Dr. Paul Robert Conkling, MD

My wife entrusted her care to Dr. Conklin for severe anemia. Her condition warranted a bone marrow biopsy which indicated she contracted WM/LPL a rare lymphoma. Dr. Conklin claims he was never made aware of the report and inappropriately treated her for her disease for approx. 30 months and only became aware of the true nature of her disease after a biopsy of a lymph node reveled that she now had diffuse large b-cell lymphoma that had transformed from the previously identified LPL lymphoma. All documented by the pathologist in his report. Needless to say, my wife died as a result despite heroic efforts by her team at Duke University Cancer Clinic

Dr. Paul Conkling has been our oncologist for now 15 years. We first met when my husband was diagnosed with Esophageal Cancer Stage III (T3N1M0). At the time we were so naïve as to what this cancer was all about, we werenâ??t even sure that we should consider Chemotherapy. We just wanted to rush right on over to the Operating Room and â??get this thing out!â?? Easier said than done, we were soon to learn. After all the tests were run, and the cancer was verified, our then Surgeon Dr. Wilkes Hubbard, said that we needed to have chemo before the surgery. We reluctantly set up an appointment with Dr. Conkling. He was recommended as one of the â??best!â?? So we went just to satisfy the the surgeon. We went in to the consultation thinking â??Weâ??ll make this one trip, but weâ??re not going to even consider chemo.â?? In other words, we knew nothing, but our minds were â??already made up!â?? Well, we found Dr. Conkling to be very willing to answer all our questions. He… was NOT pushy. He did NOT tell us what we ought to do. He gave us some statistics relative to Esophageal Cancer patients. He did tell us that statistics did show that those who had neo-adjuvant chemo and radiation prior to having an Esophagectomy did fare better than those who did not, all things considered. We came home after that and were still undecided. But we decided better to be safe than sorry. And actually, we were not at all knowledgeable at the time as to how severe an Esophageal Cancer was. But weâ??ve since conducted prolonged research on our own from reputable sites and found that indeed tri-modal approach produces the best survival results. I must add that the pre-op chemo/radiation totally eradicated the tumors. However, we were told that an Esophagectomy would still be conducted to be certain there was no undetected cancer left in the body. Esophageal Cancer has relatively few survivors after a 5-yr. period. It is a deadly cancer. Ultimately, through research we found that Dr. James D. Luketich @ UPMC had pioneered a totally laparoscopic Esophagectomy known as the Ivor Lewis Minimally Invasive Esophagectomy. So we went there for a SECOND OPINION, and my husband was deemed a good candidate for that MIE surgery. And we thank God that my husband is now in his 14th year of survival. We credit the good results to good work by our surgeons, Dr. Conkling, our oncologist, and the Lord of course. Then in 2012, I was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer Stage IV. I also went to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center for a SECOND opinion. I was advised to first have chemotherapy. By now I knew better than to question the value of neo-adjuvant chemotherapy. We came home and I went directly to see Dr. Conkling. Since Iâ??ve researched cancer for quite a few years now, naturally, I have lots of questions. I did read a review here that someone else had written that the â??waitâ?? time was a bit much. Shall I tell them why? Because someone like me with a terminal cancer has â??his earâ?? and is asking lots of questions and he is giving me the answers. He draws charts and diagrams. He still monitors my husbandâ??s recovery on a semi-annual basis. He is never â??out of reachâ??. His nurses will always consult with him if I have a question in between visits. So I for one will NEVER complain about how long I have to wait, because there is most likely another patient in the other room who needs the same amount of undivided attention that he gives to both me and my husband. Anyone considering selecting him as their oncologist, I have only one thing to say. â??He is worth the WAIT!â?? If you had a higher rating than 5 stars, I would give him all of them. Heâ??s a â??TENâ?? in our book!â??

DR. CONKLING HAS BEEN GREAT. HE IS SO SWEET WHEN TALKING TO MY MOTHER..HE TELLS IT LIKE IT IS EVEN IF IT IS HARD TO SWALLOW BUT HE KNOWS HOW TO DO HIS JOB.HE'S EXCELLENT AND I'M SO GLAD HE AND CATHY (ASSISTANT) ARE ALWAYS THERE TO HELP.

Dr Conkling and all the staff at Va Oncology have been great!!!

dr.conkling is a very nice dr., but having to wait 2 and a 1/2 hrs from my appointment time to finally seeing him is a bit much. this happening 2 appointments in a row is way more than a bit much!