Friday, August 24, 2012

First Visit to Kids' New Gastro at ECU in Greenville

Today, the kids & I met their new gastro in Greenville...Dr Folashade Jose.  It was an all-day affair (2+ hour ride there & back plus the new patient appointment for 2 kids), but I just have to say that I...LOVED...her.  I wish she could be MY doctor.  She was friendly with both the kids & me, very thorough with the questions concerning each child, and talked to them as well as to me.  Both she and a pediatrician examined each of my kiddos as well.  She is in agreement with Dr Brown (previous gastro in NOVA) & is leaning towards giving them each an IRA (ileo-rectal anastamosis) & also recommends waiting until they're a little older before doing the surgery.  She would like to do both the upper and lower scopes on them but would also like to have the colon-rectal surgeon present at their scopes so he can see their GI system firsthand in order to observe any areas of question/concern with his own eyes instead of looking at the photos she takes and wishing he'd have had a particular view.  It makes sense to me.  So, because of this, we will need to work around his schedule, but she is hoping to do it in the next couple of months.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Gastro in Wilmington

I met what I'm hoping will be my new gastroenterologist today, down in Wilmington.  His office staff was nice and friendly, but I'm not so sure about him.  He seemed to be a "know-it-all" type of doctor who didn't even bother to listen to my abdomen or poke and prod like all of the other gastros I've seen in my life.  He wasn't very interested in listening to my history and was a little dismissive when I told him about my concerns regarding the adenomatous polyps in my stomach because, in his words, "That doesn't happen."

I don't want to be one of "those" patients, but even though I do not have medical school training, I do have life-experience-training with FAP, and "THAT" does happen, and more specifically, it has happened to me...I have the photos and pathology reports to prove it.

I have several relatives in the medical field, and one of my cousins said that if a health care professional (doctor, nurse practitioner, physician's assistant, etc) does not bother to touch and examine you during an appointment, that's a sign that he has no interest in remembering you as a person...you're nothing more than "another patient" to him...if even that much.

Right now, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.  Maybe he was just having a bad day so I call it "quits" just yet.  I have an EGD scheduled for October so I'll see what happens then.  I sure do hope he was having an "off-day".

One additional note:  Leave it to me to have a gastro appointment for me the day before my birthday and for the kids the day after so I can't even relax and enjoy the day.