Oncology

I was shadowing an oncologist yesterday. I sat in with him as he did his consultation and followed him around for CT planning for radiotherapy. It was a short two hours but it was definitely fruitful. I saw this lady in her 60’s who was on her third radiotherapy treatment for breast cancer. This was the first time I saw anything like that. It was unilateral and the breast had many nodules surrounding it. The nodules and the adjacent regions were all erythematous. Most of them had punctum and some of them had pus. Scabs were formed due to the radiotherapy. It will probably be something that I will remember for the rest of my life.
Then it was breaking bad news time. Another lady had bone metastases from a primary lung tumour. She suddenly fell when she was standing. The oncologist reckoned that the metastases had caused the bone to snap and the fracture caused the fall. It was something hard to grasp as this lady appears to be really strong and had the idea of being well in a couple of months. It was great that her daughter was there with her. It was even greater to see the love they had for each other. It was a rather emotional moment for everyone there.
Time spent in oncology department was generally great. Everyone was very friendly towards me (you do not get that very often when you are a medical student). Also, the consultant actually remembers my name after 1 week of not meeting me. How wonderful is that? It is definitely not easy for Caucasians to pronounce Yi Wei, what more remembering it. It means so much to us, medical students when they call us by our name (well, at least for me). It was a great experience….