Consult Scheduled

Sharelle Davis from Dr. Millis' office called me on Thursday morning to let me know that Dr. Millis had reviewed my file, and to schedule my first consultation appointment with the doctor.

When I had first begun talking to Sharelle last week, collecting my records and films for Dr. Millis' review, the doctor still had consultation appointments open in December; by now his first available appointment was in January. Dr. Millis sees new patients on Thursdays only, and with Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day all falling on Thursdays, the holiday season is not a scheduling cornucopia.

As an alternative, Sharelle offered to put me on Dr. Young-Jo Kim's track. Dr. Kim is on Dr. Millis' team and has worked with Dr. Millis for quite some time. The advantage is that Dr. Kim's schedule is lighter -- I'd be able to get a consult with him in early December. But if I chose Dr. Kim for the early consult, I was also choosing him as my surgeon -- one can't switch between the two.

It seems from his bio, resume and publications that Dr. Kim is younger and less-reknowned but by no means incompetently skilled at PAO surgery. That said, this was a choice I didn't really know how to make. How to choose between the doctor referred to you specifically by name as the "best" or his similarly qualified, yet unrecommended, understudy?

I called Dr. Su's office to ask for help with the decision. What had Dr. Su heard about Dr. Kim? Would he recommend him as an alternative to Dr. Millis? Dr. Su never got back to me with any answers, which I found disappointing. He might get back to me next week, I suppose, but I did not want to stall on the scheduling. I wanted to secure an appointment and have something concrete in the calendar right away.

I surveyed the message board about Dr. Kim and found no negative comments and one first-hand comment: a woman who has a surgery scheduled with him in the spring and who found him to be knowledgeable with a good bedside manner. In the absence of an answer and affirmative recommendation from Dr. Su, however, it seemed prudent to go with the doctor he had initially recommended by name. After all, Dr. Su hadn't recommended Dr. Millis' "team" or "program," he'd recommended Dr. Millis himself.

I took Dr. Millis' earliest available consult appointment, January 8, 2009. The appointment consists of an MRI at the hospital's Waltham facility in the morning, followed by a 12:30 appointment with the doctor at his Boston office. Sharelle could not estimate my surgery date based on the consult; she said it was something the doctor would discuss with me at the consult.

While I am glad to have an appointment in the books, the sluggishness of this process is very frustrating. Ideally I would have been having the actual surgery in early January. But I suppose I have unrealistic expectations for a busy, reknowned doctor and a major surgery. And I could always have gone with Dr. Kim if it was so important to me to race through this.

To her credit, Sharelle has been very kind, patient and responsive with me despite my many questions and phone calls. I have tried not to be an annoying patient (as I have had enough annoying clients myself to know how it is on Sharelle's end of the phone) but my impatience is difficult to suppress.

A woman on the message board told me that Dr. Millis' surgery lead time is typically three to five months from the consult. Since I am under 35 years old, I can have my surgery at Children's Hospital where the doctor has more operating room time available, so that should help. Even if we assume best-case scenario, I won't have anything earlier than a March surgery date for the right hip.

I suppose all this speculation is silly, though. There's nothing I can do now except carry on until January, doing what I can when the pain is minimal, taking it easy when the pain is worse, and enjoying the holidays until the dawn of 2009, the Year of the Hips.