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← Return to The Patient Portal—Help or Hindrance?
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The Patient Portal—Help or Hindrance?
Just Want to Talk | Last Active: Feb 17 12:10am | Replies (227)Comment receiving replies
I am retired and always read the reports too! 14 months ago, I had an abnormal chest-x-ray and went to first available local Pulmonologist. Based on radiologist's recommendations they ordered CT scan and then PET scan. The resulting reports stated potential cancer. I knew the local Pulmonologist had no expertise in lung cancer and requested my scans be sent to Mayo and was called the next day by Mayo. I had surgery three weeks later and had a cancer removed and a diagnosis of multifocal lung cancer. Not only are those reports important to read, but looking up the doctor's background and specialty is also important. Because they do not all have background in desired subject matter, nor does their institution offer the latest treatment options.
Replies to "I am retired and always read the reports too! 14 months ago, I had an abnormal..."
Thank you for your comment, it was helpful and encouraging. I've been dealing with similar situation since Aug. last year and now am in wait and see limbo, having had first ct scan yesterday since petscan last year.
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That is great advice. It’s frustrating when you wait 3 months to finally see a specialist then find out they’re not exactly the right specialist for your case, so you get referred to a different one with another 3 month wait. Add to it the tests and scans that can take weeks to schedule to complete the diagnosis, then the wait to get treatment scheduled if needed. I lost 4 months in a process once with an entrapped nerve in my elbow; with my symptoms, my PCP referred me to an orthopedic doctor who specialized in shoulders. When I got to him 4 months later, he felt bad that he couldn’t help me, because my elbow fell under orthopedics HAND specialty, not Shoulder. So I had a 3 month wait to get to the Hand specialist, who could finally diagnose and treat my elbow issue. If I had researched on my own up front, perhaps I might have been able to avoid going to the wrong specialist first.