After recently getting a cancer diagnosis and going through surgery and chemotherapy, the best advice I can give is: ask lots of questions and you are your own

After recently getting a cancer diagnosis and going through surgery and chemotherapy, the best advice I can give is: ask lots of questions and you are your own best advocate. As with any profession, there are some great doctors who are truly looking out for your best interests and will pursue any direction you want. There are others who simply want to "follow the standard practice", even if what they know as "standard" is 35 years old. There are others who just want to get through as many procedures as possible and "see what sticks" when it comes to a diagnosis. Asking questions helps you better understand which of these you're working with, and what actions you need to take on your own. Finally, EMR sounds great, but in my experience it just doesn't work. Find a PCP who is part of a hospital system with specialists using the same computer system. This means they can all see each other's notes & test results. A lot of the time, even doctors in the same building are basically "private practice", or part of some other partnership that is not part of the hospital you are at.