[ ARC forum 2 ]

Re: Two steps forward, one back.

Written by Val at 25 Nov 2002 11:35:06:

As an answer to: Two steps forward, one back. written by Paul B. at 24 Nov 2002 03:21:45:

>I trust that once you understand the process, you will be reassured.

You're right, it is very reassuring. This was the actual thing that led me to stop trying some time back.


>Please understand that a referral to a urologist, is a request for surgery.

OK, well, now that I know this I guess I won't be asking for a referral. I just assumed that a urologist would know more about phimosis and would be able to provide better assistance with this.


>Well, that sounds promising anyway - Did you actually show them to him?

No, he (the guy who was covering for my doctor) suggested that I show them to her (my doctor) when she would be back, so I took some articles in to show her -- although not the one you provided a link to -- but when I went to see her, she didn't look at them because she said she knew about the use of topical steroids in the treatment of phimosis but still seemed quite dismissive about it. She agreed that I try this type of treatment but insisted that if it didn't work I'd have to get circumcised. She actually said it in a way that sounded like "ok, you can watch a bit of telly but than you have to do your homework" although her actual words were "ok, we'll try this but if it doesn't work (meaning: and it probably won't work) you will have to get circumcised".


>Then you entirely misunderstand the nature of medical practice.

That's probably true, I don't know much about medical practice but in my experience I've always found specialists that were very competent indeed and have provided great help. My parents are doctors in Italy and when I was a kid, my mother's always taken me to see a dermatologist when I had skin problems, a otolaryngologist when I had hearing problems and so on. My boyfriend has always suffered from migraines and here in the UK he kept being told by his GP to take aspirins that never worked and when he got his migraines he couldn't sleep, they would last for days and he would be in utter pain but in Italy he was able to see a neurologist, did an encephalogram that helped point out the specific type of migraine he suffered from and was prescribed a therapy that has now solved his problem.


>Well, either you were getting the most "budget" standard of medical care (as I suspect you were - there really is no reason a nurse would enter a private consulting room without invitation), or the nurse was there for a reason - an anxious doctor perhaps. If one presumes the latter, do be advised that though plenty of pornography you find on the web fantasises sexual liaisons between nurses and patients, such things are incredibly rare in practice - display of your genitals is most unlikely to be of any amusement to a nurse at all.

Yes, my doctor is an NHS doctor, so I guess what you would call a "budget" solution. The nurse just came in to look for some files. I wasn't suggesting that she came in to take a peek but it's already a little embarassing to discuss genital problems with someone I don't know without other people walking in and out of the office.

Anyway, thanks for your long and detailed answer. Like I mentioned in another reply, I am starting to get the impression something is starting to work so I'm feeling very optimistic about this, thanks particularly to your and other people's input.

Val


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