6 ms·

As a cancer survivor myself, the US loves to tell you "early detection is the key to success!" but then loves to not test people. I had to go through 6+ months

As a cancer survivor myself, the US loves to tell you "early detection is the key to success!" but then loves to not test people. I had to go through 6+ months of "please test me" before they finally agreed to. One you get to the oncologist, it becomes great. To quote mine when I asked if it was true Thyroid cancer was the "easy cancer", she said, "people say that, but it isn't true. In your case, yours was going places". To translate, it was headed into my brain. Only because I insisted on testing was it caught early. I am jaded enough to wonder if it is because the medical industrial complex makes more money off late stage cancers.

imgabe 6y ago
What sort of symptoms did you have that lead you to insist on getting tested?
- gilbetron 6y ago
  Honestly, none. My mother had been diagnosed with kidney cancer, and in my stress I had become a "cybercondriac", freaking out about all kinds of things. Randomly, I became worried about my throat and happened to be feeling it when I swallowed and noticed a lump. "Just a thyroid nodule" my doc and then my endocrinologist and then my surgeon said. It wasn't.
1-more 6y ago
So glad your still around to share the story. How did you get the referral to the oncologist you needed?
- gilbetron 6y ago
  I had a primary care physician that was terrible at diagnosis, but knew his limitations. So he said it was nothing to be worried about, but referred me to an endocrinologist just in case. The endo was the bad one, and I was stuck with her for 6 months until she admitted it might be something weird. Then a surgeon that was going to take out the "perfectly typical thyroid nodule". The surgeon performed a "frozen section" during surgery, and saw it was cancer and had gotten into 9 lymph nodes. Then the oncologist got involved - she was awesome. Weird side notes. My primary care physician died several years later randomly driving off the expressway into a bridge support pillar. My surgeon was someone I had worked with to develop a surgical simulator. My second oncologist was an asian man with a weird accent. Took several minutes for my brain to register the accent - because he was australian. Life is ... odd.
  - 1-more 6y ago
    That is an odd mix of characters! Sorry you got delayed for a while with the endocrinologist who didn't know what was up. Like I said, glad that the doctors as a total cohort got you here.
  - dctoedt 6y ago
    > My second oncologist was an asian man with a weird accent. Took several minutes for my brain to register the accent - because he was australian. I had a similar experience: Back when I was swimming laps, another swimmer was an Asian-Australian physician, and I initially had a hard time understanding his Ozzie accent — I surmise that here in Texas I was unconsciously expecting something different from someone with his facial features, so my brain had to parse through the "disparity." (I soon got used to it, of course.)
texasbigdata 6y ago
How old were you?
- gilbetron 6y ago
  36 when the process began. 37 when I had my surgery and radioactive iodine treatment (I was given a pill in a lead canister, then had a Geiger counter pointed at me to make sure I was radioactive!).
  - texasbigdata 6y ago
    Thank you
Balgair 6y ago
I echo the issue. My SO has a condition that is a bit hard to pin down. Getting MDs to actually run tests took years of fights. I remember one particular phone call where my SO, myself, the insurance company rep, and the MD were on a 4-way call together. The MD was refusing to run a specific test, as it was not 'needed'. Eventually the insurance person became incredulous on our behalf (a near miracle in itself) and stated that the particular machine that does the test routinely, as part of the standard panel of tests (like, it'll always spit out the pH, salinity, blood-type, etc). As in, the MD knew the results of the test the whole time and refused to tell my SO. The US system is beyond maddening! I'll say it until the cows come home, the US 'system' is broken, has been for decades, and will remain so for the future. Please, vote for people that will make it better.
- gilbetron 6y ago
  Ugh - I can feel the frustration through the intertubes :(
- readflaggedcomm 6y ago
  Where in your case does doctor intransigence come from, when even insurance companies voice reason? What part of the system incentivizes withholding test results to what benefit? What law?
- disabled 6y ago
  It’s a good reason to leave and immigrate elsewhere, even if one has to pay US taxes and gets paid less income. You cannot put a price on your health. I naturalized as a citizen elsewhere over US healthcare because I know it is only going to get worse long term. With 2 rare neurological diseases affecting my peripheral nervous system, plus type 1 diabetes (autoimmune and insulin-dependent), I want to stay alive long term, and so that was the best possible choice I could make. I am extremely well versed in immigration, acquiring citizenships, healthcare systems, and healthcare delivery and logistics, and so if anyone wants help or advice, feel free to email me (see my profile).
  - dencodev 6y ago
AshWolfy 6y ago
treatments are typically more profitable than cures
disabled 6y ago
The “yearly medical checkup” at your primary care doctor (GP doctor) is largely an American healthcare phenomenon. People around the world, who live in highly industrialized countries with guaranteed-issue health insurance coverage (whether it be national/public/private health insurance) go to their doctors at a rate much higher than Americans. We are generally talking about a multiplicative factor on average when comparing the American population to another country’s entire population. There is a direct relationship between seeing a doctor at a minimum X interval regularly (while in excellent, good, or fair health) versus costs to the /American health insurer/ (or employer paying for the insurance if they are self-insured). That is why you see ads on TV saying “make sure to schedule your annual checkup with your primary care doctor, brought to you by Aetna!”
- queuep 6y ago
  Yearly medical checkup? Is that for all ages? I can't remember last time I went to the doctor
  - disabled 6y ago
    You are generally supposed to go to your primary care doctor (general practitioner) every year, at minimum, as an adult. Infants go to see a pediatrician at much shorter shorter intervals, which is also due in part to vaccines and the need to check for developmental issues. Young children go in for checkups more frequently than adults to spot developmental issues (parents need to know developmental milestones backwards and forwards--and also log when they occur) along with vaccines. School-aged children generally go in yearly to the pediatrician, where checks on development occur, with the exception for certain vaccines like the HPV vaccine. No matter what, the first 5 years of life determine a lot in life when it comes to the future, so it is crucial that developmental milestones are being met. If not, these problems can often be resolved with therapy, of various sorts, and children often catch up without issue. It is important that developmental milestones occur at appropriate times at older ages, too. But, there are basic crucial things that must be done for young children like nurturing your child, socializing your child, getting an early start on education, getting top-notch healthcare, etc. that keep the child healthy (also things like personality disorders are often caused by parents not properly socializing their children at a very young age). Investing in the first 5 years of life, as much as possible, has the most potential for a family (also a society) when it comes to their children and their life outcomes. So, it can be argued that parents should have substantial paternity leave so that the human potential of society is fully realized in the future (I am not a parent myself, and I cannot have kids, due to health problems).

