MichaelJMageeMDFACP

Summary

• Oncologists are both blessed and tasked.
  
  I am blessed with the opportunity to stand beside my patients in their adversity, both learning from them, and being God's presence to them.
  
  And I am tasked to see my patients with stereoscopic vision: One eye focused on an opportunity to bring all that medical science can bring to bear, the other eye focused on a vulnerable, suffering, fellow human being, worthy of all the compassion we can muster for our own mothers.
  
  For oncologists, what we do and say each day may be, for some of us, just part of our calling and vocation. But for me, I realize that for you and each individual I behold in my office or hospital, what I do or say is part of the most important day of your life. While pain may be the "5th vital sign," I have learned from you my patients that suffering is the 6th vital sign. And that the primary cause of suffering is not physical pain, but is solitude. So I walk with you on your path from victim to survivor
  
  You want an accurate diagnosis and maximum tumor cell kill, but you also want to preserve your individuality. So my team and I offer you "stereoscopic oncology," keeping one eye focused sharply on evidenced-based medicine, but the other eye sensitive to your upside-down, topsy-turvy world due to your recent diagnosis of cancer.
  
  I "take care of business" by listening and explaining.
  
  By careful listening, I take into consideration your family and faith perspective, and your desire for individualization of your cancer treatment plan.
  
  By explaining options thoroughly, I confidently navigate you toward an integrated plan that is yours, through a maze of choices including targeting driving mutations, CDK 4/6 inhibitors, check point inhibitors, and clinical trials.
  
  Mike Magee, MD