Comments on: Doctor Doctor Give Me the News

By: Cathy

Cathy — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 14:48:35 +0000

In reply to Lori. I have a second appointment next week. We'll see how that goes. He has an excellent reputation from a surgeon standpoint, but I am sure he is not the only game in town.

By: Lori

Lori — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 13:08:36 +0000

In reply to Cathy.

You should have! Sometimes there are doctors who just lose sight (no pun intended) of the patient and the reason they’re really there.

I think I’d tell him why he’s not going to do the surgery. I had a dermatologist I had to fire for the same reason. He was in such a hurry to get one more surgery in (and one more insurance check) that he never even spoke to me before, during, or after surgery.

By: Cathy

Cathy — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 12:52:31 +0000

In reply to Lori. Thanks, Lori, for some good advice. I so wanted to say, get over yourself.

By: Cathy

Cathy — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 12:51:35 +0000

In reply to Paula H. Thanks for sharing your insight, Paula. :-D

By: Lori

Lori — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 12:21:33 +0000

Get a new doctor. Any doctor who WON’T focus on you for five minutes and won’t take time to answer questions isn’t building in me any confidence that he’ll focus whenever he’s doing the surgery.

And you need a second opinion. His, right now, isn’t worth a damn.

By: Paula H

Paula H — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 21:46:20 +0000

My eye doctor explained there are a couple types of floaters. The kind I’ve had my entire life are due to the actual structure of the gelatinous part of the eye – folds and pockets cause the lines and specks that are always floating through my field of vision. The others can be just a few spots floating around, and can signal retinal damage.

Still, although I’ve always had floaters the eye doctor always dilates my eyes to check to for possible retinal damage.

By: Cathy

Cathy — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 12:49:14 +0000

In reply to Anne Wayman.

Hi Anne. I’m actually looking forward to having the surgery so I can get better vision. It has been a real hindrance in my work. Except now I have a handy excuse for typos. 😀

Cataract symptoms are usually things like blurred vision and glare (like from headlights at night while driving) causes problems. One of my noticeable problems related to work was dashes looked like equal signs.

Floaters are common when we age-of course that doesn’t apply to us. 😉 From what I’ve read, a sudden “shower of floaters” that may also be accompanied with a flash of light could be a symptom of a retinal tear or detachment. Most of the time floaters are common and do not require treatment. but it’s good to check them out at your eye appointment.

Here’s a WebMD article about it, Anne. http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/benign-eye-floaters

By: Anne Wayman

Anne Wayman — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 23:13:46 +0000

My two best girlfriends here in San Diego have had cataract surgery and are way better for it.

Are floaters a sign of cateracts? I’ve had a couple but they’ve gone away.

The story of your doctor is appalling! I’m so sorry you were treated this way.

By: Cathy

Cathy — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 16:51:32 +0000

In reply to Kristen.

You make an excellent point, Kristen, regarding taking control of our health care decisions. It’s something I promote so I guess I should try some of my own prescription, huh? 🙂

Thank you for your thoughtful observation, Kristen.

By: Kristen

Kristen — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 03:51:04 +0000

Hi Cathy,
I have to say that I would not return to him. If he has so little respect for patients as to keep them waiting for 90 minutes and to chastise you for moving while in pain, I might be concerned that he might be the best person. Plus it seems like a bad idea to reward him for his poor behavior by scheduling a surgery. It sounds like he might be so busy that he won’t even notice. I strongly believe that health care consumers should take the only power they have when they get poor care and that is seeing someone else who will treat them well. Perhaps he doesn’t need the money that he would earn from the surgery fee. Good luck with getting everything resolved.