imgabe 6y ago

What sort of symptoms did you have that lead you to insist on getting tested?

gilbetron 6y ago
Honestly, none. My mother had been diagnosed with kidney cancer, and in my stress I had become a "cybercondriac", freaking out about all kinds of things. Randomly, I became worried about my throat and happened to be feeling it when I swallowed and noticed a lump. "Just a thyroid nodule" my doc and then my endocrinologist and then my surgeon said. It wasn't.

1-more 6y ago

So glad your still around to share the story. How did you get the referral to the oncologist you needed?

gilbetron 6y ago
I had a primary care physician that was terrible at diagnosis, but knew his limitations. So he said it was nothing to be worried about, but referred me to an endocrinologist just in case. The endo was the bad one, and I was stuck with her for 6 months until she admitted it might be something weird. Then a surgeon that was going to take out the "perfectly typical thyroid nodule". The surgeon performed a "frozen section" during surgery, and saw it was cancer and had gotten into 9 lymph nodes. Then the oncologist got involved - she was awesome. Weird side notes. My primary care physician died several years later randomly driving off the expressway into a bridge support pillar. My surgeon was someone I had worked with to develop a surgical simulator. My second oncologist was an asian man with a weird accent. Took several minutes for my brain to register the accent - because he was australian. Life is ... odd.
- 1-more 6y ago
  That is an odd mix of characters! Sorry you got delayed for a while with the endocrinologist who didn't know what was up. Like I said, glad that the doctors as a total cohort got you here.
- dctoedt 6y ago
  > My second oncologist was an asian man with a weird accent. Took several minutes for my brain to register the accent - because he was australian. I had a similar experience: Back when I was swimming laps, another swimmer was an Asian-Australian physician, and I initially had a hard time understanding his Ozzie accent — I surmise that here in Texas I was unconsciously expecting something different from someone with his facial features, so my brain had to parse through the "disparity." (I soon got used to it, of course.)

