Physician Assistant instead of Doctor

I am with Mike on this one, I want to see my doctor, and always have. I been doing this cancer thing for 20yrs and one of the most important and first things I learned was to drive your own boat!!! Take charge just like you do on your boat. It is your life!!! If you reach a point where you can't be in charge, then your wife need to take charge. Mine has always been great at it. I have only had great doctors/nurses and never had one problem. If your doctor will not take the time to talk to you, then you need a different doctor.
Wishing you the best.
Duke

I never saw a PA or had my BCG or mitomycin treatments done by a nurse. In my case, the nurse did the prep (numbing gel, prep, etc.) and the urologist did the treatment. I always brought my notepad with my questions and my uro spent time with me to answer questions and I took notes on the answers (especially in the beginning).1 After I got referred to the bladder cancer specialist doctor and had my RC, he even gave me his email address and cell phone number. I never called his cell but when I would send him a question or report a concern (suspected intestinal block, suspected urinary tract infection, idea for a research study on bladder cancer) he would get back to me quickly. He's a professor at a university teaching hospital and we have great conversations when I see him. I am careful not to abuse the access I have had and he has even sent me email out of the blue now and then.

I would not be comfortable only seeing the PA for bladder cancer--but that's me.
At my GP I don't have a problem seeing his PA but he still always comes in and spends time as well.

Again, other people's mileage may vary but I want the doctor, in addition to whatever staff he/she has for various tasks, to be involved in my treatment when it comes to anything serious and in my opinion cancer is pretty darn serious.

If you are in a small town you may not have a lot of options so you may just try talking to your doctor about your comforts level and desired interactions with him and with the PA. Could be he explains things in a way that makes you more comfortable and it could be he makes some adjustments for you. Worth a shot.

Mike

Warren,

I see the same thing happening at my doctors. The PA dose a very good job of answering most of my questions, but if they can't they do consult the doctor for me, or bring him in to talk things over with me.

I wish my doctor was the one I was always talking with too. But then I feel that some of my questions are so basic that the PA will do. I wouldn't want to take the doctor away from someone who has a real tricky one to answer, just to make me feel a little more personaly cared for.

I guess we all wish we could be the only pateint so the doctor could concentrate more on settleing our nerves. But we know that its not possible. I just wish they would take more time to talk to us one to one.

I posted about a new book I'm reading "The End Of Illness" in another Catagory. The book touches on this subject, and how to deal with it. You might want to look into it.

Mark.