Askew Robert Jr MD

I had to have two lumpectomys and could not believe what a great job he did, there is hardly a scar at all. He is very kind and helpful and explained everything to my husband and I. I highly recommend him.

«I had really wanted to talk with a woman about my boob. Not YOU.» He laughed and said one of his best friends is a proctologist and she and he share stories about men not wanting to go to a woman. Then he chuckled and said that, actually, less men have this complaint. «Well, you were one of 3 people who came highly recommended to me and, even though you were number one on the recommendation list, I tried to make the other two work. They were women. But your credentials and experience far outweighed the others.»
Dr. Robert Askew has a disarmingly sweet and intimate bedside manner… intimate like a sweet brother.
Before he had come into the room, I had ripped apart 2 flimsy pink vests. I asked My Sweetie to help me. Must have been nervous… standing there, exposed, and not knowing how to work the origami vest. I did not want to doubt the second opinion… I needed to know what was going on with the cyst on my left breast and I needed to be able to ask a lot of questions. Getting a second opinion, I soon learned, was my OBGYN’s way to spread the liability. Verdict: I will return for more sonogram details in 6 months and we will see if it is larger or smaller or GONE.
He explained that my visit was like what a fire department would do… you know, if someone yelled fire. They would get to the fire quickly and be there in case they were needed, but sometimes they are not so much needed. Sometimes it is a false alarm, you know, and sometimes it is a CYA exercise. People talk about quickly spreading cancer, but that is not really how it works… unless the cyst has been there for a number of years and it has gone undetected.
Dr. Askew said that cancer is overrated as far as it’s speed of spread. He said if you are watching closely, it is like trying to see a flower bloom blossom… very slow, painstakingly slow. So the trick is to catch it early and his hunch is that my tiny cyst will likely disappear. Overrated. I liked that.
I asked if men ever get breast cancer and he said YES… but, because it goes undetected, they usually die from it. I asked him if he gave himself breast exams like women are encouraged to give breast exams… He said that when he lathers up in the shower, he does feel in those areas, but not like an exam. I like that he let me ask him questions, not just about me, but about him. I liked that he gave thoughtful answers and did not try and arrogantly patronize or impatiently scoff.
I asked if large breasted women had a greater risk than small breasted women, you know, because of the shear increase of square footage, errr, round boobage, wouldn’t that make sense? He said absolutely not. You either have a predisposition for it or not. You do not have more risk with large boobs.
I will return in 6 months for HIS expert opinion.