My Doctor

NM

I am almost laughing about this but not sure I should. My wife called for an appointment per doctors orders and was told I(after he ordered a cat scan and bone scan)by his secretary I couldnt get an appointment until Sept. I wonder now about whether i should seek advice elsewhere as he himself said make an appointment as soon as possible after these tests. Dont doctors care or is it all about money and prestige? Would anyone care to comment about a similar experience or advice? Run maybe? lol thanks all....Nick

Olee

Simliar Experience
It was the doctor and the hospital that diagnosed me, that I felt were heartless and uncaring. I had been in the hospital for a day due to some bad complications with my biopsy, so my doctor assumed that the staff there had divulged my results. He entered the exam room and exclaimed loudly,"So I hear you have cancer in your prostate!" I looked at him dumbfounded and my wife asked if he was joking. He went on to say,"Oh no you are positive for prostate cancer, they didn't tell you?" You gotta love the smoothness at which this professional delivered the news. Anyway at the end of the 10 minutes he spent with me, he said I needed scans right away. We asked the clerk for an appointment and were told the person who makes them was not available and someone would mail one to me. My wife spoke up and asked,can't you just make one now or at least call us? This lazy clerk said yeah I guess and took our number. Two days later still no call, so we call them back repeatedly. A week and a half later I finally called the switch board operator and basically said, " Your hospital diagnosed me with cancer and my doctor,the clerks etc will not call me back to schedule my scans,will you help me?" I was transferred to the actual technician who does the scans, who informed me that my orders had been on her desk for over a week but I didn't have an appointment. She was nice enough to get me scheduled for a week later. So yeah, those scans that were sooooo important, were finally done about 3 weeks later. I then had trouble getting the results, my doctor would not return my calls and said the results would come in the mail. I finally got a nurse's assistant to read the results over the phone 2 weeks later. After seeing another doctor there for a surgical consult and experiencing the same coldness and lack of concern, I finally fired the doctors and the hospital and never looked back. Thank God I did, because I found an awesome doctor the same week in a different hospital that treated me like a patient and a human being. It was like night and day. By the way the first doctor and hospital I visited was not just some community hospital, it is well known around the US and claims to be the premier hospital for health care in my state. I would simply call them pathetic.

whubbs

All doctors
Nick- Sorry to hear that your part of our club now, but you've found a great sounding board.
I think we ALL have experienced this.
I wouldnt necessarily blame it on lack of care.
I think its more about the shear number of men getting this treatment now that its so known.
My surgeon is now booked for almost 6 months, he does 3 per day... scary!
Waiting is something that will continue until the field fills in with more docs.
Find the BEST, do not settle for less and prepare the wait.
Waiting can be easier if your gleason is low, and if it's not, hormones and other treatments can slow or halt the progress during the wait.
Be sure to get second and third opinions.
Good luck!
Wayne

thegriz

Answering Your Question
Hey Nick -- just saw your questions in a different link.
Having the DaVinci 2 years ago, my memory is a little rusty, but I believe I could have gone back to work after 2 to 3 weeks (I'm retired, so it didn't happen), but one would certainly have to deal with Depends disposal. I recall being very frustrated at public outings for a couple of months. as anytime I was standing, I was likely leaking, but that passed. I changed from Depends to womans kotex pads, but have not normally worn anything for the past year. Caution is useful, however, and I've found alcohol consumption "loosens the muscles", so I sometimes, even now, I'll use a kotex pad if the situation would seem to warrent. Other than that, there is an ocassional (but certainly not daily) discharge, but normal cotten underwear takes care of it. Not a perfect world, but 95%.