Should I stay here or go to California?

[Ferret 2,950]

Fabulous video Angus!!!

[Jreboll 373]

They say you shouldn’t ask questions you don’t want to hear the answers to. So what if the doctor says “you have a large mass in your colon and you need immediate surgery”?  Where would you rather be?

Question #2 - would you really want to have surgery or accept the inevitable?

 

[gringal 3,100]

1 hour ago, Jreboll said:

They say you shouldn’t ask questions you don’t want to hear the answers to. So what if the doctor says “you have a large mass in your colon and you need immediate surgery”?  Where would you rather be?

Question #2 - would you really want to have surgery or accept the inevitable?

 

It's a valid question.  The answer would largely depend on "faith".  Some folks have "faith" in U.S. medical care'; some in Mexican care. Another question might be:  where would you rather spend time in recovery?  And still another:  Where would you rather get the bill for services rendered?   Smile.😉

As for question #2:  Nobody WANTS surgery unless they're "mental". If you don't get it, you know you will probably die of the disease if that mass is cancerous.  However, you can't know what the inevitable is unless you go ahead with the surgery, so what you have is a rock and a hard place question.  Some people recover from colon cancer after surgery.  Some have bad luck and don't.  Tough question: difficult decision.

[Bajabrady 34]

Don’t some patients have a colonoscopy as an outpatient? I don’t think you’re sedated unless you throw in an endoscopy too. Even then it’s conciosus sedation. One minute you’re listening to the GI doc go on about improving his stroke or the new putter he bought and the next minute you’re out the door having your wife drop you off at the driving range or looking for that club of discussion  at pro shop.

I for one have never had a colonoscopy in Mexico. If I was considering it. I’d research research research. Leave no stone left unturned. Interview the dr. Inspect the facility and team. 

 

[Ferret 2,950]

If only I had a dollar for every Surgeon that said "we got it all",  I'd be well off. They may have gotten the actual tumour but it is highly likely that they didn't get every tiny little microscopic cancer cell. Prolific little devils. The flip side of that is that they don't do "mild easier chemo" when they "got it all". Why not? It would have been so much easier on the patient instead of waiting for 3 years to find out that it's spread when a full range of heavy duty chemo will only buy you 18 more months anyway... and your quality of life would be a downhill spiral.

Everyone will make their own decisions at the time but perhaps I've made you think about the hard questions to ask your Doctor/Surgeon.

 

[RickS 1,974]

I’ve had my share of colonoscopies over the years, in the US. ALL were done under a very light sedation (I was out but...) and all were done out-patient. It’s not rocket science surgery, here or in the US.  Just had one last year and the doc said, at 76, you may not need another one for 5-10 years or at all. I’m hoping that his ‘or at all’ was not some kind of veiled indication of my coming demise. 

 

 

[gypsyken 26]

At age 90, I agree with traderspoc's father about staying healthy by avoiding physicians as much as possible.  And as a long-retired health care provider in psychology with some experience with medical care in both the U.S. (where I worked for a time with the organization that accredits hospitals and other health-care facilities) and Mexico, I have concluded that, considering all factors--especially that medical care in the U.S., but not yet generally in Mexico, is provided in order to make as much money as possible--the care in one country is not better or worse overall than the care in the other.   (That is why I elected to pay out-of-pocket for my prostate surgery in Mexico some years ago, rather than going to the U.S. for it, where my Medicare copay plus travel expense would have cost more.)

[Eric Blair 247]

IMO, today there is so much authoratative medical information you can get online, you don't always need to see a doctor.

If I have a question, I Google it and at the end put Mayo. I will get very authoritative information from the Mayo Clinic. Same for Johns Hopkins and Cleveland Clinic.

For sure, don't take a diagnosis from Facebook.