feel better and update my informaion

[linlynn]

I fell very touched and blessed to read your response. I will try to do what you told and calm down. There is 1% chance to be cancer according to the resident’s opinion. I feel ok most of the time except felling full around the right ovary area where the cyst locates. I feel uncomfortable of the upper right abdominal area sometime.
I called both the resident’s and the endocrinologist’s office today. The endocrinologist is out of town. But I talked with his nurse on phone, a nice and friendly lady. The first question I want to make sure is the endocrinologist is the primary surgeon. The nurse said the resident will perform most of the surgery under the endocrinologist’s supervise. It is totally different from what I heard from the resident. I am not going to let a doctor without any experience practice on me. I told the nurse that the resident has not done any this particular surgery. Then the nurse said the endocrinologist will do the surgery under this circumstance. The second question is what the endocrinologist’s experience on this particular surgery such as how many cases he has done. The nurse is not sure. Because I knew the doctor moved from other city to the city I live one and a half year ago. So I asked her how many this kind of surgeries this doctors did after he moved here. The lady said maybe ten (she is not sure too, just estimate). She said she will ask these questions for me. Either she or the doctor will give me a call after he comes back which is on Wednesday.
The nurses do tell me this endocrinologist is her choice to go if she were me it is not because she works with him.
So should I put my case on an endocrinologist who did around ten cases in the past one and a half year ( he may do a lot in the past which I need find out after he comes back) and a resident who did not have any experience on this?  

[cirella]

Hi.  I'm glad they got back to you with some answers.  First of all, you are not picky and demanding.  It is your body.  They don't tell you who will do surgery, you tell them.  I would call the gynecological department of the hospital and ask to speak with the attending or head of departent.  Voice your concerns.  Ask what year the resident who will be involved is in.  And out of how many years.

When my husband was a resident in anesthesia there were many times that the attending did or was present for the initial intubation, left the resident alone and then came in for the extubation.  Of course, my husband was well into his residency.  I'm just telling you that there are certain times that the attending must be present, other than that, he may not be there.  The attending is ultimately responsible for the resident but that may not mean the attending is there for the entire case.  ASK about it.

Please don't schedule your surgery until you are 100% satisfied with everything.  Even if they assure you everything will be fine.  Don't do it if YOU are not comfortable.  

Lori  

[linlynn]

Deandra, Marie,Lori, Thanks for your response.  The lady said she is the nurse of the attending when she called me back. I sent email to the resident to confirm who is the one perform the surgery. Here is what his reply

"Dr. ~will be the attending surgeon on the case and in charge of the operative procedure. As a resident I can only operate under his direction and close surpervision. We will be working as a team during the operation. I perform as much of the case as I am capable of or as much as Dr. ~ allows"

So my understanding is he will perform the surgery on me under the attending's direction and surpervise. If he can not do some part, it will switch to the attending.  If my understanding is wrong, please correct me. That is not what I want.

When I signed the consent form, It said " I will allow Attending's name /resident's name perform the surgery on me". I asked him why he put two names there. His answer at that time is the attending is primary surgeon and he is assistant. I know during a surgery, there is only one primary sureon and several assistants especially in a teaching clinic. So it sound very reasonable to me. I may misunderstand him. What I want is the attending perform the surgey on me and the resident observe the surgery. If I asked for removing the resident's name from the form, will it help? If it does not help, what I should do to let them know my request?

Am I picky and demanding to have this request? I do not want to offend the resident because he is nice and patient. As a graduate student, I totally understand teaching and learning process. But he had no experience on this particular surgery. If he said he had observed many cases. I think I may allow him practice on me under attending's supervise as his first.

I asked for a meeting with the attending before the surgery. What do I need to do and say to let them know my request?

[cirella]

Hi, you may try this to look up your doctor's status with his license in your state.  I live in IL so I'm not sure what your state will call this but for me it's the State of Illinois, Division of Professional Regulation.  You go to that site, scroll to find the Physician and you can type in his/her name.  It'll pull up the doctor, when they were licensed or ever disciplined.  At least you will be able to see how long the license has been in effect.

You have every right to ask for the supervising doctor to do your surgery.  If you find that the doctor you are considering has little experience, I would look for another.  I agree with Marie...ask, ask, ask around.  

Take care,
Lori

[rmarie]

Are you certain that the person you were asking the questions of was a nurse?  I always ask for their title, as an RN, I find a number of people assume because they work in a physicians office they are and RN and this is not the case.  If the physician has switched from one city to another then his work in total is between two areas.  Do you have any friends who are RN's that can ask around about this surgeon that is always a good way to go.  I would be willing to bet that he has done more than ten surgeries to preserve fertility, or he would have been recruited to another city to practice.  Good luck.  Marie

[Brownie3321]

Hello there. Ultimately this decision is up to you and your family. What do you feel most comfortable with? If I were in your shoes, I would not do the surgery with a doc with minimal experience or little known facts about the surgeon. This is my opinion, I think you need to reasearch a better doc because this is YOUR health, your life. With love, Deandra