In my neurology practice, when patients had scans or other tests done, we always made an appointment to go over the results together within a few days or a week. The point was that it was something you did together: we looked at the images together, discussed what we saw, talked through their questions, concerns, fears, and talked about next steps. That’s the way it’s supposed to work.

Since I could access the digital files of my scans myself as a physician, I thought I’d just take a quick look to confirm that this was a non-issue. Save my doctor and myself the trouble of a follow-up appointment. As I pulled up the scan, I wasn’t expecting to see anything, so I was startled to see a significant something. I leaned closer and stared at the image on the screen. There was a really big tumor there, a surprisingly large tumor – a mass the size of a ping-pong ball.