Appointments...what would you do?

[Lamb]

Most of you know my story of how 3 1/2 years ago I was diagnosed with squamous cell cancer underneath my tongue and had a week long stay at the hospital after surgery to remove part of my tongue. My doctor told me in the beginning that I would go in monthly for scopes/follow ups. Then that would be increased to 6 weeks then 2 months, etc over time.

I also had 2 surgeries within 5 months of that tongue surgery for Papillary Thyroid Cancer which is totally unrelated to the tongue cancer. One does not cause the other to occur. I had been given a choice on if I wanted it removed because it was entrapped in a node and could have been there for 20 years already. My choice was to go ahead and have it removed since the doctor was a good one. That's been 3 years now since my last surgery.

Since then I've had clean scopes and cat scans. Nothing unusual happening and life is good, right?

I had my last scope in February and my cat scan recently. The doctor told the reception desk to schedule me in 2 months for another scope. Why so soon? His intern called me back and said because of my recurrences the doctor wants to see me more often. I NEVER had a recurrence. He said, well, your thyroid.

Okay, here's my problem, I was told back at my August appointment that normally the doctor would release patients after 3 years but because I had two different cancers he wanted to see me an extra 2 years and it would be every 6 months. Prior to that I was seeing him every 4 months. So why is he now wanting to see me more often?

What would you think? Do you think the doctor is wanting to see me more often to make money? The scopes are not cheap!

BTW, at the end of the call the intern said the doctor said if I wanted to see him in 6 months instead that would be fine. YES. I do.

 

[Josiah]

I tend to follow doctor's recommendation....

But if you have concerns, my recommendation would be to talk to your doc about that.... be frank and ask why the more frequent schedule.



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[Lamb]

I tend to follow doctor's recommendation....

But if you have concerns, my recommendation would be to talk to your doc about that.... be frank and ask why the more frequent schedule.



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Maybe what I wrote was too long to read...

But the doctor previously told me I would see him every 6 months for two more years. Now he's saying every 3 months with no new reason.

 

[Forgiven1]

I would do one of 2 things. Get an appointment without the scope in 2 months or sooner and clarify all this OR wait the 6 months as that seems to be okay.

Did you have the same doctor for both? I agree this is confusing.

 

[tango]

I'd ask whether the more frequent appointments are really necessary. My doctor typically looks to take a blood sample every year or two. Since I lost a load of weight she wanted to see how much better my numbers were, and I just said I was interested to see them but not sufficiently interested to pay multiple hundreds of dollars to find out so unless a test was particularly necessary I'd skip it.

 

[Lamb]

I would do one of 2 things. Get an appointment without the scope in 2 months or sooner and clarify all this OR wait the 6 months as that seems to be okay.

Did you have the same doctor for both? I agree this is confusing.

There would be no reason for me to go in and not have the scope. The scope is the ONLY reason I go for my follow ups now really. He looks inside my mouth but I do that daily too and if a lesion formed I would call him asap. So the scopes are for seeing inside my nose and down to my vocal cords. I'm waiting for the 6 month appointment. Yes, it's the same doctor who did all 3 of my surgeries and does the follow ups including the scopes. Well, he stands there while an intern does it. I get to watch on the monitor so I see exactly what's inside me.

I'd ask whether the more frequent appointments are really necessary. My doctor typically looks to take a blood sample every year or two. Since I lost a load of weight she wanted to see how much better my numbers were, and I just said I was interested to see them but not sufficiently interested to pay multiple hundreds of dollars to find out so unless a test was particularly necessary I'd skip it.

I did ask them WHY he was reverting to a shorter time period between appointments. Last year I was going every 4 months until August when he said it would be every 6 months from now on. For him to go back to 3 months doesn't make sense and he had no reason for it. My scopes and cat scans are fine! I have an Endocrinologist I see for my thyroid and they do all the blood work. Everything is in the portal for all doctors to see so my Endo doesn't even require me to get any ultrasounds since I get cat scans through this doctor and they can all see the results.

In your case of blood work, losing weight will better your numbers and you mentioned multiple hundreds of dollars for your blood work...my blood work costs about $200-$300 depending on where it gets drawn. Doctors have no clue how much their tests really cost people.

 

[tango]

I did ask them WHY he was reverting to a shorter time period between appointments. Last year I was going every 4 months until August when he said it would be every 6 months from now on. For him to go back to 3 months doesn't make sense and he had no reason for it. My scopes and cat scans are fine! I have an Endocrinologist I see for my thyroid and they do all the blood work. Everything is in the portal for all doctors to see so my Endo doesn't even require me to get any ultrasounds since I get cat scans through this doctor and they can all see the results.

Unless something has taken a turn for the worse (in which case I'd hope they'd just come out and tell you, rather than shifting appointments and hoping you don't start asking questions) it's hard to see why you suddenly need more appointments unless it is to try and squeeze a bit more cash. From what I gather a lot of hospitals have had financial issues, having shut everything down in case they needed space for COVID patients and then not getting the COVID patients.

In your case of blood work, losing weight will better your numbers and you mentioned multiple hundreds of dollars for your blood work...my blood work costs about $200-$300 depending on where it gets drawn. Doctors have no clue how much their tests really cost people.

That's a major problem - if the doctor orders a test and you have no idea whether it will cost $50 or $500 to actually have the test you can't even make an informed decision whether or not to have it done. And it's easy to order tests when you're not the one stuck with the bill for them.

 

[NewCreation435]

I don't know why the amount of time change, but i agree that it is odd. It would frustrate me to have the amount of months changed for no good reason and not being given a good explanation. I think I would bring it up the next time I saw the doctor in person

 

[Stravinsk]

What would you think? Do you think the doctor is wanting to see me more often to make money? The scopes are not cheap!

BTW, at the end of the call the intern said the doctor said if I wanted to see him in 6 months instead that would be fine. YES. I do.

Obviously it is to generate income. As soon as you put up a little resistance/questioned it, they backed off. They are counting on that some people are given to fear and might agree to more scans at closer intervals.

For me personally, I don't bother with doctors unless it's unavoidable - ie: I injure myself. If I got lung cancer (multi-year-smoker), I wouldn't bother with their treatments, I'd just continue eating a healthy vegan diet and stop smoking and drinking alcohol.