I'm so confused ... (long)

February 28, 2001

Help. I don't know what to do. I'm truly going to have a nervous

breakdown any day now. How do I determine which doctor to let operate

on me???

OK. I was referred to a doctor by my OB/GYN (yes, the one who caused

all of this.) He is a well respected guy and heads the RE department

at one of the top hospitals for ob/gyn stuff in the country. He SAYS

he has lots of AS experience and also that he does multiple operative

hysteroscopies each week. He says he's treated severe cases. My

OB/GYN thought he'd be appropriate because he taught a course she took

on hysteroscopy or something. (A lot of good it did her. Just

venting.) But I know his real specialty and interest is recurrent

pregnancy loss. And I mentioned on this site before that I had

concerns about at least one thing he'd told me ... namely that he

didn't feel it mattered when in my cycle he performed the surgery. I

can always " self-schedule " the procedure for the right time in my

cycle, but it makes me nervous that he even said this.

Today, I went for a 2nd opinion with another doctor who has a national

reputation for his surgical prowess and he's treated many AS cases.

He himself is at retirement age, and is closing his practice down in

April. However, he said if I didn't have someone I felt comfortable

with in Boston, he'd consider flying out to Dr. March in CA. He's

referred a couple of his most difficult cases out there ... with

success for one patient and not for the other. He isn't saying that

there's no one qualified here, but that he doesn't know other

surgeons' actual skill level, because he's never been in the OR with

them.

How do I decide if I need to go to CA? No one has even looked inside

me yet. They all agree that I must have AS and that the opening to my

uterus is almost surely blocked, so diagnostic procedures probably

won't provide much info on the severity of my case. To make matters

trickier, the initial RE I saw here in Boston has a large ego and I

don't think he'd tell me if he did think someone else was better

equipped. Also, going to CA might involve a huge battle with my

insurance people which could delay things.

CAN ANYONE OFFER THOUGHTS OR OPINIONS??

Kim

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