Everyone has a story

While I already sadly have cancer on my mind as we mourn my dear aunt, in light of Angelina Jolie's Op-ed in the NY Times regarding her decision to have a prophylactic breast (and at a later date ovarian) removal after learning she had the BRCA1 "cancer gene", the Times is revisiting their Pulitzer Prize winning story from 2007 about other women who've undergone this procedure.

The woman featured in the "Previvor" story, Dr. Deborah Lindner (the original story and her recent video update) was the OB/GYN who I met/saw the day of our anatomy scan as part of our rotation, when we found out we were on our way to losing the twins, and she told me there wasn't much they could do for me/them/us.  My regular OB (Dr. Levin) was unfortunately on vacation late that August and ironically the one in the practice of eight who ended up delivering the babies in Dec. (fellow twin mom, Dr. Kamel) was one I had never met before the day they were born.  

Anywho, upon promptly securing an MFM, the rest of the practice was very supportive of us and our desire to try to save our babies (though it later took half the practice to remove my cerclage).  I didn't write that much about all the details of what happened at the time, it was just too painful and difficult and I had already switched into crisis mode.

While it crossed my mind at the time, I have no way of knowing whether Dr. Lindner's prompt departure from the practice after our episode with her had anything to do with our case or not.  She now apparently works at a vein clinic in the city (and is a brunette).  If she left voluntarily, I can only guess it was likely due to her young family, which she's had since her surgery, as the scheduling demands of being an OB/GYN are rigorous, unless you can opt out of deliveries (like my old gyne had by the time we got around to TTC).

Of course the irony is not lost on me that a physician who is so proactive about her own health would be so nonchalant about that of her patient. But if my medical experiences of the last several years has taught me anything it is that while medicine is amazing, it and doctors are fallible and in the end you have to be your own advocate and not take one opinion without seeking others.