Please help! My father was recently diagnosed

Yeah and they're dropping out by the thousands each year...thank you AARP........Medicare Part A&B is what you need.
it sucks.....pat

It is not true that EVERYONE can go to MD Anderson. My Dad has a Medicare Advantage Plan and MD Anderson would not accept it nor would they let him PAY for his consultation out-of-pocket. His only option was to wait until the next open enrollment came around and switch back to Medicare which would mean a big delay in getting treatment. He chose not to take that route. So, just because you are Medicare age does not mean you can get treatment anywhere you want it. Maybe it would have been different if he had had plain ol' Medicare, but he had made a different choice for himself which excluded MD Anderson from his choice of hospitals. Bummer.

Dee Ann
you're the only voice of reason apparently in your family. You've done all you can. I hope your mother is prepared to be the caregiver.
There are patients who are elderly and with other health issues and patients like your father who refuse to have surgery. The best they can offer..and mind you..this is by an EXPERT surgeon...they can go in there and RE-TURB the original site and they have had some success with that..no chemo and no radiation.
So maybe you can convince him to have that done at MD Anderson?
I know i'm talking to the wall aren't i?
So sorry for you but you've done all you can do.
pat

Thank you for your input everyone. I talked with him again today. He once again pointed out that they are going to do what's right for them and what they are comfortable with.

I don't blame him for wanting to avoid surgery but we have to face reality.

I did throw the "what if it was me" example out there and it did cause him to pause for a moment. (Thank you, Mike. It was a good point.) Maybe he'll think about this further.

He has an appointment on the 12th with the radiologist. They are also going to do another CT scan and a bone test he couldn't give me a name for. He also mentioned a meeting with a local oncologist (sp?) which he is calling his second opinion. That will happen in a couple weeks after the oncologist comes back from vacation. I'm working on a name. He wasn't too forthcoming today when I spoke with him.

He told his doctor last week what I said and that I thought he was going to die if he doesn't get to MD Anderson for a second opinion. I'm still trying to decide if that's funny or not..... I think he may have been mocking me......

Hopefully sometime during the course of all that he'll come to his senses.