Doctor Vent

I went to my insurance company's doctor for endometriosis in mid June. It took us an hour and a half to get there on mostly back roads...something that my body wasn't too happy with all of the bumps and stops and go's that I had to endure to get there. We arrived 15 minutes early for my afternoon appointment. We were seen right away. There were 2 other women in the waiting room that are very pregnant when I went back to the exam room.

All of the doctors appointments I have had, the nurse comes in and takes my pulse, my bp, my height, my weight, etc. Instead Dr. Know-It-All wants to talk to me first. He asked me about my pain. After the first two that I had discussed with him, instead of asking "okay what is your next pain?", he says "okay what's your next COMPLAINT?". Okay I'm fuming now...just fuming and I don't want to be there but I'm there to see if Dr. Know-It-All can refer me out of network. I also want to know why my insurance is so infactuated with this doctor...why lots of women have surgery repeatedly from him. I keep reminding myself that I need a referral, I need a referral, I need a referral...my mantra for the moment.

During this process with my husband sitting there with me, my husband tries to speak to help me out. This doctor just about told my husband to shut up and let me answer his questions. All my husband was doing was trying to rattle my memory. Dr. Know-It-All didn't care what my husband said. I don't think he cared for my husband to be there at all.

He also tells me that my pain isn't endometriosis at all because a part of my pain is outside of my period. He tells me that adhesions can't be causing my pain because adhesions don't cause pain at all. He tells me my office records, ultrasound reports and post operative reports which I sent to him are completely irrelevant to my case. He mentioned this several times. He tells me that I didn't have endometriosis surgery yet (I guess because I didn't have it with him, Dr. Know-It-All, yet). He also mentions to me that I'm trying to impress him with my pain which he mentions to me several times.

Next up was the pelvic exam so he leaves the room and I get undressed and wear the lovely paper robe with the stylish paper blanket over my legs. Now I just had a pelvic exam with my new obgyn, Dr. Lovely Lady, the day before...do you really think that I want this done??? Hell no!!!! However Dr. Know-It-All can't tell me anything until I have this done but of course it's up to me if I want this done. Okay do you think I'm driving 1 1/2 hours back home and drive back again to have the pelvic exam done another day?? He's crazy if he thinks I want to ride back there again between my pain and the way gas prices are these days...

He comes back into the room to do the pelvic exam. His nurse is with him. I tell him where it hurts. All he cares about is this pain similar to my bowel pain (complaint) or my urination pain (complaint). He cuts me off telling me that if he stands still long enough he could list about 10-15 pains that he is currently experiencing. So I'm only to respond if it's like my bowel complaint or my urination complaint.

While I'm lying on the examination table and with DH holding my hand, he asks me if I work out since I am so thin. I tell him "no I have a high metabolism" but I am grossed out completely by his question. I want to run far away and never look back. Maybe I'm looking too far into his questioning but later after the appointment DH and I talk about this comment and he was just as upset and grossed out as I was. During the exam, I'm backing away from him on the exam table due to the pain. He tells me that a pelvic exam doesn't cause pain repeatedly. I just want to scream back at him "well stupid Dr. Know-It-All it does hurt".

When he is finally done, I'm practically in tears even though I'm on a pain med. After he leaves, I get dressed and he comes back in. Now he tells me that well you have endometriosis (oh you think????? stupid Dr. Know-It-All!!!!!!!). He thinks he's done but I tell him that I have questions. He retorts back that he has patients in the waiting room. Ask me if I care at the moment...

I ask my questions anyway. Questions like I want a copy of your CV (it's a curriculum vitae or doctor's resume for those of you who don't know), how he does he surgeries, does he use lupron, zoladex, synarel, etc. and more. His answers leave a bad taste in my mouth: go look up my CV at AAGL's website since they have it (answer from AAGL No they don't...nor would they ever do that), he does laser excision (his surgeries last 1-2 hours for mild to moderate amounts of endo and 3 hours for extensive severe (stage 4) endo--he does upwards of 3 surgeries in one day), yes he uses lupron-no he doesn't yes he does no he doesn't yes he does...(so which is it doc do you or don't you use lupron????), and other nauseating answers.

