Cancer

[xylophone]

On 4/29/2019 at 6:52 PM, Lefty said:

I also, 2  doctors missed my having tongue cancer on 2 separate visits.Take medicine and go home. Went to U.S was diagnosed within 30 minutes with tongue cancer,biopsy confirmed. For anything I consider serious I go home to Houston for treatment.

Lefty

There are not many doctors or specialists that I would trust here, this especially after having to literally plead with one doctor to culture one of my samples, which he didn't do, so I ended up with a huge bill and 16 daily injections of a rare antibiotic to cure a nasty bacteria which could have been extremely serious.

 

This was the same Dr who suggested to an acquaintance that he needed to have his bladder removed because it had what looked like a cancerous lesion on it. However he wasn't satisfied with this diagnosis and went back to Australia and it was treated with radiotherapy and he is all clear now.

 

Unfortunately this has not been the case for another friend I had here, who went for a throat checkup at a major hospital because he had suffered from throat cancer quite a few years ago and wasn't feeling too good. The prognosis was that he had nothing to worry about because they could find nothing other than a tiny lump which wasn't in any way a problem.

 

Feeling unwell two or three months later he flew back to Australia and was diagnosed with a three-inch tumour in his throat and the cancer had spread, and he is now waiting to die in palliative care.

 

For something minor, hospitals and doctors here may be okay, but if you think you have anything serious, then get back to your home country where you can talk in your own language and "face" is not an issue.

[lopburi3]

6 minutes ago, xylophone said:

For something minor, hospitals and doctors here may be okay, but if you think you have anything serious, then get back to your home country where you can talk in your own language and "face" is not an issue.

For many that is not a realistic option (for various reasons including marriage and it could also turn negative - there are less than great doctors everywhere) so perhaps best to not take anything at face value and have an independent second opinion unless you know the qualifications of current doctor is best advise.  That is where recommendations from Sheryl (and others) can be very important.

[xylophone]

4 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

For many that is not a realistic option (for various reasons including marriage and it could also turn negative - there are less than great doctors everywhere) so perhaps best to not take anything at face value and have an independent second opinion unless you know the qualifications of current doctor is best advise.  That is where recommendations from Sheryl (and others) can be very important.

Well perhaps I should add, that if it is a realistic option, then get back home to see a specialist.

 

I agree that a recommendation from Sheryl may well help, but then again what price a life.

 

I have had a few bad experiences with doctors and specialists here, as have a few friends, including the ones that I mentioned in my post, far, far more than I have ever had in my home country.

[Lookard]

18 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

For many that is not a realistic option (for various reasons including marriage and it could also turn negative - there are less than great doctors everywhere) so perhaps best to not take anything at face value and have an independent second opinion unless you know the qualifications of current doctor is best advise.  That is where recommendations from Sheryl (and others) can be very important.

In LOS, FORGET SECOND, or hundreds of other opinions, go home. 

 

[Skallywag]

On 5/1/2019 at 8:30 AM, Lookard said:

Overly expensive? What’s ya lil ol life worth. 

True, as they say your health is more important than your wealth...but it is a Catch 22 as it takes some wealth to check up on your health - haha   Money is a bit tight for me for the next year or so until I start collecting SS, will look into getting a regular doctor back home before I return. 

I do trust the doctors I have seen in Thailand.  Have had skin biopsies, colonoscopy, CT scan, and several annual physicals here.  In Thailand they give you copies of the actual report and let you see your blood work results, see the scans they took, and put them on disc for you.  

Years ago was referred to a doctor in the USA who wanted to do rotator cup surgery, said my MRI showed complete tear.  Got my own copy of the MRI disc (which took time to get, had to go back to MRI center, doctor would not make a copy).  Took the disc to thailand and the orthopedist actually sat down and showed me on his computer the ligament/tendon.  The ligament/tendon was nowhere near a complete tear ~ 50%.   15 years later shoulder is fine.  

[Lookard]

On 5/7/2019 at 9:34 AM, Skallywag said:

True, as they say your health is more important than your wealth...but it is a Catch 22 as it takes some wealth to check up on your health - haha   Money is a bit tight for me for the next year or so until I start collecting SS, will look into getting a regular doctor back home before I return. 

I do trust the doctors I have seen in Thailand.  Have had skin biopsies, colonoscopy, CT scan, and several annual physicals here.  In Thailand they give you copies of the actual report and let you see your blood work results, see the scans they took, and put them on disc for you.  

Years ago was referred to a doctor in the USA who wanted to do rotator cup surgery, said my MRI showed complete tear.  Got my own copy of the MRI disc (which took time to get, had to go back to MRI center, doctor would not make a copy).  Took the disc to thailand and the orthopedist actually sat down and showed me on his computer the ligament/tendon.  The ligament/tendon was nowhere near a complete tear ~ 50%.   15 years later shoulder is fine.  

Don’t trust the Drs in Thailand.