Choosing a Doctor
**Disclaimer: I am by no means a medical professional. Any items within this blog, please confirm with you doctor or medical provider. If you are having an emergency, please call 911.**
In October 2019, I had surgery to remove more than 10 fibroids from my uterus. It was hard to find information on how to select a doctor for my procedure, so here are some tips I came up with for anyone who is undergoing surgery.
Understand What Your Aliment Is
Once you have gone to a doctor and have been diagnosed, understand exactly what your aliment is. This is so that when you meet with your surgeon, you can ask the right questions. In my case, I knew I had uterine fibroids, but I researched what typically causes them, what are the ways naturally you can make them go away (if any), and what are the different types of surgical procedures that can be used to help the aliment. You have to remember medicine is a practice, so some doctors practice it differently. For example, there are several ways to take out uterine fibroids, but some doctors only spseicialize in a couple of those ways. You want to make sure you know and understand your options and the risks to those options, which leads me to my next point.
Understand Different Methods of Surgery that can be Performed
You really need to make sure that you get the full amont of details as to:
1. What are the different ways this surgery can happen?
2. What are the risk factors to each type?
3. Why is the way your doctor is choosing in your best interest?
This is so that you understand the exact reason behind why your doctor would opt to do a certain surgery on you as opposed to another. In my case, the first doctor i went to wanted to do a robotic myomectomy, which is less invasive, however he let me know that he may not be able to get all my fibroids out if they are in certain locations. My second doctor I went to, which was actually the doctor who performed me surgery, told me to do an abdominal myomectomy, which is invasive and requires more recovery time. However, the reason for her choosing this option was because if they opened me up and found more fibroids, she would be able to get them all out. Even though I choose the more difficult procedure, it ended up working in my favor because I had more than 10 fibroids when they opened me up! From the MRI scans, it just looked like I had 3. Make sure you know the benefits and drawbacks to the procedures you can get.
Understand What your Doctors Speciality Is
Not everyone is good at everything! You should really make sure you understand the type of surgery or method your doctor is most comfortable with. If you want a different method, don’t be afraid to ask a second opinion, which is a great tranisiton to the next tip
ALWAYS, Get a Second Opinion
Knowledge is power. I can’t tell you how many blogs I read in which someone had a procedure done and another doctor completely disagreed on the method for very legitimate reasons. This is why is really important to get a second opinion from another doctor. You need to make sure that you fully trust and feel confident with what you ware being told. Let’s face it, you’re about to have surgery and you need to be able to trust someone if they are going to be cutting you open.
Look at Reviews
In our lovely digital age, you can always find reviews on different doctors. First, look at how old the reviews are, and also look at the content of the reviews. For example, I had a really awesome doctor once, who just had a poor staff. He was great, but his staff was not, giving him low ratings. You have to make sure you look into the reviews to make sure it’s not just people blowing hot air. Watch out for comments like “They didn’t take my insurance!” That is not a reflection of the doctor, but just not understanding what there insurance actually covers.
Understand Your insurance
You should really understand what your insurance is willing to cover and what they will not. This will help you put money aside if needed for surgery expensive. Some plans cover more than others, so it’s really important that you speak to your insurance company and understand in full what the costs will be for you. This will help with the shock and sting of medical bills later.