My wife and I drove up to the Bristol hospital yesterday because her 84-year-old brother had just undergone bladder surgery. He lives in a small town in Virginia off of Interstate 81, and the first hospital that his son took him to a town bigger than where he lived but still small enough to only have a visiting Urologist surgeon.
This surgeon requested supplies from a larger hospital and when they arrived, the surgeon said the wrong supplies had been sent and after 15 more hours of debating what to do, his son got so pissed off at the doctor that they sent him to Bristol.
We later found out that the supplies that had been sent were correct and that they had been sent by the Bristol surgeon who then performed the operation. What we found out later was that the urologist surgeon was so young that he had never performed this type of operation and instead of admitting that he did not think he had the skills, told a lie.
This lie caused my wife's brother to experience severe pain for 15 hours until he could be transferred to this other hospital.
Should this younger doctor lose his license to practice medicine?
The other issue is that one must realize that the worst doctors are going to be found in these smaller cities.
Had this young doctor been on an ego trip and decided to perform the surgery for which he was totally inexperienced, since it was so complicated, he probably would have killed my wife's brother.
Fortunately, my wife's brother went through surgery performed by an experienced surgeon, and we are all thankful that it ended up the way it did. Her brother had a severe bladder blockage and cancer that had been around for quite a while. Cancer that has been around that long, even if it is slow growing usually transforms into aggressive cancer because nothing has been done to stop it or slow it down.
Once a biopsy, lab tests, and a CT scan have been performed we will be in a better position to understand the extent and prognosis of his cancer... but it does not look good. However, all sorts of new cancer meds have been developed so maybe it will not be a bad as we fear.
But the point of all of this is that you can feel TIP TOP or maybe experiencing no discomfort, pain, or loss of weight and cancer can still be growing inside of you. Cancer can also be misdiagnosed so it is up to you to make sure you do not have a complacent attitude or even rely on the doctors to diagnose your illness.
YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN HEALTH.
There is a tendency to trust doctors too much. Get second opinions. Find out what your insurance will allow or will not allow. Be aware of changes in your body even it they are subtle.
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