Clinical Oncology Shadowing Notes

6.10.2023 Appointment Notes

Shadowing: Dr. Detraglia

Today I observed a cancer patient with osteosarcoma and the encounter absolutely changed my
life. The encounter was absolutely heartbreaking. The 92 year old man came in requesting to
speak urgently with Doctor Detraglia. He did not even have an appointment, and he was
requesting to urgently meet with her! She pulled him into a room on her lunch break to chat
with him, and he started off by saying “what do I need to do to get five more years?”. This
moment is one that I will probably never forget because he said it so helplessly, and I would
have done absolutely anything to give him five more years.

He said he just needed to be around for five more years to spend time with his grandchildren.
He begged her to tell him what else he could do to get better and make his cancer stay at bay.
She told him that the best thing he could do is just keep doing treatments and living his life to
the fullest. I think that this is good advice, but I cannot help but wonder if it would have helped
him to have additional general nutritional and wellness information. I wonder if he knows about
pesticides like glyphosate? Or other harmful chemicals in our food supply? What if adding
additional changes with additional exercise and food modifications could have help helped him?
I keep thinking that there must be a way to get more lifestyle information to cancer patients.

I cannot tell you how many appointments I have seen with people who want to do more beyond
medication, but just do not know what to do. I think the current science has so much to offer in
terms of extra things these patients can do if they want to! I wish I knew a way to get this
information to more people.