crap!

[polyannna]

The next available appointment with this neurosurgeon is Nov. 11. Nearly a month from now. I don't even know what kind of benign tumor I've got. Is it a glioma, astrocytoma, meningioma? I don't know my prognosis. I don't know what I need to plan for. I don't know anything. I can't wait a whole month to find out something so basic! Is this normal? Everything else has happened relatively quickly. I saw the first eye doctor on Sept. 23, the second eye doctor Sept. 24, and then the opthalmologist on Oct. 3. (I thought he was a neurologist, but he's an opthalmologist. You see how naive I am about doctors!) All three of them were "You really need to do this pretty soon." So I had my first MRI on Oct. 9 and the diagnosis of "benign golf ball sized tumor" the next day. This was in a cell phone conversation that lasted 4 minutes and 37 seconds. And now I'm supposed to wait an entire month before I can find out anything more? Is that standard?

My snowbird parents, who in the summer live about 40 minutes away from me, are planning to leave for Florida in a few weeks. I haven't told them yet. I want know as much as possible about what this is before breaking the news to them. I don't want them to have to go through this preliminary uncertainty with me. I was hoping to have some solid info and be able to tell them by the end of this week. I'm just really astounded that I'm supposed to wait a month, not knowing any more than I do now.

I don't think this is acceptable. I'm calling the opthalmologist back this morning.