Friday, October 28, 2011

Surgeon Appointments

Apparently there is a minimum of an hour wait time before meeting with a surgeon. I met with the breast surgeon, Dr. Bowling, last week and she was late because she got stuck in surgery, which is understandable. Even though she was able to answer all my questions, I felt kind of rushed through that appointment.
My next appointment was with the plastic surgeon, Dr. Soods, who was late because he was in surgery, which is understandable, but I had to leave after and an hour and a half because David had to get back to work. So just as I was walking out the surgeon was walking in and he said that he'd visit me the next day since I was going to be in the same building with my appointment with the gynecological oncology surgeon.
Next appointment with the gynecological oncology surgeon, Dr. Rossi, went very well. After my mandatory hour wait, she was able to answer all my questions and even gave me more info that I didn't know. The info she gave me really has me thinking about what might happen down the line because of early menopause, i.e. increased risk of heart attack, osteoporosis, ovarian cancer in the abdomen, and early Alzheimer's.
After I was done with Dr. Rossi, Dr. Soods sent over his minions to get me and take me back to his office, which was across campus. Did I mention that I had Nolan with me and we are now going into the 3rd hour of being there? Well, Dr. Soods was the typical plastic surgeon, Dr. 90210 comes to mind. He suggests that I go with silicon implants and in fact that is all he would do. If I wanted a different procedure, like relocating fat, then I need to talk to a different surgeon because he doesn't feel the procedure is safe. After meeting with him one of minions walked me back to the original building because my car is in the parking garage over there. Did I mention that I had Nolan with me along with his car seat, which together weigh about 30 pounds? But it turns out these walks to and from the appointment were a blessing. I got to ask a lot of questions and got very real answers from these ladies. Also they have the best waiting room ever with computers, puzzles, tons of magazine, snacks, and drinks.
Fast forward a couple of hours and I'm at another appointment for second opinion from a breast surgeon, Dr. Lottich. I've heard very good things about her, but I never heard that I would have to wait a very long time to see her. My appointment was at 3:45, which I was 20 minutes early for, and I finally got to see her at 6 and left there at 7. I have no doubt that she's great with how thorough she is, but she's further away from home and rarely sees patients on time. With all the follow-up appointments I'm going to have I really don't was to waste time.
During one of my waiting times I called my oncologist and told him my evaluation of the surgeons so far and was wondering if he had someone else he could recommend just for comparison, so I'll be seeing one more surgeon next week and it looks like I'll be having surgery in 2012.

1 comment:

  1. I'm so sorry that shopping for surgeons is so tough. I Pray you find a perfect fit, soon.

    ReplyDelete

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