Why Is it Important for Patients to Ask Questions and Advocate for Themselves?
For mesothelioma patients, asking a doctor questions can be scary. But mesothelioma survivor Tamron Little shares the importance of asking questions during the diagnosis process.
[MUSIC PLAYING] TAMRON LITTLE: Patients should always advocate for themselves. Sometimes they're their only advocate. I always let people know that it is very important to ask questions. Do not be afraid to ask questions, whether you're at the physician's office, or if you're in any other setting. You always have to ask questions so you can know firsthand what's going on and do your own research so you will know what to ask. A lot of patients are scared to ask the physicians because they are the physicians, and they have went to school for this. But you are the patient. You are your best advocate, and it is good to know what's going on and what to expect during your treatment. With asbestos and the different exposures that we are exposed to daily, it is very important to ask the origination of it. So if you don't know what something is, just say, hey, I don't know what asbestos is. Doctor, could you tell me more about this? Could you tell me more about where do you think I was exposed and how it happened? And it is best for us to do our own research as well. So just like in my case, my first doctor didn't know anything about it. So the questions that I was asking him, he couldn't give me any answers. So I had to do my own digging along with my family. But now 15 years later, there is more information out there. And if we work together as a community like the Cancer Moonshot Initiative, then we can bring more awareness, more information about what asbestos is and really allow people to see the dangers of it and what we can do to stop it. [MUSIC PLAYING]
