Robin Obenchain

"It’s been three years since my diagnosis of breast cancer, now stage 4 widely metastatic to the bone. I chose Dr. Obenchain based on a dear friend’s recommendation. Kindness and empathy can get you far, but do yourself a life saving factor and get a specialist in the type of cancer you have. My mastectomy, done incompletely by a breast surgeon (she left a dime size lesion on my skin mistaking it for psoriasis, never even biopsied it) and 16 months later it had spread across the mastectomy site. I was erroneously told by the breast surgeon and Dr. Obenchain that I have triple negative breast cancer when the path report clearly said estrogen positive. After asking Dr. Obenchain to do a precision medicine test it confirmed estrogen positive. Dr. Obenchain was one of three oncologists I interviewed, was willing to work with my naturopath and even apologized for recommending chemo because that’s what “they are trained to do” although she was quite stuck on giving 4 rounds of it despite it not being the treatment of choice for invasive lobular. She was absolutely correct in her decision not to put me on estrogen blockers (turns out the estrogen should have been much higher (like 60-90% as opposed to my initial 2%.). Eventually when it hit my bones it got to 40% and then the estrogen blocker I was given caused A-fib so that treatment stopped. I saw my dermatologist 2 months after my mastectomy, a total of 4 times over 8 months who insisted it was psoriasis (a trusted dermatologist who couldn’t seem to think outside the box) until a different dermatologist saw me for a unrelated condition and when I showed him the lesions he panicked and did a biopsy showing it was the original breast cancer. To my horror (if it had been caught right after mastectomy or during there was plenty of skin left to remove the lesion. I was also told by the breast surgeon that I wouldn’t need radiation because I elected a mastectomy as opposed to breast sparing surgery but wrong again. If you have a tumor that is over 5.5 centimeters then radiation is mandatory. Also if you present with a skin lesion and its cancer, remove the lesion and mandatory radiation. Dr. Obenchain did not advise this, but did see the growing lesions. When I asked why she had not questioned it her answer was that it didn’t look like skin metastasis! Well look up pictures of skin Mets and the range of what lesions can look like in infinity. Our last conversation via zoom was not good in that she was more concerned that I was yelling at her (I was devastated) than apologizing for her mistakes. Strangely I now have a reputation for being a non-compliant patient (Ironwood Treatment Center let me know months ago) and at one point was accused of lying about the lesion being there as doctors had not documented it. The only group who assumed any responsibility was the dermatologist. So please, if you have breast cancer, colon, ovarian, lung, etc. GET a specialist in that type. I can’t hold my grandkids, it hurts too much. My physical suffering is off the charts but my spiritual anquish keeps my body from rest, from the peace I so desperately crave. Dr. Obenchain is a lovely woman, a hugger, comfort, and if she saved your life, it was your destiny. Not her skill."

"Simply the best! And the staff -all of them- are amazing!"

"Dr. Obenchain is the most caring doctor I've ever been to."

"These people are awesome. The doctor, her assistant, and the entire staff are wonderful people and they're a pleasure to deal with in what are sometimes not the most ideal conditions. They are extremely helpful, friendly courteous professional and I could go on and on. There is a single bad thing I can say about this practice or anyone who works here. Special shout outs to Dr Robin herself, Carrie, Ashley, Ashton, and Sandy who is no longer with them. Jim"

"I can't say enough good things about Dr. Obenchain. Her calm and friendly manner set the tone for the appointment. The scope of her knowledge was reassuring, and she was very very supportive and extremely kind. We were treated as human beings with individual needs, concerns and questions. She took her time, and gave us thorough and well-rounded information in order to make the decisions for next steps ."