Sarah Henretta/Dr. Cristofanilli - Week 3

This week I continued working with Dr. Cristofanilli in the clinic. We had many conversations regarding the treatment plans for specific tumors and current clinical trials different patients may be eligible for. I am beginning to see patients for the second and third time and it has been interesting to see their disease and treatment progression from week to week. Additionally, it has been rewarding to build connections with patients and I am beginning to understand individual cases better, as we are treating them each week and I remember their condition, symptoms, and plans from the prior week. 

This was the first week that I truly observed the highs and lows that come with being a medical oncologist. On Tuesday, we were able to tell two patients they were cancer free and did not need any further treatment. The patients and families were very emotional, and it was rewarding to celebrate this news with them. On Thursday, we met an older patient coming in for an initial consult. She had very advanced disease and had declined significantly over just one week. The medical team struggled to come up with a treatment plan because they did not have any information on the type of breast tumor and did not feel the patient was strong enough to undergo extensive testing or strong chemotherapies. It was a difficult conversation to observe, as the medical team weighed the pros and cons of treating her versus transitioning her to hospice. Many shortcomings of current treatment options and technologies were highlighted during this conversation. First, the patient was unable to receive an MRI because she could not lie flat due to fluid in her lungs. This resulted in the medical team being unable to get a good understanding of what may have been the driving cause of her symptoms. Second, the patient could not undergo a biopsy of the known tumor because it was in an inaccessible spot. This prohibited the medical team from understanding the pathology of her tumor and identifying any targeted treatments. Third, the patient was too weak to undergo the aggressive treatment she needed because of the known side effect. Therefore, there were no good treatment options to significantly improve her outcome. 

Next week I am looking forward to working with a surgical oncologist in the same office as Dr. Cristofanilli. I know this experience will help me better understand the interplay between medical, surgical, and radiation oncologist. 

Outside the clinic and in the research lab, I continued to make progress on my research project with Dr. Munoz-Arcos. We discussed my current progress and possible points of improvement for my analysis pipeline and their cell staining protocols. I completed the discussed improvements to my analysis pipeline and am now waiting for new images to be taken of the cell panel we are using.

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