Your path report is a part of YOUR records and you are entitled to it. Yes, some of it may be a bit full of medical jargon, but a lot of it is very understandable. The "take away" lesson from yours, Bama, is that there is both high grade and low grade cancer present, including CIS (carcinoma in situ). Perhaps the most important is that the muscle was not involved...this is GREAT
news. You are headed in absolutely the correct direction with BCG.
Some patients are not interested in knowing all the details of their diagnosis (I knew a physician who didn't want to know ANYTHING about his diagnosis or treatment plan!) and there are others, like me and many on this Forum who want to be involved in every step of the process and learn to read medical/path reports very quickly. It is a personal thing, and a personal decision.
There was a "Special" on PBS a number of years ago that is repeated once and a while about what doctors think when they are diagnosed with cancer. I will never forget a very pompous breast surgeon (poor baby, had prostate cancer) and they were discussing information on the internet. The moderator asked all the doctors what they thought about patients getting information on their diseases via the internet. This breast surgeon ponderously exclaimed that he "preferred that his ladies (sic) get all their information from him." If he had been my doctor I couldn't have gotten out of his office quickly enough!
Guess I am one of those who wants to be. at least partially, in control!
Sara Anne