texasbigdata 6y ago

How old were you?

gilbetron 6y ago
36 when the process began. 37 when I had my surgery and radioactive iodine treatment (I was given a pill in a lead canister, then had a Geiger counter pointed at me to make sure I was radioactive!).
- texasbigdata 6y ago
  Thank you

Balgair 6y ago

I echo the issue. My SO has a condition that is a bit hard to pin down. Getting MDs to actually run tests took years of fights. I remember one particular phone call where my SO, myself, the insurance company rep, and the MD were on a 4-way call together. The MD was refusing to run a specific test, as it was not 'needed'. Eventually the insurance person became incredulous on our behalf (a near miracle in itself) and stated that the particular machine that does the test routinely, as part of the standard panel of tests (like, it'll always spit out the pH, salinity, blood-type, etc). As in, the MD knew the results of the test the whole time and refused to tell my SO. The US system is beyond maddening! I'll say it until the cows come home, the US 'system' is broken, has been for decades, and will remain so for the future. Please, vote for people that will make it better.

gilbetron 6y ago
Ugh - I can feel the frustration through the intertubes :(
readflaggedcomm 6y ago
Where in your case does doctor intransigence come from, when even insurance companies voice reason? What part of the system incentivizes withholding test results to what benefit? What law?
disabled 6y ago
It’s a good reason to leave and immigrate elsewhere, even if one has to pay US taxes and gets paid less income. You cannot put a price on your health. I naturalized as a citizen elsewhere over US healthcare because I know it is only going to get worse long term. With 2 rare neurological diseases affecting my peripheral nervous system, plus type 1 diabetes (autoimmune and insulin-dependent), I want to stay alive long term, and so that was the best possible choice I could make. I am extremely well versed in immigration, acquiring citizenships, healthcare systems, and healthcare delivery and logistics, and so if anyone wants help or advice, feel free to email me (see my profile).
- dencodev 6y ago

AshWolfy 6y ago

treatments are typically more profitable than cures

disabled 6y ago

The “yearly medical checkup” at your primary care doctor (GP doctor) is largely an American healthcare phenomenon. People around the world, who live in highly industrialized countries with guaranteed-issue health insurance coverage (whether it be national/public/private health insurance) go to their doctors at a rate much higher than Americans. We are generally talking about a multiplicative factor on average when comparing the American population to another country’s entire population. There is a direct relationship between seeing a doctor at a minimum X interval regularly (while in excellent, good, or fair health) versus costs to the /American health insurer/ (or employer paying for the insurance if they are self-insured). That is why you see ads on TV saying “make sure to schedule your annual checkup with your primary care doctor, brought to you by Aetna!”

queuep 6y ago
Yearly medical checkup? Is that for all ages? I can't remember last time I went to the doctor
- disabled 6y ago
  You are generally supposed to go to your primary care doctor (general practitioner) every year, at minimum, as an adult. Infants go to see a pediatrician at much shorter shorter intervals, which is also due in part to vaccines and the need to check for developmental issues. Young children go in for checkups more frequently than adults to spot developmental issues (parents need to know developmental milestones backwards and forwards--and also log when they occur) along with vaccines. School-aged children generally go in yearly to the pediatrician, where checks on development occur, with the exception for certain vaccines like the HPV vaccine. No matter what, the first 5 years of life determine a lot in life when it comes to the future, so it is crucial that developmental milestones are being met. If not, these problems can often be resolved with therapy, of various sorts, and children often catch up without issue. It is important that developmental milestones occur at appropriate times at older ages, too. But, there are basic crucial things that must be done for young children like nurturing your child, socializing your child, getting an early start on education, getting top-notch healthcare, etc. that keep the child healthy (also things like personality disorders are often caused by parents not properly socializing their children at a very young age). Investing in the first 5 years of life, as much as possible, has the most potential for a family (also a society) when it comes to their children and their life outcomes. So, it can be argued that parents should have substantial paternity leave so that the human potential of society is fully realized in the future (I am not a parent myself, and I cannot have kids, due to health problems).