turbofabricator
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2004
- Messages
- 4,261
There has been a survivor of EVERY type of cancer. Today's medicine is flat out amazing. Now with that said, I can lend some valuable advice (due to my own experiences with 10 surgeries in my adult life):
1) Ask point blank if the surgeon IS board certified and have him/her PROVE it!!
2) Do ALOT of personal research on this particular doctor. Doctors are nothing more than people mechanics. How many GOOD car mechanics do you know? Same number average with doctors. A diploma hanging on the wall means JACK!! Read up on them on the web. ratemd.com is good place to start.
3) If for ANY reason you are having an issue with them.........find someone else.
4) Ask detailed questions on what they are going to do and why.
5) Write your questions down before you go to them or you might forget one or two.
6) If for some reason there is discouraging news, get a second opinion somewhere else. A year and a half ago our daughter (25) had a brain tumor the size of an egg. She was refered to a great doc 25 miles away. He really was AMAZING. But.....there was another man there the same day having surgery and he said that orginally his local hospital diagnosd him with "Inoperable brain tumor". He drove 30 miles to this doc and he shrugged his shoulders and said...."No problem....I've removed 1700 of them. Piece of cake". We met up with the family a week after the surgery and he was doing GREAT!!! Not all bad news is in fact bad news, but rather WRONG news! (Yes, our daughter is tumor free and is doing great)
7) If your doctor is sounding bull headed RUN!!!!! Ego's are BIG in the medical community. I just had two stints installed in October. Still had chest pain. Went back in for a follow up angiogram in January and the doc found that he had installed the stint covering a branch artery.
. THEN.......he "tried" for 2 1/2 hours to fix it. He was trying everything he was capable of doing, EXCEPT admitting that it was WAY over his head and he needed to refere me to a specialist that CAN fix it. I was under radiation for 2 1/2 hours while he was also pumping constrast into me, which is real hard on kidney's. A fellow Buick racer and great friend is a doc and he told me to go see a specialist he has taken classes from, or fly to the Mayo clinic. As it turns out the doctor he referred me to is in fact the only guy that can move a stint. Dinner is on me next time I meet with my friend. (my surgery is scheduled for Mar. 30th)
8) Research, research, research. Your wife is more important than any doctors "opinion" If what they do works............Why do they call it a practice?
Wish I knew then what I do now. I'm sure I woud be in ALOT less pain.
I've had other issues with a doctor (an anesthsiologist that did back surgery on me ) that I won't bore you with, but keep a good spirit and God will be there. Arm yourself with knowledge. Good luck, and hope it is all well.
1) Ask point blank if the surgeon IS board certified and have him/her PROVE it!!
2) Do ALOT of personal research on this particular doctor. Doctors are nothing more than people mechanics. How many GOOD car mechanics do you know? Same number average with doctors. A diploma hanging on the wall means JACK!! Read up on them on the web. ratemd.com is good place to start.
3) If for ANY reason you are having an issue with them.........find someone else.
4) Ask detailed questions on what they are going to do and why.
5) Write your questions down before you go to them or you might forget one or two.
6) If for some reason there is discouraging news, get a second opinion somewhere else. A year and a half ago our daughter (25) had a brain tumor the size of an egg. She was refered to a great doc 25 miles away. He really was AMAZING. But.....there was another man there the same day having surgery and he said that orginally his local hospital diagnosd him with "Inoperable brain tumor". He drove 30 miles to this doc and he shrugged his shoulders and said...."No problem....I've removed 1700 of them. Piece of cake". We met up with the family a week after the surgery and he was doing GREAT!!! Not all bad news is in fact bad news, but rather WRONG news! (Yes, our daughter is tumor free and is doing great)
7) If your doctor is sounding bull headed RUN!!!!! Ego's are BIG in the medical community. I just had two stints installed in October. Still had chest pain. Went back in for a follow up angiogram in January and the doc found that he had installed the stint covering a branch artery.
. THEN.......he "tried" for 2 1/2 hours to fix it. He was trying everything he was capable of doing, EXCEPT admitting that it was WAY over his head and he needed to refere me to a specialist that CAN fix it. I was under radiation for 2 1/2 hours while he was also pumping constrast into me, which is real hard on kidney's. A fellow Buick racer and great friend is a doc and he told me to go see a specialist he has taken classes from, or fly to the Mayo clinic. As it turns out the doctor he referred me to is in fact the only guy that can move a stint. Dinner is on me next time I meet with my friend. (my surgery is scheduled for Mar. 30th)8) Research, research, research. Your wife is more important than any doctors "opinion" If what they do works............Why do they call it a practice?
Wish I knew then what I do now. I'm sure I woud be in ALOT less pain.
I've had other issues with a doctor (an anesthsiologist that did back surgery on me
) that I won't bore you with, but keep a good spirit and God will be there. Arm yourself with knowledge. Good luck, and hope it is all well.
