Coastal Integrative Cancer Care: Deborah Villa, MD

Dr. Villa was the first oncologist I came to see after moving to the area from out of state. I was a seven month survivor at that point and had heard very good things about her. She was nice when I met her, except for the snide comment she made about my tattoos. While giving me my physical, she was looking at my arms (where my tattoos are) and said "Aw, I hate to see this." I thought maybe she was looking at my veins or something and I asked why. She said "Because... what are you going to do when your older?" referring to my tattoos. I felt like saying "Let's worry about me getting older, lady" as I'm 34 now and was 32 when diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer and am BRCA1 positive. Nonetheless, she brought attention to headaches that I said I had been having and ordered a brain MRI immediately. She said to make an appointment for a month later and I would hear back from them if there was something going on with the MRI. I went in for the MRI immediately and heard back from Dr. Villa's office a week later. Her medical assistant had called me and when I spoke to her, she wanted me to come in the next day. I asked her why and that Dr. Villa had said I'd only be called if there was a problem. The medical assistant was completely beating around the bush and then bluntly said "It has nothing to do with your breast cancer." I said oook... and she said "The doctor will talk to you tomorrow." My husband got home and I told him what happened. He said to call back and demand to talk to the doctor. I did and I was able to talk to her. I said "Hi Dr. Villa. I was told I'd be given a call if something were wrong. Did something abnormal come up on the MRI." She seems a little agitated and said yes, in fact, it is. She said that I had what she thought was a meningioma brain tumor. She said that it looked benign and that it would have nothing to do with the cancer I had. When I asked her what this tumor meant and what it's about, she told me to Google it. Seriously and I kid you, that is what she told me, her patient, to do. She then said that her mom has had one for the past 20 years and that most likely, another doctor would just keep an eye on it. She then told me that she needed to get off the phone because she was with a patient and she'd see me the next day. The next day, she asked how I was feeling and when I told her "not well" she acted surprised and said "Didn't you look up the information?" After talking to her for a while, she said she actually didn't know if the tumor was benign and she was going to refer me to see a neurosurgeon and a neurologist. I asked her about having a PET scan done since I then I had a brain tumor and she said only if the tumor was cancer. In her words "we can't just give PET scans willy nilly." After this visit, I sought out a new doctor. Having a doctor tell me to Google something serious, makes comments about my personal choice for tattoos and doesn't explain in any detail at all as to why I can't get a PET scan (which two other doctors explained in great detail why I shouldn't) is means for me to search for another doctor. Yes, she ordered the brain MRI for me which I will always be grateful for, but as far as being able to put all of my trust in her as my oncologist, no way.
2 9 years ago (04-05-2016)