there again for cancer treatment? Probably. Would I complain the whole time about how badly they handle the administrative and process stuff? Probably?
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