Finding the right DR.

kale1972
kale1972 Member Posts: 36
in Ovarian Cancer #1
I have an appt on Tues with the new oncologist. I am not sure how I feel about him. He is young and only been a Dr. for 10 yrs. He is at UC Irvine, which is a great hospital, but I don't feel as confident as I did with the gyno/onco I had. I looked into Dr. Andrew Lowy at UCSD. Both hospitals are the exact same distance from me. How do I make the right choice???

Comments

  • lovesanimals
    lovesanimals Member Posts: 1,366 Member
    #2
    Hi Kale
    Sometimes it's not easy to make a good choice, especially for many of us this is our first experience with cancer. I don't have the background on why you are getting a new oncologist, but are you feeling less confident about this new oncologist mainly because of his age and length of experience? If so, I would keep my appointment and give him a chance. As you interact with him more and get to know him better, you might very well decide that he's a good fit and feel confident in him and his abilities. If not, I'm hoping you'll have the option of looking for an oncologist who's a better fit for you.

    I was lucky. I picked my oncologist because he's my friend's doctor (and he's covered by my insurance). My friend is a nine-year stage 3C ovarian cancer survivor and she spoke (and speaks) very highly about him and his care.

    Kelly
  • Tethys41
    Tethys41 Member Posts: 1,382 Member
    #3
    Intuition
    Kale,
    There are a lot of choices to make when dealing with cancer. I found that when there was a crossroads ahead, that the necessary information always reveled itself, maybe not until the very last second, that made my choice simple. Listen to what he says. If you aren't 100% comfortable with him, get a second opinion. You will know what the right choice is when you have to make it.
  • kale1972
    kale1972 Member Posts: 36
    #4
    lovesanimals said:

    Hi Kale
    Sometimes it's not easy to make a good choice, especially for many of us this is our first experience with cancer. I don't have the background on why you are getting a new oncologist, but are you feeling less confident about this new oncologist mainly because of his age and length of experience? If so, I would keep my appointment and give him a chance. As you interact with him more and get to know him better, you might very well decide that he's a good fit and feel confident in him and his abilities. If not, I'm hoping you'll have the option of looking for an oncologist who's a better fit for you.

    I was lucky. I picked my oncologist because he's my friend's doctor (and he's covered by my insurance). My friend is a nine-year stage 3C ovarian cancer survivor and she spoke (and speaks) very highly about him and his care.

    Kelly

    @Kelly
    I was with an awesome
    @Kelly
    I was with an awesome gyno.onco specialist when we started all of this, because they thought it was ovarian cancer. After my open surgery last Mon, pathology now shows the orginating cancer is in the appendix, therfore I am no longer a gyno patient. I am keeping my appt with the new Dr. My husband is not nearly concerned about him being young and somewhat new. I will at least meet him and see how it goes. Thanks for the repsonse!
  • Ruffy7
    Ruffy7 Member Posts: 126
    #5
    Tethys41 said:

    Intuition
    Kale,
    There are a lot of choices to make when dealing with cancer. I found that when there was a crossroads ahead, that the necessary information always reveled itself, maybe not until the very last second, that made my choice simple. Listen to what he says. If you aren't 100% comfortable with him, get a second opinion. You will know what the right choice is when you have to make it.

    age doesn't matter
    Age doesn't matter but experience does. Doesn't hurt to get 2nd and 3rd opinions - I did. Makes you feel better when they all agree :). Maybe you should make appointments with both of them, ask them about their experience with appendix cancers and what they would recommend. Make your decision after that. I can say (since I'm in the Cincinnati area) that Dr. Lowy was highly regarded here in his treatments of this cancer and in doing the HIPEC... sad that he moved to Calif since I don't have tons of confidence in the docs that took his place :(.

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