My wife has enjoyed relatively good health throughout her life but now her stomach is often upset, she has little or no appetite and even on warm days she will sometimes feel cold. We made an appointment with our doctor who in turn told us to see a specialist as my wife seems to have a gallbladder problem as well as a hernia.
We went to see this doctor, naturally I will not provide any names for obvious reasons, and my wife had to have another cat-scan. Sure enough she has a gallbladder problem, there are gallstones, she also has a hernia. The doctor said that he would remove the gallstones and we thought that was it, neither of us being medically savvy, however the doctor, being shot on conversation and long on patients, did not reveal how this was to be done. We were also concerned about the mesh that would be used to correct the hernia problem but the doctor just whisked away. From the beginning it was obvious the doctor had not even glanced at the information provided in my wife’s file, much less read any part of it, that he held in his hand. To prove this when he first came in to see us he sent my wife away and wanted to speak with me, thinking I was the patient; he hadn’t even looked at the name much less the contents of the file.
My wife and I talked at length about all this on our way home and became increasingly disturbed over the shortness of the doctor and our having to leave his office with so many unanswered questions. The doctor never mentioned the number of stones or the size, all that was said was that he would remove the stones. There was no mention of the amount of discomfort to expect, time required to heal, restrictions, nothing. Then there was the hernia, again, no information.
When we arrived home I called his office and explained how we were put off by the doctor when we were there and that we have several questions. I spoke of the gallbladder and the gallstones and asked how difficult the process was to operate and remove the stones. I was told that the stones are not removed from the gallbladder, the gallbladder itself has to be removed. I was stunned, for a moment I didn’t know what to say except, after a period of silence, to ask why in hell didn’t the doctor have the common courtesy to explain that was his intent. The only response was that this is the procedure when gallstones are present. There has to be an alternative to surgery. I was told that both procedures, gallbladder removal and hernia repair would be done while she was under.
My wife got on the computer and found information stating that there was another way but of course you had to send money up front to get this information. I asked my Chiropractor if he was aware of anything, he at least said he would look into it for us. The Internet site spoke of an increased risk of bowel cancer if the gallbladder is removed, naturally this sent up warning signs, flashing lights and sirens throughout our very being. We also found out on this Internet site that without your gallbladder, bile will drip continuously into your digestive system! This constant dripping also causes diarrhea in some people and removing the gallbladder may lead to higher blood cholesterol levels.
I made an appointment for us to see our doctor concerning this and was surprised to hear him say that he was unaware of any potential added risk of cancer associated with the removal of the gallbladder and that we should go back and speak with the specialist further on this matter. The resulting problem is that now there is no degree of trust. If you cannot trust your doctor there is no faith in him. The hernia part of the problem could be rectified but the overriding fear of the doctor touching the gallbladder would always be there, there would be no sense of peace and assurance that is so necessary going into any operation.
So there you have it, we are now searching for a specialist in another city, someone who will take the time to sit down with us and explain the situation, the options available and provide the peace and assurance that we need.
We went to see this doctor, naturally I will not provide any names for obvious reasons, and my wife had to have another cat-scan. Sure enough she has a gallbladder problem, there are gallstones, she also has a hernia. The doctor said that he would remove the gallstones and we thought that was it, neither of us being medically savvy, however the doctor, being shot on conversation and long on patients, did not reveal how this was to be done. We were also concerned about the mesh that would be used to correct the hernia problem but the doctor just whisked away. From the beginning it was obvious the doctor had not even glanced at the information provided in my wife’s file, much less read any part of it, that he held in his hand. To prove this when he first came in to see us he sent my wife away and wanted to speak with me, thinking I was the patient; he hadn’t even looked at the name much less the contents of the file.
My wife and I talked at length about all this on our way home and became increasingly disturbed over the shortness of the doctor and our having to leave his office with so many unanswered questions. The doctor never mentioned the number of stones or the size, all that was said was that he would remove the stones. There was no mention of the amount of discomfort to expect, time required to heal, restrictions, nothing. Then there was the hernia, again, no information.
When we arrived home I called his office and explained how we were put off by the doctor when we were there and that we have several questions. I spoke of the gallbladder and the gallstones and asked how difficult the process was to operate and remove the stones. I was told that the stones are not removed from the gallbladder, the gallbladder itself has to be removed. I was stunned, for a moment I didn’t know what to say except, after a period of silence, to ask why in hell didn’t the doctor have the common courtesy to explain that was his intent. The only response was that this is the procedure when gallstones are present. There has to be an alternative to surgery. I was told that both procedures, gallbladder removal and hernia repair would be done while she was under.
My wife got on the computer and found information stating that there was another way but of course you had to send money up front to get this information. I asked my Chiropractor if he was aware of anything, he at least said he would look into it for us. The Internet site spoke of an increased risk of bowel cancer if the gallbladder is removed, naturally this sent up warning signs, flashing lights and sirens throughout our very being. We also found out on this Internet site that without your gallbladder, bile will drip continuously into your digestive system! This constant dripping also causes diarrhea in some people and removing the gallbladder may lead to higher blood cholesterol levels.
I made an appointment for us to see our doctor concerning this and was surprised to hear him say that he was unaware of any potential added risk of cancer associated with the removal of the gallbladder and that we should go back and speak with the specialist further on this matter. The resulting problem is that now there is no degree of trust. If you cannot trust your doctor there is no faith in him. The hernia part of the problem could be rectified but the overriding fear of the doctor touching the gallbladder would always be there, there would be no sense of peace and assurance that is so necessary going into any operation.
So there you have it, we are now searching for a specialist in another city, someone who will take the time to sit down with us and explain the situation, the options available and provide the peace and assurance that we need.
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