Oncology question

Does anyone happen to know of a really solid private oncologist in the Los Angeles area or somewhere nearby? A coworker at my job was asking if I had any recommendations for her husband, and honestly, I was totally stumped. Her husband had surgery for colon cancer about three months ago, and they were referred over to the MD Anderson Cancer Center for his radiation and chemo treatments, but the hospital hasn't even reached out to them in months! He hasn't been able to get an ultrasound, a CT scan, or any kind of diagnostic testing done yet, and they are absolutely terrified that things might be spreading while they just sit around waiting for a phone call. The man is only 50 years old and is ready to do absolutely everything possible to get healthy again—he’s more than willing to pay out of pocket for all the exams and scans—but he just has no clue where to start or who to contact. If anyone knows a specialist, please let me know so I can pass the info along to her. Thanks so much!

Could you maybe clear this up a bit: "they sent him over to MD Anderson Cancer Center for radiation and chemo, but they haven't called him back in months"...Does that mean he actually had an appointment there if they "sent him," and what did they tell him during the visit? Then again, why would they bother calling if he hasn't responded or if they don't have his info on file?

Just a heads-up, there’s really no such thing as a private oncologist. To be more specific, things like radiation and chemo are handled in hospitals, not private clinics, so there’s honestly zero point in paying someone privately for that kind of stuff.
I’d say just stick to whatever the surgeon advises. Basically, follow whatever is written in those surgical follow-up reports. It should say something like, "status is X... follow-up in X weeks with an ultrasound/CT/colonoscopy/tumor marker test..." If that's the case, you shouldn't be sitting around waiting for a phone call; you just go ahead and schedule the tests they asked for and show up to the check-up. Don't forget that the patient is still under the surgeon's care! An ultrasound or CT scan is going to be way more important to the surgeon than the oncologist anyway. The oncologist mostly looks at what the surgeon noted in their report along with blood work like CBC, white cell counts, platelets, and liver enzymes... and then they build the treatment plan based on all that.

Three months isn't actually that long of a stretch, and I don't think he's missed the window for oncology treatment. Especially if nothing was found to have spread during the pre-op or intra-op stages. Of course, since we don't know the specifics, it’s a bit silly to be totally certain about anything.
From what I can gather here, I don't see any reason to panic.

But you really need to see an oncologist as soon as possible. In my view, once the surgical phase is successfully handled, the patient transitions from being under the surgeon's care to being managed by an oncologist—ideally working alongside their primary care physician. It is vital to get those necessary tests done immediately and consult with an oncologist without delay; there should be no waiting when it comes to starting further treatment.
Of course, if the surgeon hasn't finished their part of the process yet, then all three specialists should be involved in the care plan...

I don't have all the gritty details since I'm not the one going through it, but I do know that once he finished his recovery from surgery, he was sent straight over to MD Anderson Cancer Center, and they basically told him he’d be starting radiation and chemo whenever they decided to call him, without even running any extra tests beyond a standard blood panel! His wife was understandably freaking out and called them up, only to be told that their radiation machine was actually out of order. Now, look, I can't say for sure if everything is fine or if things are heading south, but since the doctors haven't shared much and none of those necessary scans have been done yet, it honestly feels pretty sketchy to me as an outsider. It’s exactly why people end up hunting for a private specialist just to get three coherent sentences about the illness, the prognosis, what tests are coming next, and any other basic info you'd expect. They're terrified that the cancer might have spread, while the hospital staff is just sitting on its hands waiting for someone to give them a call.

Honestly, you should’ve been getting all those forecasts and deep dives into what you're dealing with way back on the surgical floor, during the pre-op prep, and definitely during those follow-up checkups after the surgery. Believe me, there’s really no reason to go out and pay some private specialist just to get basic information you should have already had.
It blows my mind that nobody actually sat me down to explain if they just did a simple colon resection or if they had to clear out some kind of metastatic growth along the way. There is a massive difference between "it stayed localized" and "it spread," and I deserved to know which one it was.
I mean, sometimes people just want a little more than the dry, clinical jargon or those clipped, rushed sentences doctors tend to throw at patients when they're in a hurry. Like, come on man, you expect a bit more—something more thorough... especially since the prognosis and the procedure details were probably mentioned at some point anyway, but never clearly enough.

They mentioned they removed 13 lymph nodes and found tumor cells in three of them, though I really hope I'm getting my facts straight since this whole medical thing is totally foreign territory to me! My wife is saying that they didn't find any actual metastases, which sounds promising, but then there's this part that worries me—they aren't planning to do anything for three months, not even an ultrasound or any other scans to make sure nothing is growing... I just don't get it. Are they seriously going to wait until the tumor grows large enough to actually feel from the outside before they bother checking again?
When it comes to doctors, I've had some incredibly negative experiences myself, and I’m certainly not someone who doesn't understand what's going on! Even though I'm educated and definitely not dim, I've often felt like a complete idiot during conversations with physicians. I'll ask a perfectly reasonable question, and they just roll their eyes and start enunciating every single syllable with this patronizing emphasis—almost as if they think I'm deaf or slow—saying things like, "Ma'am, we know just as much as you do. Just relax. You'll hear everything when you come in for your follow-up." Honestly, it makes me wonder how they would even talk to me if they thought I was just some uneducated woman from a tiny rural town with nothing to her name.

I honestly don't see anything wrong with people seeking out a private specialist just to get a second opinion or some extra guidance on their treatment plan. While it's true you won't be getting the actual therapy administered at a private clinic, there is immense value in simply having a calm, focused conversation with someone who actually has the time to sit down with a patient, walk them through their test results, and explain what the next steps should look like.

Unfortunately, my own experience dealing with oncologists in the public hospital system has been pretty discouraging; it feels like everyone is constantly rushing around, you end up waiting for ages, and when you finally do get a moment with them, they tend to be incredibly brilliant but almost impossible to actually talk to.

In our case, deciding to go to a private specialist was easily the best decision we could have made. That one consultation was worth every single penny, and I am personally convinced that the specific treatment he recommended—which is typically handled by specialized centers abroad—has played a massive role in the positive progress we've seen during this first year since the diagnosis.

That’s just my general take on the matter. I'll send the specific names over to the original poster via private message.

Would you mind sharing the contact info for that oncologist you saw for your private consultation? My dad was just diagnosed with colon cancer (Dukes B stage), and we need him to meet with an oncologist to figure out if preventative chemo is the right move. Since we’re looking to get a second opinion privately, any recommendation would be a huge help.

Thanks so much!!