Is it OK to request an additional follow up appt. with my onc?

Of course you can.  That is what they are there for.  Call and make an appointment and get your list ready.

Sometimes I fax my questions to my onc, and he replies when he has time. This seems better than the conveying messages over the phone to a second person sort of thing.

By the way, tho, I have found the collective wisdom here to be phenomenal. Just about any question I have I can find answers for here.

Unanswered questions can certainly eat at you!

I was in a similar situation, and I made an appointment with the onc who I saw for a 2nd opinion.  I just wanted to talk about tamoxifen vs. aromatase inhibitors.  I know that, for oncs, this isn't rocket science, but for me I had a lot of competing impulses that were saying "yes" to this and "no" to that.  This 2nd opinion onc, who is lovely and answered all my questions, suggested to me that I was there because of cancer anxiety. That felt dismissive of my concerns, but probably contained some truth.

When I saw my regular ongoing onc, and I said that I am afraid of aromatase inhibitors (due to existant scoliosis and osteopenia), she seemed brittle and offended when she found out that I saw another onc, but when I told her that also I read the internet, she dismissed the internet.  But I only get 10 minutes with her every 6 months. 

It's hard to know when is an appropriate time to ask basic questions to a qualified medical professional.  I find it confusing when they put down the internet, and yet they also find my questions pendantic.  I'm making it sound more uncomfortable than it was, and I am glad that I sought out the second doc, so that I could use the entire visit to pepper her with questions.  I still haven't decided about the aromatase inhibitors, but I probably will give them a try. I haven't really felt so undecided about any aspect of my cancer treatment until I hit this point (but that's another whole topic).

This site is great and helps me a lot.

YOU are the boss... not your oncologist.  YOU are paying him...  you most certainly have the right to get answers to your questions.....  If breast cancer has taught me nothing else it is that nobody but me is going to stick up for me.... Wishing you peace and health.   Tami

This just irritates the heck out of me.  It's like requesting an audience with the pope, isn't it?  Would it kill an Onc to give you 5 mins of time? 

You've got to be prepared to walk -- that's what I did.  I dropped my first Onc after the first 8 rounds of treatment due to his condescending manner.  I found a great woman Onc afterward. 

Best of luck,

Gabrielle