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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Prostate Cancer / December 2003Dear John, I'm leaving you...
...but we can still be friends Today I got a letter from my uro-oncology-surgeon. I thought the envelope might have the prescription for getting my 2-year PSA test, which is due soon. Instead, it's a letter telling me he's leaving. In fact, he has already left. He's left the U of Michigan to head up a prostate cancer center at some school out east that doesn't have nearly as good a football team. What I think I'll do instead of going back to the urologist who did my biopsy, is just have my PSAs sent to my primary physician. I'm due for an annual checkup. Last year at my one-year checkup he suggested that after another year I could have my PSAs monitored closer to home if I wanted. If there is trouble, then I'll look at going to the UofMichigan for radiation or whatever they're doing nowadays. In this letter the surgeon says the goal is for my PSA to remain below 0.2 "as we have previously discussed." Well, that's the first time I heard that particular number mentioned, though it isn't inconsistent with anything we DID discuss. Has anyone else had a doctor who gave a cutoff point like that ahead of time, rather than after the fact? It sounds like as reasonable a cutoff point as any, given what I've heard from other people on this list. Though I think if my PSA is in the detectable range this time, I'll suggest not waiting a whole year to have it checked again. Anyhow, even though we won't be seeing each other any more, he wants me to keep him up to date on my PSA results. Well, even though I've been dumped, I still think he's very good at his work. I recommend him highly. JohnG > ...but we can still be friends > [quoted text clipped - 29 lines] > > JohnG I got a laptop and am having some difficulty learning to use the touch pad. One thing that has happened more than once in the last couple of days is that messages get sent before I type anything. Have not figured out yet what I am doing wrong, but I do apologize for littering up the ng with senseless posts (I mean the ones with a partial or no message at all, not the ones where I actually say something). Thank you. David S. > > ...but we can still be friends > > [quoted text clipped - 29 lines] > > > > JohnG > I got a laptop and am having some difficulty learning to use the touch > pad. One thing that has happened more than once in the last couple of > days > is that messages get sent before I type anything. I had a problem with a 'lazy' thumb that I unknowingly layed on the pad like I usually do on the spacebar. The slightest touch was interpreted as a click, and if the right (wrong?) button has the mouse cursor over it, bombs away! I don't like laptops.  SignatureWake Age 58 PSA 3.8 Biopsy positive 5% in 1 of 10 cores Gleason 3+3 T1c RP scheduled 1/12/04 No problem. Did you know that if you tap it twice, it acts like a double-click. Years ago when I had my first touch pad, that cause me all sorts of angst until I figured it out. Also, if you tap it up in either corner of the pad, it has a command that it executes -- but I can't remember what it was. They certainly take some getting use to. I've always thrown a mouse in the bag when I've had one. Sometimes, you can't use and auxilliary keypad and an auxilliary mouse at the same time. But when you can, like with most USB mice and keyboards and laptops, you're flying. Get yourself a monitor and you don't even know you're using a laptop. It all get really heavy on your legs though. SignatureSteve Kramer PSA 16 10/17/2000 @ 46 Biopsy 11/01/2000 G7 (3+4), T2c RRP 12/15/2000 PSA .1 .1 .1 .3 .4 .8 EBRT 05-07/2002 @ 47 PSA .3 .2 .2 .2 .3 Erection 05/12/2003 @ 48 Begin Lupron 07/21/2003 @ 48 PSA .1 > I got a laptop and am having some difficulty learning to use the touch > pad. One thing that has happened more than once in the last couple of days [quoted text clipped - 38 lines] > > > > > > JohnG >I got a laptop and am having some difficulty learning to use the touch >pad. One thing that has happened more than once in the last couple of days [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > Thank you. >David S. Why don't you get yourself a little mouse? Much easier to use and cheap. Tee We just got a notice from our insurance company that they are not going to do business any longer with "The Health Alliance" any more. That would include my uro (the best in Cincinnati according to a local publication), my GP, my hospital of choice, another hospital that is the only trauma hospital in the region, my lab, etc. I'm starting to wonder if the Canadians don't have it right. SignatureSteve Kramer PSA 16 10/17/2000 @ 46 Biopsy 11/01/2000 G7 (3+4), T2c RRP 12/15/2000 PSA .1 .1 .1 .3 .4 .8 EBRT 05-07/2002 @ 47 PSA .3 .2 .2 .2 .3 Erection 05/12/2003 @ 48 Begin Lupron 07/21/2003 @ 48 PSA .1 > ...but we can still be friends > [quoted text clipped - 29 lines] > > JohnG > We just got a notice from our insurance company that they are not going to > do business any longer with "The Health Alliance" any more. That would [quoted text clipped - 47 lines] > > > > JohnG It's all about money here. Sucks, doesn't it? > We just got a notice from our insurance company that they are not going to > do business any longer with "The Health Alliance" any more. That would [quoted text clipped - 47 lines] > > > > JohnG Hi Steve...... The way your system is set up is really bad when they can do something like this to you. Do you not have any choice at all in doctors, hospitals or types of treatment??? Yes, I have to say that I think 'we do have it right' up here......even tho we may have to wait a tad longer, or can't get MRI's quickly like you do. And my apologies if that offends anyone, but I have honestly felt that way all along. If I needed an operation that was only done in the US, my health insurance would pay for it and the hotel expenses too, if needed. It just horrifies me how your general health system treats you all....and you guys are the ones who pay for it.....not your government!! Your private insurance monthly bills are horrendous!! Time to stand up and fight back. I see a lot of the border cities and states are doing so re buying prescription drugs from us (which in a lot of cases, are manufactured in the US and passed by your FDA). I will make one statement.......they are NOT lethal!! If they were as bad as your gov't says, you would not find a living, breathing soul up here coz we would all be long dead from these drugs, grin. (i.e. lipitor, viagra, zocor, prozac, etc) Oh, and Pfizer is now limiting the amount of FDA-approved prescription drugs we can buy from you.....in case we sell them back to you at half the cost. Nice!! Happy Holidays.....Heather (aw hell, a so-called P.I. Merry Christmas too, grin) > We just got a notice from our insurance company that they are not going to > do business any longer with "The Health Alliance" any more. That would [quoted text clipped - 36 lines] > > > > JohnG > The way your system is set up is really bad when they can do something > like this to you. Do you not have any choice at all in doctors, > hospitals or types of treatment??? For the first 49 years of my life, I had a choice of everything. Suddenly, Anthem Blue Access and the Health Alliance have butted heads over fee levels and I'm outside looking in at the best uro in Cincinnati and two of the best hospitals. Not to mention a GP I really trust and an onc I really liked. My uro was at his best when he told me I had cancer. Long visit. Very thorough on options. Answered all my questions. I did not feel rushed in anyway. I was asleep at the time, but I was told by several knowledgeable people that he was the one they would go to if they were diagnosed with prostate cancer, so he was probably at his best while carving on me. Since then though.... He is willing to answer any question, but I get the feeling that he does not volunteer any information. In the 90 day visit I asked him about my nerve sparing surgery, and he looked in my chart and then explained that my nerves were difficult to remove from the prostate. He said that sometimes they just peel right off, but I was not such a case. The way he put if was that "he did the best for me that he could". Anyway, I thought I would get information on incontinence and impotence, but not so. I had to ask. I wish there were doc's who specialized in incontinence and impotence issues, and that after the surgery we could go to then for treatment. It really is a different thing from the surgery for cancer. I have often wondered about doc's who leave Duke for another school with a lousy basketball team. Why would somebody do that? Ho Ho Ho. Thank you. David S. > ...but we can still be friends > [quoted text clipped - 29 lines] > > JohnG > He is willing to answer any question, but I get the feeling that he does > not volunteer any information. In the 90 day visit I asked him about my [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > issues, and that after the surgery we could go to then for treatment. It > really is a different thing from the surgery for cancer. Well, they don't have to be that way. Both of my doctors didn't wait for me to ask about ED. They both seemed to consider it quite important, and made sure it got discussed. In fact, my urosurgeon brags on his web site about his good success in that area, and seems to insist that you have erections. At my first visit when I reported very meager progress, he tried pushing MUSE. I watched the video and said no thanks, not just yet. JohnG |
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