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How many opinions should I get?

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sloxana:
Hi everyone
Well, I'm going to see yet another doctor tomorrow about my AN just to get one more opinion.  My question to all of you is this:  how many opinions should I get?  This is the 4th one (if you count talking to the HEI on the phone) and I have got one more appoinment at the end of August.  Is that enough, or should I keep going?  I feel like I have seen a good variety too...some pro-surgery and some pro-radiation. 
My husband is very supportive and I take him with me to every appointment to take notes.  He says he will keep going to see even more doctors if I feel I need to do so.  Please tell me what you think....I really don't know when to stop!

Susan

jtd71465:
It's a comfort level.  I went on four consults much like yourself before I made a decision.  Hope all goes well.

Joe-


BTW - where are you located?

Mark:
I went to 4 as well, but the right number is when you reach a point that you feel comfortable in making a decision.  :)

 Rather than focusing on quantity, I would suggest setting up quality consults in terms of expertise and diversity. Going to twenty doctors who have seen 2-3 AN's a year sounds impressive ( and expensive  ;)) but is really a waste of time in my mind. In the same light going to 5 neurosurgeons who only do surgery is pointless as well unless you're dead set on that option and aren't interested in understanding radiosurgery.

Ideally, I would go to 2 maybe 3 doctors who do both surgery and radiosurgery , who are at a world class neurosurgery medical center and have dealt with 100s of AN's. If you can't find any who do both, then do at least 2 who are experts in one and 2 in the other and that should be enough. The paradox to the above guideline is that the docs who most likely will use both options equally ( and understand them) are the "younger" ones who have been practicing 10-15 years. It is easy to get caught up in absolute numbers and I'm not sure that's always relevant in terms of outcome. Probably much more so in microsurgery where repetitive practice and skills are critical than in radiosurgery where computers assist so much in the treatment consistency. AN's really don't vary that much in any of us. They start in and around the IC expand into the open space of the cerebellpontine angle, eventually brush up against the cerebellum and eventually begin to compress it. While it may be impressive to say Hitselberger or Brackmann at House have done 1500 or 2000 AN's ( or whatever the number is), they are also 70 plus years old. From my perspective, the experience curve probably diminishes at some point , so I would feel as comfortable with any doc who has been doing 30-50 per year for 10-15 years as I would with either of the esteemed docs at HEI, for example. The difference being the 10-15 year group is more up on technology and options to guide you with your decision.

My 2  cents

Mark

sgerrard:
Oh, you just need one opinion - the right one. ::)

Unless you are going to do a poll and see which treatment gets the most votes, the question is more about what would help you make a decision. Is there someone whose opinion would cinch it for you? Are you looking for someone to tell you that everything will work out perfectly? Or someone who recommends what you have already decided you want? Are you trying to decide which treatment to get, or who to get it from, or both?

In the end, I think most talk to doctors and read articles on the web and browse this forum, until the right choice for them begins to take shape and take hold. You can call it going with your gut, or call it the subtle process by which your mind digests all the information, weighs it all out, and then says "doing this treatment with so and so is the one that is right for me."

You'll get there.

Steve

sgerrard:
Hi Bruce,

Yes, I agree that you need to get several opinions, and even ones from different kinds of doctors - ENT, neurosurgeon, radiation oncologist. I think Sloxana is recognizing that at some point, more opinions are not going to help much more. At that point, it becomes a matter of sorting through the options, and the teams, and the opinions, and putting them together into the plan for yourself that makes the most sense.

We have discussed before how odd it is that we have to make the decision, not the doctors. But as you say, educating yourself and finding the choice that is right for you is certainly better than taking the chance of someone making the wrong choice for you.

Steve

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