Hi Sara - I wonder if you know of Jay Shah?, he's the doc I've been assigned

https://profiles.stanford.edu/search?q=jay%20shaw

Looks like his area of focus is well aligned with my needs, and he has worked at very reputable places, e.g. Stanford and MD Anderson.

Thanks.

Thank you Sara, that's very helpful!

First rule: You are paying; you get to choose the doc you want.

Dr. Skinner is head of the department, so anyone else there is sort of her choice. I think you have two "best" options.
One would be to switch and go to Dr. Skinner, or keep your appointment and see how you "bond" with the one
you meet. If you didn't feel comfortable with him you could always switch. It might be a bit uncomfortable to meet with Dr. Skinner and decide you didn't "bond" and then switch (sort of a second switch!) I feel that you would be in excellent hands with either. Everyone should have such a wealth of choices!!

Sara Anne

I have a dilemma - a doctor at Stanford that Sara has spoken of very highly in this forum (Eila Skinner) wasn't available as I booked my first appointment (the consult + potentially the cystoscopy), so, not wanting to delay the process given the unknowns (e.g. what stage am I?), I booked the first step with another doc in Stanford's Urology/Oncology department that was available.

Dr. Skinner would probably be available for the next step (biopsy/TURBT), but that would mean switching doctors, and potentially irritating the first one.

Given the importance of this, I'm tempted to simply switch to Dr. Skinner for the second step in spite of the risk of bad feelings. All advice accepted, and no worries at all if folks would rather not comment.

Thank you.

Thank you Sara. Your and Tom's fast replies are super appreciated, as I'm planning this out now with docs and PAs (as you can tell !

Absolutely. It would be inappropriate for the urologist to do surgery without doing an examination (cystoscopy) first.

And the PA was correct. After the TURB the urologist will have a very good idea of where the tumors were and what they looked like. However, it is only after the pathology report comes back (and this may take up to a week) will the exact diagnosis be know. There is a lot of "hurry up and wait" in medicine!!

Sara Anne