Just curious

[dtread]

My problem was that I have an HMO and first I had to get an appointment with the Primary Care Physician, in order to get a referral to a Cardiologist, who then referred me to a Surgeon. I took a week or two to get the appointment with the Primary Care Physician. He gave me the referral to see a Cardioligist, but they did not have any appointments for six weeks. I didn't know if I was going to make it that long and was calling them every day for cancelled appointments. I finally got an appointment after about three weeks. The Cardiologist scheduled me for a Cardiac Catheterization within a week or ten days and I also got an appointment with the Surgeon within about two weeks of seeing the Cardiologist. The surgery itself was scheduled about a week or ten days after seeing the Surgeon.

 

[Robb Wilder]

Met with my surgeon on a thursday. He left for vacation the following tuesday. He scheduled me for a Heart Cath the following friday (one week after meeting surgeon). while he was gone. IF my surgeon was in town, my surgery would have been the following day as I was a single cuspid with calcification and a 6cm aneyursim. I was able to put it off for almost a month just because I had some stuff at work to finish. So June 18th heart cath July 14th surgery.

 

[Philip B]

Scheduling

Scheduling

I waited a few weeks. My surgeon was booked and then had a vacation week. I had enough time to enjoy a week of golf in Mexico before my surgery. My surgeon was concerned about me vacationing in Mexico until he figured-out that medical facilities in Mexico were better than those in the mountain town I was living in.

-Philip

 

[coach14]

My heart was in really bad shape, so things moved relatively quickly. Called the surgeon the last week of May, setup an initial consultaion on 6/14. At the consultation, set a surgery date for 7/24, which later got moved to 7/27. Not lightning quick, but had my surgery at Johns Hopkins with Dr. Duke Cameron, who is extremely busy. I felt lucky to get in when I did - he actually postponed his vacation a few days to get my surgery done. That is the kind of person he is....

 

[mainframe]

I got my date the first time I called the surgeons office, which was about 4 weeks after the call. I flew down for a pre-consulation a couple of weeks before the surgery, then flew back down a couple of days prior to when it was scheduled. It was pushed back a week, so I was able to enjoy 2 days in Palo Alto before going to the ER and being admitted to ICU for 5 days prior to surgery.