- He is a Neurosurgeon, and unless he is going to operate, they really don't want to see you. However he was roped, simply by his misfortune, into saying that I was not able to work.
- He suggested GKS (Gamma Knife Surgery), which is his deal. However it is not a suggested fix for Cavernous Angioma's.
- GKS is an easy $30,000 for a Neurosurgeon. Let me tell you that even if my application for SS Disability is approved, I wouldn't get half that much money in one year!
This doctor said that with the best intentions, anyone who did surgery on me right now would hurt me. They would cause me to end up with more problems than before the surgery.
So, that is the story. I so liked this guy, so much so that I am now going to stop any consideration of going to Phoenix to see Dr. Spetzler.
It isn't often that I feel so totally and completely satisfied by a doctor. As a matter of fact, there are probably only 4 doctors in my lifetime that I could say that about. The unfortunate part is that one moved to NC, and one retired. That is not including my dentist by the way. So I guess you could say 5 doctors. But that is my entire lifetime. Believe me I had to kiss a lot of frogs to find those 5.
However only one of those frogs wanted to point radiation at a spot in my brain, in a very "eloquent" location, just because he didn't want to say I was disabled, or, just because he needed a quick 30 grand, or, especially because he didn't want me coming back.
Someone who reads my blog told me that they had fired a lot of Doctors, who were supposed to be experts or specialists. I can truly understand that. I had my doubts that I would ever find someone who looked out for me, and not what the ledger book said at the end of the day.
Well, on to the next adventure. Who knows what that will be, or where it will lead me. Right now I am just glad to have found someone who will care for me if and when the time ever comes that I need a knowledgeable Doctor on my side. Maybe that day will never come. That would be the best case scenario. However, I will not keep my head in the sand about this.
2 comments:
Good for you, Heidi! I think a lot of people forget that surgeons are not born surgeons. They attended elementary, middle and high school. They went through the same decision process we all went through in deciding their careers.
Becoming a doctor/surgeon almost always requires lots of student loans. My husband's aunt is an ER doctor and they had to file for bankruptcy! Anyway, money money money. That is what keeps the world spinning.
A doctor has to pay their bills, too. Just because they save lives does not mean they have big hearts. I was following an ER docs blog that described daily events that happened in his ER. This blog also had a large medical community following -all anonymous of course.
Anyway, I stopped following it because I became sick to my stomach. This guy was praying for a case to come through, he hadn't intubated in a while. A guy was shot in the chest and he did all these crazy life saving maneuvers to save the man's life. He died. He was only 29. The ER doc's response "Well, he died. BUT IT WAS AWESOME!" I wanted to throw up. All the comments on the post, not a single one said 'it's not awesome. A 29 year old man died'. They were all agreeing how exciting it is when something like that comes through.
If 5 doctors tell you that you shouldn't be operated on, why would you continue on to find one that says you are able? And for some, it does work out in the end. For some, it doesn't. I don't like uncertainty. At least with this thing in our brain, it's our bodies' decision when that time comes, and for some reason I'm okay with that.
Heidi you are absolutely right, there are so many idiots who are disguised as doctors :S
so when you finely found one that is right we have to hold them ever so tight :D
I have one wonderful woman whos looking after me right now, but..she will not be around for more than a few more months :((, then I will have a new acquaintance to make, and it can go well or be a catastrophe ( and honestly why cant you grade them on a site, so you would know before you meet them)
And we are difficult people to treat because there is no treatment, I think that somestimes we trigger up the deathtreath within doctors, and because they are afraid ,they feel that it would be better to take some action..like to put a knife in us ;) and so they always can say that they didn´t give up on us ( we did by not doing what they told us to do )
but it´s our lives and we live them as we want, We got the power, we are the power-women :D
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