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@dbeshears1 Debbie, your frustrations are on point, and it IS the medical field. About 1/3 of the neurologists, I've seen I would say are close to normal and trust me, I use the word close with a degree of hesitation. Another 1/3 are "off" a little...it's like something you can't put your finger on. I often wonder why they entered the field they did?? The remaining 1/3 are about as normal as you could expect, and I've been to all three categories. My current neurologist wants to see me once a year. My wife is having a heart procedure in early Oct so I had to cancel my once-a-year Oct appointment and I explained the reason for the cancelation. I'm told...if you cancel, we can't get you back in again until May. Really? I snapped back and said my wife's issue is more important than this appointment and put me on the cancelation list for November and I hung up...well, Ok I slammed down the phone. My wife said time to start looking for a new neurologist. So, you are not alone with your frustrations. I'm sure others have similar stories. If I can't have confidence in any doctor or their business practices, I'm moving on. All my other doctors, no problem at all. Why do I want to see a doctor who can't see me for 8 months. Meanwhile, I'm looking for a new neurologist because they will not call me in November.
Replies to "@dbeshears1 Debbie, your frustrations are on point, and it IS the medical field. About 1/3 of..."
What a shame isn’t it?
That's terrible! Any doctor booked up 6 months is a doctor taking on too many patients. And that could also affect quality of care too. My gastroenterologist is like this and I dumped him. The entire practice is entirely overbooked and even calling the office you have like 20 patients ahead of you. I just got an appt for a new one at our very reputable teaching university within a month. Best wishes for your wife's surgery,
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I get you Ed. There’s part of me that wants to say let it go, there may be someone with something with a chance to be cured, so maybe they should have the doc’s time if they’re really short on doctors. On the other hand, since nobody has even opened our file for a year and won’t until right before your appointment, maybe new research results have come out in the past year that may be believed to be able to help us live better. At least assess our progress or regress seen in the last year and advise us how we might want to steer our ship differently in the next year. I go in with a positive attitude, telling them I’m so thankful I’ve come so far to get out of my wheelchair, and while I’ve accepted that I’ll never be able to work again or walk a 1/2 mile, I would like to stay on my feet and keep use of my hands to be able to be self sufficient, and hope that they can help me with that goal. I actually did manage to get a consult with a new Neurologist- I see him Tuesday again, for 1 “simple” question, which is regarding hammertoes on my left foot (my weak side) that are getting worse. I have an orthopedic surgeon anxious to do surgery and things he can help, but he has no Neurology point of view. The recovery would be a bit hard to manage with my condition, but I would like a neurologist opinion on whether the proposed improvement will indeed help meet my neurological goal of helping my gait and balance and leg strength get back to pre-hammertoe condition, or at least help my foot not get worse. I have been chasing this question down for over a year (yes, I moved so kind of started over), but this visit I’m promising myself to keep the focus to this 1 question & not let me get rushed out of the visit without an opinion. I don’t want to lose waiting another 6 months to hope for the other (witch) Neurologist to weigh in, as my visit with her 6 months ago was unsuccessful in getting to that question. At least Tuesday if I only get an “I don’t know” from this Neuro consult, I’ll know the decision to proceed with hammertoe surgery will be based on my own gut feelings and information others have shared on here.