Primary Research Assessment #2

Mentor: ​Tanya Watt

Profession:​ Pediatric Oncologist

Location: ​Children’s Medical Center Dallas

Date:​ January 10, 2018

Time: ​11 A.M. - 12:30 P.M.

Assessment:

Going into my second mentor visit, I was not sure what to expect. As my previous mentor

visit had consisted mainly of paperwork and conversation, I was considering my second visit to

be my first “real” mentor visit, and I was extremely nervous. I was not sure how I would react to

seeing patients, or how I would talk to them if I had to. I also was unsure of what my place

would be in the whole operation. Therefore, I went in with an open mind and no expectations, as

to get the best experience that I could possible get out of whatever was given to me. I had only

one goal, and that was to take as many opportunities as were offered to me.

When I walked in, I met Dr. Watt up on the sixth floor in the oncology command post,

where all of the oncologists share their central office. There were doctors, nurses, fellows, and

residents walking around throughout the small room, all of them in constant conversation about

their collective patients. Dr. Watt brought me over to her computer and pulled up a chair, where I

sat with her as she explained the conditions of a couple of her patients. She told me about a

fifteen year old boy with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and explained how they were

administering his chemotherapy through a series of spinal taps. She also told me about a four

year old boy who originally went to the emergency room complaining of abdominal pain and,
after a few scans, was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor on his kidney, called a Wilms Tumor.

He is now being treated with both surgery and chemotherapy to remove the mass and the treat

the cancer. While I did not get to see either patient, I was able to see how all of the information

was put into the system, and how to read the list of symptoms and patient information to show

signs of different conditions. Throughout this, Dr. Watt was interrupted several times to sign off

on treatment for other physicians’ patients. I learned pretty quickly that in order for a patient to

be treated, two other physicians on the oncology team must agree that the proposed treatment is

the best fit for the patient and their specific condition. In addition to this, Dr. Watt was also

asked to go see another physician’s patient to help make a diagnosis. I went with her, and it was

one of the most incredible experiences of my life. The girl, only in kindergarten, had a lump

under her armpit that she had been feeling for a couple of weeks. Her mom had been religiously

checking it, and they had found that it changed consistency pretty frequently. The people in the

urgent care had referred her to oncology to get it checked out. Before going in, Dr. Watt briefed

me on this, and explained what she was going to do once we went inside. She was simply going

to feel the mass so that she could decide if she thought it was a lymph node or a cancerous

tumor, as, after all of her years of experience, she can tell the difference simply by feeling it.

When we went in, Dr. Watt handled everything perfectly. She introduced herself to the parents

and to the child, and the child pretty quickly took Dr. Watt’s stethoscope and began to play with

it. Dr. Watt went along with it and balanced playing with her while talking to the parents. I felt

the anxiety of the parents go down as Dr. Watt talked to them and told them that she didn’t think

that their daughter had cancer, and I watched as the child was completely oblivious to it all. I was

left completely in awe of Dr. Watt and her ability to handle the whole situation so gracefully.
Finally, right before leaving, Dr. Watt let me go in to see a spinal tap procedure. I got to go in

with the fellow and the resident, and stand right next to Dr. Watt as she inserted the needle into

the patient’s spine and extracted the cerebrospinal fluid. By the end, I was so happy that I got to

see so much on only my first day.

Looking forward, I see that I have so much to learn from being in the hospital with Dr.

Watt. Not only do I get to see way more than I expected, but I also am already beginning to see

everything in a whole different light. First of all, I learned that the procedures do not really freak

me out as much as I thought they would. I imagined to be completely grossed out by the spinal

tap, however, I was actually incredibly intrigued. Second of all, while it is nearly impossible to

put into words, I am learning what it is that makes a good pediatric oncologist. Seeing Dr. Watt

talk to the little girl and her parents pieced everything together for me, finally making me

understand all that I had read throughout my secondary research. Finally, while I haven’t really

interacted with any actual patients, I am looking forward to doing so next week and experiencing

that major aspect of pediatric oncology while learning how to cope with the emotional aspect.

Overall, I am incredibly excited to see what the coming weeks hold!