Member Story: Shelly

Finding the Right Treatment Plan

Best Doctors member, Shelly, 52, spent ten years as a registered nurse before trading in her night shifts for nights as a software engineer. After her yearly mammogram, Shelly experienced another life changing moment. Results showed she had stage 2 lobular breast cancer.

“I had a lot of decisions before me,” Shelly said. Because of the type of cancer and the high probability it would return in the other breast, Shelly and her surgeon decided on surgery. In June 2014, Shelly went into the operating room for a double mastectomy. Following the surgery, there was the possibility of radiation treatment. “As a runner, I did not want radiation,” said Shelly.

Because the cancer was on her left breast, radiation meant it would affect her heart and lung. Shelly did not want this to interfere with her daily activities. Looking through her company’s benefits one afternoon, Shelly came across Best Doctors.

Best Doctors is a free benefit provided by her employer. From a network of more than 50,000 physicians, Best Doctors provides expert medical advice on diagnosis and treatment options. Shelly contacted Best Doctors to have them review her case and confirm her diagnosis and treatment plan.

Initially, she thought Best Doctors would simply look at lab work results her doctors had already put together. “But they did a lot more than that,” said Shelly. “They redid everything – lab work, pathology tests – and came to their own conclusions. As a member of the medical community I was very impressed by that alone.” The Best Doctors Expert who reviewed her case confirmed her diagnosis and chemotherapy treatment plan, but definitively said she did not need radiation.

Shelly was relieved. “Best Doctors gave me the support to say ‘no’ and this is why and here it is.” The Best Doctors Expert also explained to Shelly why they recommended she only needed four rounds of chemo as opposed to six, which is what some women receive. “They filled in the blanks my current
doctors simply didn’t have time to, just because of the load my doctors were under,” Shelly said. Shelly finished her final round of chemotherapy treatment in September 2014. Her hair is almost back to a full inch of growth. In her upbeat humor, she joked about others thinking it was a fashion statement. As she approaches her one year mark from the time she was diagnosed, Shelly is looking forward to running again, spending time with her sister and celebrating 53 cancer free.