Questions must be asked

Patients' queries are essential

Dear Dr. Gott: I am a 78-year-old woman. A couple of years ago, my family doctor sent me to an oncologist, saying my bone marrow is producing too many red blood cells for no reason. My hemoglobin is 16, which is comparable to a man’s reading, and mine should be 14 or 15. The oncologist wants to watch it closely. He also wants me to have a bone-marrow blood test.

I would like to know what he suspects or what he is looking for. It really has me worried. I’ve heard this test is painful. I’ve enclosed my last blood work for your review.

Dear Reader: According to the paperwork you provided, your white and red blood cells, hemoglobin, and platelets are within your lab’s normal limits. I am, therefore, at a loss as to why you are being urged to undergo invasive testing.

As I have said many times in the past, patients must talk with their physicians and ask questions. Just because they are specially trained in healing doesn’t mean that they can’t make mistakes. If you don’t understand something or aren’t comfortable proceeding with the doctor’s advice, speak up.

There may be a perfectly good reason for the oncologist’s recommendations of which I am unaware because I do not know your medical history.

Return to the specialist, and ask your questions. If he is unable or unwilling to answer satisfactorily, seek out a second opinion from another hematologist-

oncologist. You do not have to follow a physician’s advice because he said so. But be aware that if he has a sound, logical reason, his advice may be appropriate, and not following it could have disastrous consequences.

Dr. Peter Gott is a retired physician and the author of “Dr. Gott’s No Flour, No Sugar Diet,” (Grand Central Publishing, $21.99).