Patience, compassion and an action plan are important
By Mikkael Sekeres, MD, MS
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I carried the knowledge like a millstone chained around my neck, my back aching from the emotional weight of bad news not yet imparted.
Earlier in the morning, before a clinic packed with waiting patients, I scanned the electronic medical record for laboratory results of the people I was about to see. It is rare that any of these return without the telltale asterisk indicating a value that is out of the normal range.
These conversations are never easy, as we try to communicate a flood of information about the cancer itself, and the risks and benefits of chemotherapy, often within hours of a patient’s arrival in the hospital …
Read the full New York Times column by Dr. Sekeres, Director of Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center’s Leukemia Program.
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