Some further info -- I live in a suburb southwest of Chicago; there is no shortage of urologists around here. The urologist I've been going to for the last 5 years is 15 minutes from my home and office. That's the one I was going to before consulting at and getting the TUR at the large teaching hospital that takes 1-1/2 hrs. to get to. HOWEVER, I had some problems with his office:
--Communication issues (phone calls not returned, lack of communication between nurses and staff, being told they sent me something when they never sent it, etc.)
--When I originally was trying to set up BCG at this office, I thought it was going to take an Act of God. It was a struggle just to get someone to call me to set the treatments up, then they acted like I was inconveniencing them. Each time I spoke to someone different, because the last person wasn't there. They finally worked out a plan involving different times, different nurses, and a staff member told me "We're having difficulty working around YOUR schedule." Since I work days like most people, and was willing to leave work early, I couldn't understand that. Oh yeah, and when a schedule finally was set up, the person I spoke to wouldn't tell me what it was. She wanted me to call in two days to talk to someone else.
I want my questions answered and my phone calls returned promptly should I have side effects or concerns. But I also want my cystoscopies done by someone who does not cause me pain and who is familiar with my case. I want the same nurse doing my BCG each week. But I can't have it all.
I feel nervous about making a decision and feel paralyzed. I suppose I could pick up the phone book and start calling urologists in the area to see who does the most BCG and how they do it. I can tell them my concerns about patient communication, but, of course, they'll all tell me they care about their patients and communicate well with them -- don't they all say that? I mean, who's going to say "We've been known to drop the ball on returning phone calls, we get confused amongst ourselves whether one of us took care of something for you or not, and, oh yeah, we don't always take your side effect concerns seriously." Yet I have run into more than my share of these.
As for bcg protocol, I get the feeling the rolling around isn't crucial, yet I can't let it go.
This whole thing is a way more complicated decision for me than I thought it would be.