Dr. Nishitha M Reddy, MD

Bottom line: Dr. Reddy and her staff are awesome.
Details: I was diagnosed with a very aggressive, chemo-resistant ...lymphoma. I am also a veterinarian. The inevitability of death for every creature is undeniable. Frankly, I expected to die after I saw the results and scans. To top it off, my MD brother-in-law provided me with studies confirming that. Regardless, I decided I would give 200% to fight. Dr. Reddy took charge and immediately hit me hard with a prolonged chemo, Hyper CVAD-R. It is broken into 8 cycles. I spent a total of 40 days in Vanderbilt Hospital through the late spring, summer and early fall of 2011. Dr. Reddy and her colleagues were there every day. I now have no signs of lymphoma and have been released from further scans!
To address the care I got: Dr. Reddy gave me a high level of confidence. She cited research that guided her decisions and referred to protocols at MD Anderson. Her staff is very friendly and professional. Kudos to Megan, Tracy, the nurses and administrative staff. Due to my background, I was looking for things that non medical people would never notice, and which are much more important than touchy/feely interactions - like subtle breaks in sterile field by my caregivers, IV line care at the fluid bag end when switching out, medical attentiveness (not social attentiveness) of the nurses and staff. My care at Vanderbilt was superb! I have never experienced such care and concern for my wellbeing. The hematology/infusion/stem cell floor at the hospital has to be so emotionally hard to work. Yet these nurses and 'care partners' came in every time with an upbeat attitude. I don't know how they do it. I 'love' those nurses and partners. I tried to tough out the nausea when it hit. My nurses weren't having any of it and were on it. I could go on and on.
I don't know if this cancer will come back, or something else. But at this point I have been given two extra years and counting. And that is sweet! more details