Marian Malloy Blackman, 13-year breast cancer survivor
"A treatment plan is like having someone go through my medical record and extract all the most pertinent information and translate it into an easily readable packet."
In March 1995, during a routine mammography, Marian Malloy Blackman was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had a lumpectomy and lymph node dissection, 8 rounds of chemotherapy, and 6 ½ weeks of radiation over the course of 8 months at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
Marian’s health has had some complications since her treatment 13 years ago: During one follow-up visit with her oncologist, she complained of feeling light-headed and dizzy. A CAT scan uncovered a brain aneurysm, which required treatment at a different hospital. She has also experienced thyroid problems, heart issues, and sleep apnea, as well as vertigo – all of which need monitoring and coordination with other doctors across the city.
Marian was lucky. Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center is one of the few institutions implementing treatment summaries and survivorship care plans. The center also has a Cancer Survivorship Program where Marian was referred for continued follow-up after her treatment. She received a written treatment summary outlining her diagnosis, the treatments she received, and the results, and a copy is sent directly to her primary care doctor.
At Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s survivorship program, she meets twice yearly with a nurse practitioner. They go over her health status, medications, blood work and , tests needed, and her treatment summary is updated and sent to her primary physician. They also address the psychological issues that come up for so many cancer survivors. As a stressed-out overnight duty manager at Newark International Airport, Marian finds this aspect of care particularly helpful.
“I used to walk around with reams and reams of paper – my doctor gave me a copy of everything – and I would carry it to all my doctors outside of Sloan-Kettering,” she says. “This treatment summary and plan is concise and easy. It’s like having someone go through my medical record and extract all the most pertinent information and translate it into an easily readable packet. It’s especially helpful to me when I’m outside Sloan-Kettering.”
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