cancer specialist

[robby hh]

Promised I would update on how we got on looking for a specialist:
As soon as we had a diagnosis and an idea of what would be involved in treatment we sat down and worked out what our priorities were to be, number one on the list was a highly qualified specialist surgeon,right at the bottom was a five star hotel room.

Went To Petcharat Hospital had about every tests known to modern science then was introduced to a visiting specialist surgeon, had all the questions for him from research on the internet. He was keen to operate right away either at Petcharat or at a hospital in BKK however some of the answers he gave didnt stack up to what I had read so went for for a second opinion.
If you ever need help at Petcharat ask for doctor Ann she is married to an american and has worked in America in spite of that she speaks perfect english.

Not a great deal of information on doctors on the Thailand english language hospital and health web sites some of which are little more than advertisments but there is a lot of stuff on the Thai sites. Looked up the surgical speciality we wanted and got a long list of doctors the site had things like their qualifications where they had trained, worked, time in the speciality, almost everything except their sexual preferance, didnt want to know that anyway. Most had overseas training London, Mayo clinic etc.
Helps to have a lady who knows about health.

We went through the list and rated them then tried to contact the one we considered the top man but he is in Burma with a medical team so we got an appointment with No 2 who worked at Payatai 2 Hospital in BKK.

After a long talk with him we reckoned we had made the right choice but he told us he was getting to old for surgery now and did mostly consultancy and teaching. He called in an understudy and we talked with him, very good english and had all the right answers.

Then surprised us by giving us a choice of where the treatment could be carried out, either at Pataya2 which is a private hospital or at a government hospital where he worked 3 days a week, the same team would operate but at about a quarter of the cost.
We chose to look at the government hospital which is really a military hospital , huge place 21 floors, different speciality on each floor, people everywhere. got seen by 4 different specialists in one day all with good english and all sounded good, total cost 1000b.

We now have an appointment to start treatment next Monday that will involve radiation and chemo for 5 weeks then surgery followed by more chemo. around 9 months in all.

We move from Huahin on Saturday to be closer to the action as initial treatment will be 5 days a week for 5 weeks, couldnt possibly do it from here.

So Richard it's not just about health V wealth, if you have unlimited cash which I aint then go for the 5 star hotel but for us it was the skill of the surgeon that was the main factor. Incidently none of the top men in the field worked at Bumrangrad

OH and if you think having a camera up the bum scares the sweat out of you have a look at: http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/cystoscopy/ without an anasthetic.

[Jockey]

Robby hh - thanks for the very informative post. Looks like you did your research well and I wish you the best of luck as I'm sure everyone does.

[JD]

Agree, our Best Wishes and prayers go with you Robby.

[richard]

Robby

Congrats. You certainly did your research

All I could offer was based on personal experience and it wasn't based on 5 star accommodation. 5 star service and doctors and aftercare though

Also I and my friend didn't have time to research. We were instant ICU cases

Good luck

[ozuncle]

Thanks for that info Robby.
I too wish you a speedy recovery.

[Chas]

I switched from Bumrungrad a couple of years ago to Bangkok Hospital.

Two reasons for the switch: Bumrungrad's absolutely lousy appointment/email/internet connection. The half-dozen ignored emails using their appointment setup did it ( Maybe it has improved since then?) Add to that the rudest doctor I have ever met. I could tell walking in that he had exactly two minutes to get me back out the door and he was not going to waste a second of it being polite. ( This was for my annual physical.)

I have been very happy with Bangkok Hospital ever since ( Two annual checkups there so far plus my last colonoscopy) . . .but it is a bitch to get to.

By the way, I want to strongly encourage everyone over 50 to have a colonoscopy done. It may just save your life.


Colon cancer is what is called the silent killer. You can have it and it can proceed to advanced, incurable stages without your realizing it. (Especially important if you have any family history at all.)

Get over yourself and have it done. Period.

