Cathy's doctors have been a most excellent blessing. Other than a little panic due to feeling the need to make quick decisions at the beginning of her ordeal, we have been able to find doctors who I believe to be the best available. Even the first breast surgeon, who we chose to leave, was an excellent doctor - just not the right fit.
It's hard to find good doctors, though. Harder than it should be. When we realized that Cathy's breast surgeon wasn't the right fit I began spending hours researching. I used doctors rating websites, doctors' own websites, the results of plain old google searches, and angie's list to learn about the doctors available to us. It took a long time and was it was difficult to process all the information. It was especially difficult to determine which sources and evaluations were credible. I tend to believe that when it comes to ratings of things online it is usually the fanatics who leave ratings and comments. It seems that people who take the time to make thoughtful comments are either extremely pleased or extremely upset about their experiences. The average experience is often unrepresented.
Doctors with very full schedules or doctors who are nearing retirement present a vexing problem in this process. We have experienced this in trying to find a dermatologist for Cathy. With her psoriasis history, Cathy has needed to see a dermatologist. We didn't like the doctor that we had seen years ago, so decided to find a new one. We followed some friends' and other doctors' recommendations. One dermatologist seemed to be somewhat incompetent and had a very socially awkward staff (there was a really strange social dynamic going on in that office). Another dermatologist was highly qualified, extremely knowledgeable, and had some of the worst bedside manner imaginable. Cathy tried to make an appointment with the dermatologist in our primary care group. This dermatologist would be happy to see her...in March. Through those and other appointments, Cathy had been unable to have her psoriasis addressed to her satisfaction.
This week she had follow ups with her outstanding oncologist and her bff breast surgeon. Both doctors, independently and unsolicited from one another asked her about her vitiligo. Vitiligo? Yes, that looks like vitiligo. They could see how it would be mistaken for psoriasis because it is flaky, but clearly there is a loss of pigment. How could two doctors who aren't dermatologists get this, but the dermatologists couldn't?
Cathy had been resistant to calling my awesome dermatologist because, frankly, he's old. He's the best in Cincinnati, but he's old. She called. "I'm sorry, he's not taking any more appointments. He'll be retired as of January 1." That was predictable. All of Cathy's favorite stuff gets discontinued!
So the next day Cathy saw her excellent rheumatologist who also mentioned her vitiligo. The rheumatologist offered to get her an earlier appointment with the dermatologist in our primary care group...next week! The rheumatologist predicted that Cathy will have to have a biopsy to confirm vitiligo, but that there could be some successful treatment options ahead for her.
This has been a difficult process. I'm thankful that all of this has been related to a relatively minor situation. It would be much more distressing to be misdiagnosed and mistrusting of our doctors if this were a life altering health situation. Yet, I know that is the case for many people.
It's difficult to find the right doctor. Credible recommendations and references are hard to come by. Sometimes you find a great doctor who just isn't right for you. Many times you have to trust your gut. Thankfully, Cathy is really good at reading people and can tell almost instantly if the situation is right. I'm thankful for our doctors and I'm thankful for Cathy's perceptive people skills.
