Medical Oncologist recommendation: Mayo Clinic

[Velohomme]

Hey guys -

I'm looking for a great MO. Does anybody have recommendations for somebody at Mayo Clinic in Rochestor?

[Tall_Allen]

Does it have to be at Mayo? IMO, Mayo has more strength in research and urology. Where do you live?

[Velohomme in reply to Tall_Allen]

I live in San Francisco right now. My primary treatment (prostatectomy and radiation) was at Mayo in Minnesota (was living in MN then). I am seeing Kwon now but I am not comfortable that he is the right man for the job (he is an Urologist). I have access to UCSF and saw Larry Fong there.

[Tall_Allen in reply to Velohomme]

i agree with you -- Kwon is primarily a researcher. UCSF just had a lot of changes in medical oncology, but I think Eric Small, Rahul Aggarwal, and Matthew Cooperberg are still there. At Stanford, you have Sandy Srinivas. You didn't like Larry Fong?

[Velohomme in reply to Tall_Allen]

I liked Fong. I'm in a awkward situation. I only had access to USCF because Kaiser agreed to let me engage them when I had my recurrence this year. I'm not sure Kaiser will reimburse me to see them again. I've held onto my Mayo insurance so that is a path I know I can get covered.

[Survivor1965 in reply to Velohomme]

I’m curious about this bi believe Kwon has kept me alive. He is a great man with many, many success stories. Maybe you could PM me with some details of why your not happy there??

Thanks

[Velohomme in reply to Survivor1965]

I think Kwon is great. I especially like his approach. He is a urologist but he does not do surgery anymore. Instead, he is effectively a "prostate cancer" specialist. IMO that is the best way to approach this disease. For instance, instead of leaving the patient to decide between surgery or radiation it would be great to have an advocate, steeped in the data, to advice us.

Kwon is especially well known for his efforts in oligometastatic disease and that is when I engaged him. Unfortunately, it is not looking likely that I will have any success with that approach: not Kwon's fault...my cancer's fault (very rapid PSADT and inability to see on scans at PSA 5 forced me to begin ADT as solution).

So...my thought is to find the best "chemist" at this stage. I'm not giving up on Kwon but I think I might be starting on the long slog (well....hoping it is long) of hormone suppression and anti-androgens. I would love to be connected to somebody who is very strong in that area.

My situation BTW:

dx 2.5 years ago, gleason 9, prostatectomy in 2016, radiation in 2017....recurrence in June 2018. PSADT of 3 weeks. Could not find cancer on scans (2 PET choline and 1 PET PSMA) even when PSA got to 5. Started ADT in October. PSA has dropped to .1

So...technically not metastatic because it cannot be seen. So I am officially hormone sensitive and non-metastatic.

TL:DR ... my blog: homme-interrupted.blogspot....

[ctarleton]

Charles Ryan moved from UCSF to Minnesota not long ago. Don't know if your Mayo coverage could be used to get a referral to him or not.

mhealth.org/providers/ryanc...

In the SF Bay area, Kaiser Oakland's Andrea Harzstark formerly worked with the UCSF team. A referral to her might be pretty easy to get, to see what she says, and for you to decide if you may be comfortable in her consulting care.

mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.o...

Charles

[Jackpine]

Velohomme,

See if you can see Dr. Eugene Kwon. He’s been my MO for 3 years and he’s great.

[pilot52]

MD Anderson Houston , Duke Durham , Mayo Minn. satalite clinics usually not as good. All research facilities. Cedar Sinai also.

[Longterm101]

Did u ever find a MO? I'm headed to Mayo Tuesday and Wednesday of this week for my first meeting.

DX Jan 10 Gleason 9 PSA 18.

Been on Lupron since Jan 25th.

Help! thx

[Pleroma in reply to Longterm101]

I use Dr. Kwon as my primary Mayo oncologist, and leave it to him to select an MO & RO from Mayo's ranks. I trust him to make the best choice in keeping with his own style of approach to treatment - which is not a bad thing - as he is insanely interested in giving us Stage 4'ers every possible chance to bring our condition into remission.

[Twig4]

The only physician we would or will see is Dr. Eugene Kwon. He is absolutely the best! You will not find a more caring, compassionate or knowledge physician ever. Not only is he outstanding but his connections with the the best of the best are unbelievable. If you want a guy that thinks outside of the box….and won’t give up on you…Dr Kwon is absolutely the one!

[cesces]

Velohomme

You posted this about 3 years ago.

How did bringing in a good MO onto your Dr Kwon team work?

Do you think it made a difference?

If so, can you describe how and in what manner?