How long is normal wait for surgery?

16 years 7 months ago #7085 by wendy
Replied by wendy on topic How long is normal wait for surgery?

Hi,
I'm sorry to say that no, it's not normal to be put on hold so long with such a serious condition. It sounds like malpractice to me.

The guidelines for bladder cancer treatment say that in case of invasive tumors no longer than 90 days should pass between diagnosis and definitive treatment (surgery). Perhaps if you use that information and let the doctors know you're aware of this it will light a fire under somebody's butt.

I'd say try to speak with the head of the hospital, yes, get your grandmother's GP involved and anyone else who might be able to help.

Maybe you could call UPenn and inform them of the seriousness of the situation and get her in ASAP? I hope you could get some advice from real experts, because squamous cell bladder cancer is relatively rare in the USA. When dealing with a cancer that is not common, it's a good idea to speak to experts, uro-oncologists.

Good luck with things.

Wendy

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16 years 7 months ago #7079 by Gene Beane
Replied by Gene Beane on topic How long is normal wait for surgery?
Well I am a newbie but have 4 months of bladder cancer in my life with my husbands stage 3 T-2. Our surgeon at the cleveland clinic did a 2nd biopsy 2 days ago and wants it out in August, 3rd week. I personally had to push my way to the cleveland clinic as every answer I got was not the answer I needed from when we could see the clinic surgeon to results getting back. But now that we are at the Cleveland Clinic things are going quickly. My hope for you is that your mom is in good shape for her age and pray she gets along alright. I agree with Pat, find a surgeon who suits your needs, there dragging there feet, I am new at this but your paying for good care, not only on Wednesdays..this jouney is rough for everyone involved, my prayers are with you, Pat and Zack are great people for advice, I will be needing alot more myself as I am still in a little shock about it all. Mostly no one understands but the people on the forum.. good luck and get going!!
Ginger Beane

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16 years 7 months ago #7076 by Patricia
Replied by Patricia on topic How long is normal wait for surgery?
This is the team that rates top doctors for Newsweek, NY Magazine, and others and will give you some top doctors to pick from in your area if there are any.......www.castleconnolly.com/doctors/results.cfm
Also take a look at my personal message......Pat

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16 years 7 months ago #7067 by Zachary
Replied by Zachary on topic How long is normal wait for surgery?

Perhaps one of the MDs who frequent this site can best answer that. There are sites that list the "Best Doctors in America" and "America's Top Doctors," and I know they're legit because my own doctor is on them.... :) I can't vouch for sites where patients vote for doctors because I just don't think that is a very good way of evaluating a physician. Our local paper recently had a "Best of Santa Barbara" contest and the winner of the best burrito didn't even serve burritos.

Just for fun, here is a thread about that mysterious burrito:
nippers.sbwh.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1336

All that being said, here is a site that does claim to rate doctors:
ratemds.com/

"Standing on my Head"---my chemo journal
T3a Grade 4 N+M0
RC at USC/Norris June 23, 2006 by Dr. John Stein

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16 years 7 months ago #7062 by WorriedGranddaughter
Replied by WorriedGranddaughter on topic How long is normal wait for surgery?
Thanks, Zach, for your support. I've read some of your posts to other topics too. I'm going to see what my aunt was able to accomplish today with the dr. that my grandmother already has. Depending on what happens, I'd like to show her your and Pat's comments (please, others, chime in too!). My aunt has medical power of atty and has heroically taken on the responsibility of doing all the to and fro to the dr's.

Do you know if there are any websites evaluating doctors and/or their experience?

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16 years 7 months ago #7060 by Zachary
Replied by Zachary on topic How long is normal wait for surgery?

Pat is so correct on this. And everyone here will tell you that her advice is not only right, it's important that you get your grandmother to do as she suggests. Whether she feels like it or not.

I know that she's an adult and can make her own decisions, but she's making the wrong one here. Perhaps you can talk with the urologist and have him suggest going to a larger facility with a higher volume of BC surgeries. My own urologist was gracious enough to suggest to us that we go to USC/Norris, and that while he could do the surgery, he did only one or two a year.

Do whatever it takes. If you're successful, terrific. If not, well, you tried.

(In the interest of full disclosure, my own grandmother was from Scotland, and pretty stubborn, too. I don't know if I could have convinced her to do something if she'd made up her mind no to.)

Good luck,

Zach

"Standing on my Head"---my chemo journal
T3a Grade 4 N+M0
RC at USC/Norris June 23, 2006 by Dr. John Stein

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