Doctor Time and Goals vs Patient Time and Goals

Kara Monroe
3 min readNov 8, 2023

I’m continuing to tell the story of my journey with endometrial cancer. I speak openly and honestly in these posts so if that might offend you, please feel free to check out my newsletter or my other writings instead.

“Cancer is not an emergency.”

This was the first line of a response I read in a wonderful cancer support Facebook group I’m in. It’s not a line I would ever lead with to another person going through this nightmare but it has been a recurring theme in my brain ever since I read it so it was probably good that I saw it.

Doctor Time vs Patient Time

I’ve started adding notes in many of my texts to friends and family that “doctors don’t work on Kara Time”. And, that fact is incredibly frustrating.

At the moment, I’m waiting on someone to call me to schedule an appointment for a CT scan and someone to call and let me know what time a meeting is taking place on November 15. And then, today, when I asked a question to my oncologist’s office about the CT Scan order that is in the e-chart system, as something in it contradicted what the doctor told me by phone yesterday, the nurse not only confused me on that specific point more but told me to call their main line to schedule. Yesterday, the doc told me that someone would call me to…

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Kara Monroe

I am a world traveler, part-time road warrior, and home body all wrapped up in one gadget-loving package. Writer, photographer, chef, and aspiring artist.