Why doesn’t my doctor screen me for cancer, I have concerns

@chriscooper - Welcome to Mayo Connect. This is a great place to ask questions about all types of health issues.

It certainly is frustrating to have symptoms that seem to warrant doctor attention - yet the docs seems uninterested in your plight. How can that be?

It's a tough decision to make - but can you get an appointment with a different primary care physician? Think of this process as "getting a second opinion" - which is always a reasonable strategy when facing concerns over issues like yours. Not all docs are created equal and checking with someone new should be considered.

Have you attempted a visit to a new doc?

Hey @upstatephil! Thanks for the suggestion. I am scheduling with a different provider for my “follow up / discharge” instructions. Fortunately I can schedule with anyone in that practice but there is only one male Dr. he has many years experience. The challenge for me is it’s uncomfortable to talk about screening for something more serious. I have been avoiding things like rectal exams and colonoscopy for years but now with more serious symptoms I think it’s appropriate/ necessary at this point. I feel like I owe it to my family.
I found in my military records from 15 years ago a doctor noted “the rectum had a mass”? I don’t remember having an exam and I think I’d remember that… Unless they did. DRE during surgery? No one ever talked to me about it or followed up.
It’s uncomfortable to me to see this new doctor and basically ask him to give me a rectal exam and check prostate… maybe I just ask to have psa test and go from there?
What happened to the medical profession? I hadn’t been to a doctor in 10 years and the female doc didn’t do any kind of physical exam just pretended to listen to my heart and says well your healthy? What a joke.

I went through the same thing years ago .. could not get dr's to listen something was wrong just kept fluffing it off. Age ... weight ..lack of exercise ... etc ...etc .. After 2 years of me telling them something was wrong they did a 2nd heart cath, found I was 95% blocked on top and 100% blocked on the bottom. Had gone on for so long it damaged my heart. I was disabled unable to work from that moment on at age 45. Since then I have had 11 heart caths altogether and 5 hearts stents. 15 meds a day and 2 strokes I wonder what my outcome would have been if I could have gotten even one dr. to listen to me instead of fluffing me off.

@chriscooper - Thanks for your response. So I get the impression your PCP is a female? And since your issues might be prostate or colon - it can be uncomfortable to have that sort of conversation and exam with a lady doctor...

I get that. I have had a female PCP for 10 years or so. I came to appreciate that she viewed me as "a patient needing medical attention" and in no way did she see me as a male. I've become comfortable talking with her about all my issues - even the intimate male issues. I appreciate her very detailed style and warm bedside manner.

With that said - getting that second opinion that you have scheduled is the right course of action. Let us know how that goes!

You might consider getting your care at the VA instead? You’re young enough that a female doctor shouldn’t be a concern, I would hope. There are more females entering medicine than men last count. If you’ve put off the colonoscopy especially since you saw blood in your stool you need to set up st get it done. And btw there is now a simple test your doctors office can give you instead of a colonoscopy. You simply place a sample on the included material and ship it off for analysis. If it shows you need a colonoscopy by the findings that’s your next step. Take care of yourself, you only have one of you. Get a new provider.

Hi all,
Thanks for your comments and suggestions. I appreciate the support here. I went for a second opinion and got the same treatment. “You’ll be fine”. Tried advocating for myself. Even put my notes and concerns on paper so things didn’t get lost in translation. My notes were this;
-Leading up to hospitalization large painful swollen lymph in groin
-trouble peeing
- up 3x in the night
- low volume
-chest pain
-lump in side under ribs
-bloody stools off and on
-significant bleed +60 days ago
-pencil thin stools
-seems like my body was fighting some type of infection
-white marks in fingernails
-extremely high c reactive protein from hospital labs
-cloudy urine occasionally
-rash between inner thigh
-still painful joints and swelling in infected foot after antibiotics

Response:
“I think you’ll do fine, anything else going on after your hospitalization”?

I came to be aware that my payer only pays about one third of the bill and I believe this is why I continue to experience this sub standard care. What a disgrace…

Hey arctic22!
Thanks for sharing that and I feel for you. Not sure what happened to the medical profession but I remember my elders holding doctors in such high regard as their pastor! Several a part of our congregation…
My experience lately and what I hear from souls like you is more like a used car salesman. I feel for ya and hope you have found some solid ground and some peace in all that…

Hi Jenatsky,
I have do not report instructions from the VA.
Thanks God, that institution tried to kill me for ten years.
I am a free American once again. I am not a part of any clinical trials sponsored by big pharma utilizing the VA as their research base.

Chris, I’m a retired nurse and healthcare consultant now on Medicare. Sounds like you got a bum rap from your providers, but what are your alternatives for healthcare? What kind of coverage do you have? I’m on traditional Medicare with a part B and prescription coverage. I can go anywhere and see any Medicare provider. You just need to find the right one. I’ve been lucky and have had same PCP since 2008.

Hey thanks jenatsky. I don’t feel like I can volunteer any more information here - at least not specific to my provider or payer. I am grateful for what I do have and realize that the truth is not convenient for people. Especially providers and payers. In fact I may be treated the way I am not just because my payer pays 1/3 the cost of the bill - but because they monitor my online activities like this through companies like epic and get reports based on the information I make “public”.
Then naturally as humans they take offense rather than responsibility and treat us like substandard creatures in their research and billing protocol.
What good am I? None at all. In fact - even my fellow countrymen would consider me a burden. I understand and never wanted to be.
I have an appointment OCONUS. Only way to get an un biased evaluation unfortunately…