What to do when you can't get through to the Doctor...

Thanks for both of your replies. I have read them both, twice!!

Thanks for caring, too....

Ro

Rosemary,

You may have already considered this -

My doctor always plans my treatments, cystos, or any other procedures around good emergency room times - for example, won't do cystos on a Friday afternoon. He always tells me that if I have any problems after hours to get to the emergency room. I had to on one occasion and it was a 5 hour ordeal, but I was checked out and I believe my doctor was contacted.

I don't know how close you are to a hospital, but if you are close enough to get there, then I would ask your doctor if s/he is contacted when you go to an emergency room after normal office hours.

Hope this helps

Ross

I'm thinking about talking to my Urologist at our next appointment, and putting the ball in his court, and asking HIM to give me a plan of action...

How does that sound???

Ro

This is a problem I had on Friday and I hear it all the time around here....
I thought it might be helpful if we could all hash it out, so that we all could have a Plan B when it happens to us individually.

How to get through to your Doctor or medical staff when YOU feel it is urgent and the switchboard operator DOES NOT think it is urgent, or just doesn't care..

On Friday morning at work, I saw blood in the toilet :o Scared me. I decided that I should put in a call to the Doctor, but, I honestly didn't know where to begin.
The Gynecologist or the Uroligist? Now, you must remember that it is Friday, and if I don't get through to the Doc sometime during the day, then it would be Monday before I could talk with anyone...I was feeling an urgency to speak with one of my Doctors!

I tried the Urologist first. I told the switchboard that I needed to speak with the Doctor or the nurse, so she says she'll put me through to the nurse... I get an answering machine telling me she is busy and she will get back to me by the end of the day....not good enough..

So, I try my gynecologist next. I tell the switchboard that I need to speak to my Doctor or to his nurse, and I tell her a bit of my problem, and she says, I'll put you through to the nurse, I get another answering machine, so I call back to the switchboard and I tell the operator a bit more of my problem, well, she says, your doctor is in surgery and the nurse is busy ??? So, I tell the operator, fine, I'll call my GP and she says "Fine"

So, I call my GP and the operator listened to my tale, and she said that my Doctor did not have any appointments available, but, I could see the Nurse Practioner. I thought, okay, at least I can get a urinalysis to help me get through the weekend (or not!!)

The urine turned out to be clear, the pelvic exam showed a bacterial infection (again) and the rectal was okay.....

We kind of both came to the conclusion that this is some sort of menopausal crank up with high hormonal flux. I even have a pimple...

Anyway, I can tell you that I never want to go through a scenario like this one again....

What can a bladder cancer patient do to make certain that in the event of such a thing as the sight of blood, that we can get the attention of medical personnel?????

Any ideas???

Ro