the rix mix

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.