Is It Okay to Question a Doctor?

Rickee,
Honestly with your fathers age i would definately look at a second opinion. He's already gone through the urethectomy
What are the chances of urethral cancer coming back following treatment?

The likelihood of urethral cancer recurring following treatment depends on both the stage and location of the initial tumor. For patients with low stage disease, the five-year disease specific survival rate approaches 90 percent; patients with high stage disease have a survival rate of 33 percent. For patients with tumor located in the anterior urethra regardless of stage, the five-year disease specific survival is 60 to 70 percent, whereas for patients with tumor located in the posterior urethra regardless of stage, the five-year survival rate is less than 25 percent
Also this type of cancer rarely metastasizes.
"In both men and women, urethral cancer has a tendency to invade local and adjacent soft tissues. By the time of diagnosis, the majority of tumors are locally advanced, which sometimes results in a poor prognosis despite aggressive treatment. Urethral cancer rarely metastasizes (spreads) to distant locations. In women, the most common sites of tumor invasion are the vagina and bladder, whereas in men, tumor invasion most commonly occurs in the deep tissues of the perineum, the prostate, and the penile and scrotal skin. Most of the urethral tumors, in both men and women, are the squamous-cell type. The second most common type is transitional-cell carcinoma"
This is a quote from.......www.answers.com/topic/urethral-cancer
Pat

Harleygirl I feel your pain.

My father refused to have a second opinion and the doctor he chose to do his RC only does 4-5 a YEAR! I was mortified to say the least when he went ahead with the surgery with this doctor. However, the doc has done a phenomenal job so far. Dad had his RC June 25th and is recovering smoothly. He was out of the hospital in 5 days. His surgeon used the daVinci robot for the prostate removal part of the surgery.

Not sure what type of procedure your dad is having - I still recommend getting a second opinion and if I had my way my dad would have gone to Hopkins.

It doesn't matter if you offend the doctor - your dad's life is in his hands. One thing I have learned through all of this, you don't have to be rude but you also should not be shy about speaking up.

Dear Harleygirl,

If you have time please do seek a second opinion.

You can of course ask your present doctor for a referal. Your fears of insulting or getting an anger reaction is normal. I did also when I sought a second opinion for my RC.

It is common practice for patients that need radical or rare surgery to seek a specialist in that field.

If you need help to research a specialist please just ask....

Leigh

Harleygirl,

First question I would ask is how successful were the surgeries he HAS done...If he has a very good success rate that may put you at ease...If he doesn't, maybe you want to ask for a referral..It is your Dad and unfortunately with Cancer you sometimes have to step on toes to get things done...

Can you tell us what type of surgery it is?

I wish you the best,
Karen

My 81-year-old father is facing some pretty rare surgery that his doctor tells him he has only performed about a dozen times in his entire career. Would it be out of line for me to ask this doctor if he knows of any other doctor who performs this type of surgery regularly or who he would choose to perform the operation if HE or one of his loved ones had to have that type of surgery?

I don't want to risk making him angry or insult him since it is likely that he will be the one doing Dad's surgery. I think he is a good doctor but, is GOOD good enough?