My skin cancer specialist had the worst bedside manner, especially I'm told repeatedly, towards women. It was my first round with Cancer and I was not sure what to expect.
He was very gruff, I have to admit, but he had very skilled hands and he made sure I knew how to take care of my skin when he had finished making sure that his scalpel caught it all. Very few doctors make sure you know what to use in post op procedures. Changing bandages is usually not left to the patient. He was one of the most thorough doctors I've ever had and because I move quite a bit, I've had a lot of them.
Any Cancer scares you to death. You are reminded of your mortality. Skin cancer can be deadly, but it need not be with proper prevention. Clothing for me changed. I wear long sleeve shirts and a very wide brimmed hat when I'm outside.
I exercise more carefully. I watch all the tell tale signs of skin cancer. (So far no reoccurrence). All cancers can morph or travel to other locations. So that's a concern. Skin cancer can become either a melanoma (very hard to treat) or rarely a bone cancer (almost always fatal and painful).
I do not believe in alternate medicine for treatment of cancer once it has arrived. It might be good for prevention, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it. I trust my doctors. I have to say I've never had a bad one. The doctor I started with wasn't bad. In fact he was quite good. He just had no bedside manner. Few oncologists do now days. Why are you asking?
