Disturbing call from the doctor's office in Charleston

Casey:

So what if David seeks out a specialist and then has his urologist send on the records. Is that the same situation?

Mel

My oncologist is my "lead" doctor and actually acting as both my PCP and my PM (pain manager).

My average visit with him is easily an hour. A short visit with him was a couple of times when it was reduced to 45 minutes.

Still don't know what is going on here. I talked to my doctor's nurse this morning, she assured me, that he did indeed speak to the new doctor at length to introduce my case, and they have had plenty of time seeking records and scans.

"She said with new patients, the doc wants to see the entire PC picture from start to present, plus of course, my ongoing bladder pain issues. She wants me to e-mail her a letter to the doctor in advance, giving a full chronology of events from my perspective. I liked the sound of that. She said he truly is probably the best in the nation with the bladder issues."

David, if you sent the letter you mentioned above, wouldn't he already have the bullet points in hand?

Ron

David, thanks for clarifying some of the issues...if I understand the situation correctly, this specialist in Charleston does have all your records and has "agreed" to see you for 15 minutes? If your oncologist is also acting as your primary care physician, has he done complete blood work-ups...I'm thinking about the dehydration issue you found out about at PT and am concerned for your kidneys. If the oncologist is doing a complete blood work-up (usually called a CBC blood test), then his nurse should be able to give you copies of the test results. It's always a good idea to have this rather than have a doctor spoon-feed the patient the results. For both John and I, we usually get a "lab letter" from each of our doctors with all the results of the blood and urine analyses taken during our physicals.

I do hope you can get to the bottom of this before your appointment in Charleston. Perhaps you could ask to speak with the Charleston guy on the phone to see why he does not feel that your case warrants someone at his level of expertise.

no, my oncologist is on vacation till after my apt, even his nurse said she couldn't reach him unless it was a life or death emergency. he deserves his time off too, so too bad its right in the middle of this impasse.

kind of how I am feeling, newspaper. he obviously decided not to see me, and the only reason he is now, is because I caused a fuss on the phone with his nurse. I feel that he's now just seeing me for this 15 minute appointment to be polite. This was not the way my oncologist and I had talked about, he really wanted this guy to take a serious look at my case and give us a second opinion on the direction its going.

david

I don't think my doctor is at fault here, I know him too well, he is very thorough and always follows through, his nurse assured me that he properly introduced me and the particulars of my case to the other doctor, and I believe her.

What convinces me of this, is that the new doctor is totally missing the picture about my bladder by-pass being a thing over 2 years in the past.

I think we would all agree, that there are some doctors that are high-fluting in attitude, and think they are special with their skills. My gut is this guy is one of these types. I am use to doctors that take the time to know their patients and are willing to spend the time needed to help them properly

hawk

Good point

Me;

I would encourage you to go and pretty confident you are going to get more than the planned fifteen minutes. The trip will be worth it just to have your daughter with you for the week. If the Doctor is a putz, blow him off to his fantasy land where he is God or thinks he is.

David,

Forget the speculation for now and do the fifteen. Discipline your presentation with the same pragmatic eloquence that you employ in your posts and then sit back and listen to this doctor.s opinion. Judge the value of the fifteen minute appointment after it has taken place .. not before. Best of luck with this my friend.

Jim

I have to agree - you should go to the appointment.  This guy may not be the right doctor for you.  But like someone else said- you'd can't know if you don't go.  I'd prepare 'the list'- but in REVERSE order.  So he can see the most recent problems and HIGHLIGHT the bladder issues in yellow or bold print.  For yourself, write out a 10 min. synopsis of the bladder issues and practice it so you can do a quick presentation.  I'll bet that you get more than 15 min.

I asked. I received.

Since I have to make the trip regardless, will go see his royal "highness". His nurse stressed the 15 minute limit, because that is how is day is booked on Monday's, so I doubt I will get any more out of him, unless he wants to make a follow up visit.

The logistics of seeing any doctor on a regular basis from 225 miles away doesn't work for me anyhow, especially if he actually wanted to do something, or schedule an op, procedure, etc.

It's possible he has minions up my way that he can direct any work to.

Already have (had) my "must have" bullet point questions answered. And will bring another copy of my detailed chronology that covers from 2002 till present, in case he still claims he hasn't seen it.

What I thought was odd, was to see him as a Medicare patient, as I am, you only have to pay $3.00 up front, yep, three-dollars. That's less than the $5.00 valet parking fee at the same place.

though the whole thing still rubs me the wrong way, I will go with an open mind, and let him use the 15 minutes to tell me what he thinks. What I think is too well documented.

I will definitely post a followup after this meeting. Thanks for the input.

david

Hi David, I'm late to your thread...sorry! Anyway, I understand your apprehension but I agree that you have made a wise decision to see the doc anyway. May turn out to be the best 3 bucks you ever spent! In any case, I continue to wish you well and hope for the best. I will look forward to hearing how it goes.

Jim