Tuesday, June 29, 2010

It's a dilemma,

 80% of people don't care about your problems, & the other 20% are glad you have them.
Tommy Lasorda

It's a dilemma, & I see no solution or alternative.  He wasn't my first or second choice as a specialist. I had to choose him myself based on who was approved & where the doctor was located. I had no primary physician; still, it's the HMO's call & he was on the list.

I had no way to compare. From the start, I didn't like how he managed his office; we all can make comparisons on that. I believe it is the function of the office not only to bill you, but to instruct you & guide you. They should always tell what to do next, & when, if the doctor himself leaves that to them.

But since I knew I was headed for surgery, which is this doctor's rep, I figured just do it, & if I get through it & survive, I can move on to my other health problems.

The problem arose when I fell off his surgical conveyor belt. It was a problem he would've missed, even though he was in possession of a test that revealed the problem, I called it to his assistant's attention on a hunch! A symptom I'd not been instructed to watch for. The test, from  ten days previous, was found & read for the first time. Had I not had the hunch, this doctor would have done a routine in-office procedure, a standard biopsy, that the condition, a bladder infection, would not allow.

An alarm went off in my head.  From that day on, I should have become a special case to this specialist, nothing left to chance. Every antibiotic regimen  monitored, every urinalysis pre-scheduled  to coincide with the completion of a regimen at the time an antibiotic was prescribed.  The office staff never mentioned I could get the test at a local lab, even when I griped about traveling to Newark for a ten minute office visit.

The bladder infections have not been  been cured.  This doctor no longer has my confidence or trust.  How can I when  I blame him, when I think he screwed up?  I now believe another specialist, maybe any other,  would have been more attentive, more concerned, more persevering, seriously staying on top of my condition.

Comments:
I am not sure if this will work for you, but when things don't go my way medically speaking, I tend to put on the "nut" persona. Raising my voice, acting out, even shouting profanities, tends to get someone to pay attention to me. Of course, it helps being a lawyer and threatening to file a medical malpractice suit generally gets a doctor's attention.

There's a lot that can be done by just going nuts on people and on the organizations that handle the people. My daughter learned that bit from me (she's on Medical, so she has to deal with the same issues you do) and she calls them up and screams like a banshee and generally gets her way. I know it's not your style, but it could be worth considering. And if you can't do it yourself, at least get someone you know who can advocate for you, and be a bitch!
 
One problem is he's a bigshot in a teaching hospital in a giant medicaL building next to the hospital. & unlike the local urologist I first visited, he doesn't do enough non-surgical out-patient business at a local office. It looks probable my whole freakin' prostate is coming out, which will lay me up for awhile & require some heavy psychological adjustments that I think I can handle. But let's get on with it.
 
& if I need to be hospitalized to treat bladder infection & then do the rest, & I have to be there for a few weeks, I'd much prefer my large local hospital. There are a couple of people here who can get to that hospital easily & look after me. Plus, my primary doc is affiliated with it. That's where I met her.
 
I hear you re "bigshot." However, I bully over "bigshots" by just being louder and knowing more people.
 
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