Do you guys actually go to the urologist?

northerncrane66 said:Let's dig this topic back up from the ashes. November is Men's Health Awareness Month, after all. Are you guys planning on getting a checkup sometime this month?

Whether it’s officially Men's Health Month or not, I really need to get to an appointment soon. 🙄 Still working up the courage to actually go... It's embarrassing, honestly. I've never even seen a urologist. Women go to the gynecologist all the time, but us? It's like we're some different species altogether... kind of crazy.

northerncrane66 said:Let's dig this topic back up from the ashes. November is Men's Health Awareness Month, after all. Are you guys planning on getting a checkup sometime this month?

I’ve actually been chewing on this topic for a few years now. If we’re talking specifically about prostate cancer, it feels like other health issues just don't carry that same sense of immediate danger, doesn't it?😁
But after spending way too much time digging through Google searches, I eventually stumbled upon the idea that early screening might not even be all it's cracked up to be.

This link leads to a PDF document regarding prostate cancer screening.
Back in 2013, a review from the Cochrane database revealed some pretty interesting findings:
- Screening increases the detection rate of prostate cancer by about 1.3 times.
- It allows us to catch localized prostate cancer 1.79 times more often.
but here's the kicker:
- After reviewing five major randomized studies involving a massive pool of 341,000 patients, they didn't see any actual change in mortality rates caused by prostate cancer.
- Furthermore, looking at four large randomized studies, there was no significant impact on overall mortality rates either.


The reality is that modern medicine still hasn't found a definitive cure for prostate cancer, and it’s also true that almost every man alive today will eventually face prostate cancer—assuming we don't pass away from something else first. It seems almost inevitable, much like death itself. For instance, over 90% of men older than 90 have it, and I believe it's closer to 50% or 60% for those in their 70s.

The silver lining, if you can call it that, is that prostate cancer typically progresses so slowly that most people end up passing away from something entirely unrelated before it ever becomes an issue.
So many seniors pass away without ever even knowing they had it.
Which basically suggests that early diagnosis might not offer much real-world benefit. Most of these various studies seem to point toward very similar conclusions.

Seeing a urologist might actually be a life-threatening endeavor if you aren't careful. (A little dark humor never hurt anyone, right?)
I was reading about this incident from a few years back where an older man, driven to his breaking point by the endless wait times at a hospital in Santa Barbara, ended up killing his urologist, leading a police officer on a chase, and ultimately taking his own life.

So, why am I bringing this up?
The wait times for a urology appointment in Canada are absolutely brutal; if you're looking to get seen at the clinic in Santa Barbara right now, you might not see a doctor until December 2022 unless you decide to pay out of pocket, in which case they could probably squeeze you in as early as next week. 😁
I suspect things aren't much better over in America, so if you're planning on getting checked out, my advice is to book your appointment as soon as humanly possible.

I wonder what the waiting lists are looking like here in the States lately?

Hey. Bringing this thread back up... Does anyone have a recommendation for the best urology department in Washington, D.C. for a specialist exam? Maybe Johns Hopkins? Or maybe Mayo Clinic? Any specific doctors you'd suggest?

Also, which private urology clinics in the US are actually good, in your opinion?

rowdypilot33 said:Hey. Bringing this thread back up... Does anyone have a recommendation for the best urology department in Washington, D.C. for a specialist exam? Maybe Johns Hopkins? Or maybe Mayo Clinic? Any specific doctors you'd suggest?

Also, which private urology clinics in the US are actually good, in your opinion?

St. Joseph Dr. Ovčariček or Dr. Bokarica

It’s the same thing with the Holy Spirit. They’re actually quite kind and show a lot of understanding toward people with mobility issues; I’ve been there with my dad several times. They always stepped up to help him, even prescribing antibiotics he could take home.

Does anyone have a sense of how long the wait is for an appointment?

I never really had to wait long for my dad to see a urologist. Back then, you could practically get an appointment almost immediately—sometimes in less than a month—using a referral from his primary care doctor. But that was back in the summer of 2019, before the pandemic hit. Now, earlier this year, we had to wait three whole months just for his first cardiology appointment. Of course, if it’s an emergency, you can always head to the urology ER. That’s how I knew I could take him there. They share the same space as the main emergency department, though the urology clinic is located just a bit further down on a lower level. Everything there has been renovated, too; they have plenty of stretchers for patients with limited mobility. Last summer, it was actually possible to stay by a non-ambulatory patient's side the entire time. Honestly, I think those are the best and kindest staff members out there, and I say that having been through several different hospitals with my dad. At another hospital, they actually told me I had to take him home because they didn't have enough stretchers available, so we ended up having to turn around and come right back for the exam the very same day. So, that's exactly what we did, and I actually had to call private medical transport just to get us back, otherwise we wouldn't have made it. After that incident, he was never even scheduled for a follow-up, and with a standard referral, you can choose whichever specialist you want for the exam.

You can actually find the waiting lists for every hospital right there on their website. I suspect you won't be waiting nearly as long here compared to those massive metropolitan medical centers—you know, where getting an initial cardiology consult can take six months easily. Since this is more of a smaller community hospital, they just don't have as many appointments booked up.

I think how long you wait really just depends on the doctor. Some guys can see you right away, but with others, you might be looking at a two-month wait for an appointment. If it’s actually urgent, though—like, really bad—you should just head straight to the ER urology department.

I suppose you all have a point there. Honestly, I was really hoping my dad could just be seen by the same doctor we met during his ER visit, but she wasn't available. Still, everyone there was actually quite good. He’s been treated by three different urologists at that facility now. One time, they even went as far as running blood work on him, even though he didn't even have a fever at the time. I suspect a hospital in another state probably wouldn't have bothered with that. The nurses were also incredibly kind; one of them even helped change his clothes because I asked, since we were stuck waiting so long for the medical transport. They brought him inside and got him changed.