political problem with urologists?

Dr K performed my RP but it did not go as he'd led me to expect.
First, he told me that I'd have dissolving stitches so would not need them removed but then post-op, much to his nurse's surprise, I had to make an appointment to have them removed.
Second, he told me that the scar would be small and would probably disappear within a year. Not true. This scar is large and deep and will be with me forever.

I am not concerned about the cosmetic issues at all. My concern is that clearly the operation did not go as he'd led me to expect. When I asked him about this -- what happened that things did not go as you'd let me to expect - he protested that I was hurting his feelings, that he'd taken great care.

But still, I pressed. But why the stitches, why the big scar.

He refused to answer. I'm a reasonable man. I work with complex computer systems and perfectly understand that despite the best planning things do go sideways and am accustomed to explaining how things went sideways when they do. No foul. No blame. Stuff happens. I get that and I made it clear to him that I get that, but still he dodged my questioning. I got the feeling he was hiding something.

Then he wanted to perform a DRE and walked out of the room, leaving the door open, with his receptionist outside the door and my pants around my ankles.

I asked for another uro and ended up with the chief of urology for the district. The chief was not happy. He was cold with me, disinterested, expressed personal sympathy for Dr K, showed no evidence of having reviewed my file.

What to do?

I asked my uro about my complications and he would not answer, possibly for legal paranoia. He even went so far as to enter, "Patient denies any complications" in my medical record. Nor would he reply to an email I sent.
For legal or reputation reasons, I was stonewalled.

I have to agree with Mel, his 3 items are the things that count. On the other hand, what is this surgeons problem with coming forward and admitting that he prognosis was incorrect? It's been my experience that most surgeons have piss poor people skills. I have had to dress one down when he referred to my wife as a drug addict when she was, in fact, only taking her low dose of Rxed Opiods as prescribed by her PCP. I hope that you can get some sort of closure on this . . . Q

Hi JohnT,
I figured that Mel's item #1 do you feel that you are free of Cancer necessarily included a very low PSA . . . Q

I've started receiving invoices from these docs and I'll be 'dang' if any of them give me any lip. ;)

Seriously, switch if you aren't happy and tell them you'll dedicate the rest of your life to letting everyone you come in contact with know how they treated you.

Quincy,
Psa after treatment, especially surgery, is a good indicator that cancer is still present.
Personally I feel that with 6 years of <.1 I'm cured, but not to the point that I would stop psa testing twice per year.

If there is a good side to PC, it is that it has taught me to stop sweating the small stuff. I have driven myself absolutely crazy letting the small things consume me. And I also learned to celebrate the victories no matter how small they may be. Having said that, I too have been irked by some doctor's who refuse to acknowledge their errors or things they have caused. I remember asking my RO about a couple of SE's from my treatment and he point blank told me my treatment was not responsible for what was happening. And the reason I asked him about it was because he told me to let him know if anything was happening differently during treatment so they could address any issues. After reading up on the treatment and SEs, it was clear the issues were radiation treatment related.

Don't lose hope. Not all docs are a-holes. Keep looking until you find one you like and have confidence in for your future. Ifs doc will not answer your question(s) and treat you like an adult human being, for me, I let them know it see if that helps and if not then I would move on.

Turp54 is correct. Run, don't walk away from your urologist. Look for one who has a LOT more humanity. And after you have found his replacement, Dewayne said, be sure to tell him you'll dedicate the rest of your life to letting everyone you come in contact with know how they treated you.

havanon said...
To be clear, gentlemen, I don't care about the scar either, it is very small stuff not worth a drop of sweat. And I do recognize the issue of my PSA.

However the issue I am raising here is the openness and honesty of my urologists. Thank you for your responses. The only solution is to search for yet another urologist who doesn't have a relationship with the original.However I live in a relatively small community and I suspect that the urologists all know each other and feel some loyalty to each other.

I'll just have to muddle through.

I'm afraid you may be exactly right. The old boys(or even girls) club does tend to protect it's members. However, you do occasionally find just the opposite: dog it dog competitiveness between docs. I have seen all of this. So if you think you have a cover up, keep looking. And maybe get that surgery report.

Sorry you've got this to worry about when you need to be concentrating on other things.

Surgeons can be bad communicators.
My surgeon was a very shy man who found it difficult to talk to me at all before my surgery.
However, he is just one part of a team in his urology department and I only saw hom once. All my appointments have thus been with one of two physician assistants who have excellent communication skills, beside manner etc and are very open with me. They usually provide me with answers to my questions before I have even been able to ask them.

I hope you find yourself in a better situation soon.

Alf