As hospital procedures go, it is a minor blip on the scale. They knock you out, you are back home none the worse for wear the same afternoon. And yes, they give you a video of it. ( Never watched mine.)

Procedure is a piece of cake. Cost is bearable and much cheaper than in the states.

Best of luck Robby.

[JD]

By the way, I want to strongly encourage everyone over 50 to have a colonoscopy done. It may just save your life.


Colon cancer is what is called the silent killer. You can have it and it can proceed to advanced, incurable stages without your realizing it. (Especially important if you have any family history at all.)

Get over yourself and have it done. Period.

I couldn't agree more Chas.

My brother passed away with Bowel Cancer seven years ago, I'm now at the age (46) he was when this happened. I had regular 6 monthly colonoscopy checks while I was in the UK. nothing serious, a few non dangerous polyps removed.

Since I've been in Thailand, this seems to have gone by the wayside. New Lady, family, business and home, life on the outside seems dreamy, but I seem to have forgotten about life on the inside.

Life here is so good, I don't want it cut short by watching it and my loved one's lives turn into the nightmare I watched my brother and his/our family go through.

Thanks for that reminder Chas, I'll get in touch with Bangkok Hospital and arrange to see somebody about getting the procedure done.

That's a great line you used Chas, I'll borrow it if I can and reiterate to those who should take note.

Get over yourself and have it done. Period.

[Wanderlust]

Useful information, but is this procedure only available in Bangkok? And how much does it cost? I know this is irrelevant in terms of you should get it done regardless, but just so people don't get ripped off in the process.

[malcolminthemiddle]

I had the procedure last January at BUMrungrad.

No discomfort before or after.

There is the inconvenience of drinking litres of laxative starting the evening before and I was kept waiting 3 hours at the hospital past my 8:00 am appointment time before it was my go. At least a dozen people in the queue.

Cost was circa Baht 25,000 which for me included an extra dose of anesthetic to knock me out.

Probably cheaper at other hospitals. All major BKK hospitals offer the procedure.

Recommended every 5 years from 50 onwards.

[Chas]

As I remember, it was something around 20,000+ baht. It is a relatively simple procedure and I would bet that Petcharat offers it and probably even San Paulo.

The recommendation is once every five years so you take that into consideration. Not something you get need to get done every year.

Yes, Malcolm the worst part of the whole deal is drinking that stuff to clean things out for them (but they DO make it in different flavors!) Again, as hospital procedures go it doesn't even register on the scale.

[dtaai-maai]

Thank you for starting this thread, Robby. Hopefully it will remove the usual focus on the most expensive Bangkok hospitals and remind people that it's the quality of the doctors that counts, not how many TV channels you can get in your private room. And thank you, Chas, for a timely reminder that some of the things I really shouldn't ignore... erm... really shouldn't be ignored.

I don't want to trivialise this issue, but I couldn't help being reminded of a time in Pakistan 20 years ago when I had recovered from amoebic dysentery, but still had some rather painful 'digestive waste disposal' issues. Without going into all the gory details, I had to have an endoscopy up the bum (I believe endoscopy also covers throat, aesophagus, etc., but presumably they give it a quick rinse occasionally...). Anyway, the Pakistani doctor said, and I will never forget his exact words (especially as no anaesthetic was involved), "Please mount the examination table and assume a position as if you were praying to Allah"

[robby hh]

Petcharat can do it remember seeing a poster of the instrument on the wall there.
Was very impressed with their efficiency and would certainly recomend them. Most of the doctors and some of the nurses spoke english but if you have any problems ask for doctor Ann, perfect english and a great person.

[robby hh]

I would like to continue with this thread as it may be of use to someone in the future, forgive me if I get off the subject at times but I have free time and a lot of thoughts bouncing around in my head and I will put them down as they appear.

