No Date: Hospital insists that I cancel hysterectomy request because I'm getting a 2nd opinion

It was added to the original complaint the day the call arrived and an investigator phoned me yesterday.

Actually SuprisedinNB I don't have an appointment yet with the Gyn/Onc. I can't make an appointment with them ... they have to make it with me and that only happens after they triage referrals into an order of priority. I doubt I'll be seen as very urgent to them as I haven't been diagnosed with cancer, rather just the pre-cancer cells. That said there are troubling observations higher in the abdomen so maybe they'll be quicker than I anticipate.

PeggieSue my gynie was also trained and practiced overseas in a country where he perfomed may cancer-related hysterectomies. He is certainly confident in his ability to handle this surgery, and is definitely making the right comments etc that I would expect from someone competent in handling cancer (now that I've read so much here). A normal gynie isn't allowed to do a hysterectomy in Australia if cancer is confirmed, and they aren't allowed to take lymph nodes. A gyn/onc MUST do the surgery on any confirmed cancer patient.

In my situation if the normal gynie does the surgery and pathology shows cancer cells then he has admitted that I will have to have a second "staging" surgery performed by a gyn/onc. Obviously I would like to avoid this but the difficulty I've had even getting a surgical date certainly has impacted my desire to get this over and done with. I'm not going to know exactly what they dealing with until after the surgery and pathology results come in. Given the scheduled date is still 6 weeks away (and not confirmed), I'm hoping that I will at least have an appointment date to see the Gyn/Onc by that time. I have another appointment with my gynie on Dec 29, so clearly this will be a subject of discussion that will take priority at that time. I already know from previous consultations that he believes it would be "unfair" on me to perform the surgery himself IF a Gyn/Onc will do it in a timely fashion. He also believes that pathology will indeed show concurrent cancer, so is keen to get the surgery over so that further treatment can get moving if needed. Chances are that I'll go with whatever he advises at that appointment, because he really does seem to have my best interests at the core of what he has been doing so far.

	Quote:
Originally Posted by Aussie H ...Actually SuprisedinNB I don't have an appointment yet with the Gyn/Onc. I can't make an appointment with them ... they have to make it with me...

That's like here. Your gyn refers you, then at some point the gyn onc's office calls and tells you when to show up. I just didn't realize you hadn't got past the first step (the referral) yet. :-(

Your gyn sounds like a good guy, though.

	Quote:
Originally Posted by SurprisedInNB That's like here. Your gyn refers you, then at some point the gyn onc's office calls and tells you when to show up. I just didn't realize you hadn't got past the first step (the referral) yet. :-( Your gyn sounds like a good guy, though.

The referral is done and I know the Gyn/Onc has it as I had a call the next day to confirm my current contact details as there was a discrepancy between what was on their system and the details the Gyn gave them ... yeah a 35 year discrepancy with the address!!!

Yeah I really like my gyn I just wish I never had to see him again.

Had a call at about 10am from the head of theatre confirming the date, and first on the list, I hope I stay in that position. She apologised for all the BS that I was put through and explained she had no idea why the Dr considered it so urgent. Now she knows she really wanted me to schedule it earlier with the other gyn but accepted my refusal to do so. She wouldn't go to the other gyn either.

I actually still had the balls to tell her that if she'd bothered to read the surgery request instead of allowing the pen pushers to just throw it in the too hard basket, then she would have known the reason. I'm really not in the frame of mind, due to the way they treated me over this, to let anyone off the hook without at least some degree of a serving.

No prep needed whatsoever other than fast from midnight.

Congratulations on *finally* getting a surgery date - and good for you for fighting to get it!