Les,
Another site that can at least let you know who specializes in urological cancers in a geographical area is provided by the American Urological Society. In the advanced search choose Oncology/Cancer.
www.urologyhealth.org/find_urologist/
When this site was designed by the American Bladder Cancer Society it was done with the goal of furthering informed medical consumerism in the blc community. We are not here to give you answers we are here to give you the questions to ask your medical professional so that you can make well founded decisions. Besides the forum I hope you have taken advantage of the BLC information area’s found in the main menu. There you will find invaluable information from the best non commercial sources available.
The people on the forum have been around long enough to know what can happen if blc is not treated properly. That is what makes them so passionate they have lived the stories with real people and seen their tragedies; know that their caring is what is behind it all.
Yes statistically we can show you that centers that do large volumes of RC’s have a better outcome but that does not mean that others have not had very good treatment outside of them with long term good results, if they made sure their surgeon was competent in this area. But ultimately it will be your father’s choice and his confidence in his surgeon is very important factor.
Whoever will be going to the appointments with him will want to make a list of questions. I found having my husband with me riding shotgun was very important. He took notes and made sure that the questions on the list were answered. Here are some of the questions that were on our list as we made the rounds while choosing our Uro Surgeon. I am sure the group can add to this.
1. How many of this type of diversion do you do a year?
2. Does the hospital you use have a specialized area for Urological surgical patients?
3. Do you do nerve sparing to preserve sexual function?
4. How many lymph nodes do you remove on an average?
5. Will I have access to an Ostomy nurse during recovery?
6. How long after surgery will it be before I am allowed to travel? By plane? By car for long distances?
7. In the hospital you use will it be possible for me to have a private room?
8. Does your hospital have services to help us locate temporary lodging and nursing services for us after discharge? (If going out of home area)
9. Would you be willing to confer with my local Urologist once I am discharged and return home?
If you do decide to go out of the home range for your surgery larger area’s offer the advantage or corporate apartments and visiting nurse situations can be set up during your time recuperating there. Once I made the decision to travel for my RC I talked to my local Urologist and made sure that they were ok with excepting me back following surgery and conferring with the surgeon I used.
Your father should be very proud that he has a child that cares for him as deeply as you do and being his advocate is a gift that he is lucky to receive.