For those of you who don't know what lupron is, it's a drug that was originally designed to treat prostate cancer. Somehow doctors thought that it would be good to treat endometriosis as well and it causes women who take it to have menopausal-like symptoms (no periods (well at least this is what they tell you), night sweats, hot flashes, decreased libido, vaginal dryness, and others like bone loss). I know of women who have had their dental fillings fall out because of this drug. I have chatted with a woman who during the dead of winter ran out of her home during the middle of the night naked due to the hot flash she was experiencing. I know friends of mine who have tried it who turned into the she-devil from hell. So why would I want to take this drug??????? It is my belief that drugs like Lupron are used post op when the doctor doesn't get ALL of the endo out or doesn't care to. I know that for some women this drug has done something for them, however given my track record of reactions to various OTC medications, I would rather not tempt the fates with something like lupron.

I have never been on lupron or any of the drugs in the same category as it nor will I go on them in the future. I'm too scared of the side effects of the meds.

Okay since this appointment I have contacted his office twice to get his CV. I called 2 days following the day of the appointment to request the CV again. I'm treated to a woman who doesn't really know what the heck I'm talking about and tells me to call back the following Tuesday. On Tuesday morning, I called again. This time the receptionist talked to me and then passed me on to a nurse.

The nurse wanted to know what I needed to know. I told her anything that would be on the CV. She asked like what. So I told her anything on the CV for Dr. Know-It-All (his education information, his journal articles, where he did his residency at, everything that would be on his CV). I am told to check with AAGL to which I respond I already have and this is what I was told. The nurse then tells me the answers to my "questions" (she readily has this information on hand...she is not reading it but has this stuff memorized. She tells me that THE Medical Society will have it (meaning the CV). I am getting absolutely nowhere with this doctor or his freaking staff.

ANY GOOD DOCTOR WILL GIVE YOU HIS/HER CV UPON YOUR REQUEST!!!!

So I am left with researching Dr. Know-It-All myself...I contacted the state's medical society via email who transferred my request to the county's department of health. The woman who works in the same the county at their department of health where Dr. Know-It-All works is a patient of his, had surgery done by him and feels wonderful. So does Dr. Know-It-All pay her as well as his office staff??? I didn't bother asking her for the CV that this doctor should be willing to give me outright upon my first request.

His bedside manners were highly lacking, along with the rest of his manners in general. I was taught that you don't cut off the person that is speaking to you by my parents and by my schools that I have graduated from. I'm not sure about this doctor.

Oh I forgot to mention, when I asked him in office about who he trained under for excision of endometriosis, his response was the following:

I trained myself

How scary is that??? I'm petrified to have this doctor do my surgery.

Wonderful (note the major hint of sacrasm here) another quack for a doctor who:

(a) doesn't listen at all to their patient or the patient's partner
(b) thinks that they are God
(c) refuses to honor a patient's request for more information (I'm sorry I'm not blindly going into surgery with a doctor I don't know without gaining more information from others and from that doctor)
(d) who hides behind the medical societies that he is a member of (and ones that he isn't)
(e) who can't answer simple questions on whether or not he will prescribe lupron to me
(f) who can't deal with endo on the bowel so that I might have to undergo 2 surgeries where the other endo experts would be able to do just one

Sorry Dr. Know-It-All you are like the other "docs" that I have seen who didn't want to listen to me so I'm having surgery done by somebody else who:

(a) will take their time with my surgery to get all of the endo out
(b) will care more about the patient than the money involved
(c) will listen to me the patient, their employer, than the all mighty $
(d) doesn't hide behind the membership organizations and his/her role with them
(e) honors the patient's request(s)
(f) doesn't do more harm
(g) doesn't have their patients undergo more than 1 surgery for the same item