I have chosen to be treated at King Mongkutglao hospital which is a military hospital not far from Victory Monument.
At first the term military put me off as I have no great affinity with armies ever since I was hi jacked into one in my late teenage years in the name of compulsory military service. This was done by the powers that be by balloting several days each month and anyone whose birthday fell on one of those days was in, still the only raffle I have ever won. At the time I was working in a building trade and was a weekend hunter with a good knowledge of the forests, shooting and firearms so the obvious place for me in any mans army was, yep you got it, the medics. Where I was stationed there was a 30 bed base hospital and also a tent field hospital where civilian doctors came to play on their holidays.

What I found here couldn’t be farther from those experiences. This is a huge complex situated in the grounds of the old Phaya Thai Palace. As well as the big hospital it includes a medical school, nursing collage, medical science and research laboratories, you name it if it is to do with health it is there. They treat an enormous number of patients, when you walk through the door in the mornings when out patients are seen there are rarely less than, I estimate, a thousand people in the reception area. Compare this with the other hospitals I have experience with in this country like San Paulo and Phayathai 2 where there are more staff around than patients.

In the Coloproctology unit where my main man works there are 6 specialists working full time solely on bowel cancers this adds up to a lot of experience to draw on for the around 50 out patients that are in the units waiting room each morning. The specialists from here are also farmed out to other hospitals for, instance my doctor has 2 days a week at Phayathay 2 hospital where we first met him. This means a specialist you see at a high priced private hospital could easily be based at King Mongkutglao.

When you think about it to have the army training doctors and nurses makes a lot of sense. As they train they will be on army pay, have a place to stay and will get at least some of their meals. It would seem by the CV’s on the internet that they also get sent overseas for specialist training. Compare this with the struggle those without a lot of money have in other countries where they have to work to pay their way through university. This is, as we found out when researching doctors, why so many in this country hold military rank

I have now finished the first phase of my treatment, 5 weeks of oral chemo and radiation 5 days a week, the only side affects have been tiredness and a need to be close to a toilet at all times. The radiation has not only had an affect on the tumor but on the surrounding tissue of the rectum and urinary tract making emptying of the bowel and bladder difficult and sometimes noisy at times. A good fart can be a thing of satisfaction but when they come with great frequency and any one may be loaded and needs to be pointed down the correct hole it takes all the fun out of it.
Of course with the radiation I have started to glow in the dark, very useful when going to the toilet at night and any time I am within 6ft of anyone their phone rings, makes for an interesting walk down the center of town.

The radiation gear looks new and is in constant use, there are 5 technicians or whatever they are called working in shifts to service what appears to be an all day stream of patients. I have had blood tests once a week and a meeting with the radiologist the next day to check everything is as should be. I am very happy with the care I am receiving and with the professionalism of the people I am dealing with the only proviso for anyone considering this hospital for treatment is that they should either speak good Thai or have someone with them who does. The doctors I have dealt with all speak English but the nurses and support staff for the most part do not.
There is also the aspect that as this hospital is part of the whole unit student doctors will from time to time sit in on consultations or treatment. If you are fussed about this then possibly it is not the place for you.

It looks like my insurance (will do a separate post on that) is going to pretty much cover the whole performance which is great and takes any worry as to where the money will come from out of the equation.

I now have a month off treatment to recover strength for an operation to remove the little invader, this will be followed by short bursts of chemo over a period of about 9 months to seek out and destroy anything that may have escaped from the original site (although there is no evidence of this). I am looking forward to getting the OP over and done with but the thought of all the hoses that will be shoved up every available orifice is less than attractive.
I will continue this after the OP and will look at this site from time to time over the next month so if anyone has any questions I will try to answer them.

[MrPlum]

Deleted.

[JD]

robby hh,

Glad to see your getting what seems like some quality treatment, and that things are going according to plan.

Keep your spirits up, and my best wishes for continued good treatment and hopefully a return to normal health.

This hospital has been recommended to me by another friend who also got a second to none service and quality health care from the Doctors and service staff. I'm sure you're in safe hands.

My warmest regards to you for all you are going through.