This week has been super busy and it is only Wednesday! I am starting to get all of my days confused because of the craziness of my schedule lately with all of my appointments. The good news is today was my last day of doctors appointments for awhile and I now have everything planned out, which is such a relief.
On Monday I met with Dr. Gurri, the surgeon that was recommended by my endocrinologist in Melbourne. He had a good amount of experience in thyroid and parathyroid surgery and seemed as though he would be capable of doing a successful surgery. I had a list of questions for him and he seemed to find my throughness amusing. He wanted to know what type of career I had. I told him I was an engineer. To me it makes sense if you are going to entrust someone with your life that you ask all the right questions. I guess most people are a little more trusting.
On Tuesday I met with my endocrinologist to have an ultrasound of my parathyroid to compare that to the scan I did last Thrusday. The results of the scan were inconlusive - nothing really stood out. The ultrasound had similar results. He said he saw an enlarged lymph node on the right side of my neck and a possible enlarged parathyroid gland, but it was hard to tell.
Last night we drove to Jacksonville and stayed at my parents house because I had a 8:45am appointment with a surgeon at the Mayo clinic this morning. Nate took the day off to go with me, which was really nice. The Mayo clinic is extraordinarily organized and efficient. I feel like the facility must be run by Industrial Engineers. I had an appointment at 8:45am to check in and an appointment with Dr. Casler the surgeon at 9:30am. They called me into the office at 9:30 and Dr. Casler came into the room at 9:35 and apologized for being late! Nate and I were extremely impressed with Dr. Casler's demeanor and throughness. He was personable, calm, and explained things in a way that didn't make Nate feel lightheaded, which is awesome! He went over the scan and ultrasound results with us and explained the details of the surgery and his recommendations. He performs about 200 thyroid surgeries a year and 50 parathyroid surgeries a year, which is by far the most experience out of any of the other surgeons I met with. Nate and I decided to have him do the surgery. Once that decision was made, they scheduled the surgery for next Tuesday and had me do all of my pre-op work today. We stayed at the clinic for a few more hours to take care of everything. It was amazing how they scheduled everything so quickly!
I am thankful to have a plan in place and a surgery date set! As details continue to unfold, I will blog some more. For now...good night!
Good for you, Sandra! I'm a big proponent of seeing physicians with questions in hand. I think it's respectful of their time, and it suggests that you are going to be a good partner with them. When Ken and I have medical appointments, we provide documents containing our health information, and I can't tell you how many nurses and doctors thank us and say they wish all patients did what we do. Also, as a general rule of thumb, it's a good idea to engage with a physician who frequently does what you need done. Two hundred times a year is a lot! Brava!!!
ReplyDeleteGood for you, Sandra! Enjoyed your account of deciding on a surgeon. Glad to hear everything is falling into place.
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