Question:
How do you go about consulting, planning, and preparing for medical care.

My questions pertain to what exactly did you do to facilitate and obtain medical care when the surgeon and facility were hundreds and thousands of miles away? can consultation be done over the phone does it involve mutiple plane trips, etc. Please tell me about your experiences as I want to check out different doctors in another state.    — Fran B. (posted on October 18, 1999)

March 21, 2003
Hi there. I don't know how long ago you posted this question, but I will answer anyway. My surgeon is 150 miles from my home (I live in northern arizona and the surgeon is in Phoenix). My first piece of advice?? Buy a 1000 minute rechargeable phone card! Sam's club has great deals on phone cards. It is so much cheaper, and I have made MANY phonecalls between the doctors office, insurance, and the company that handles the insurance paperwork for the doctor's office! A lot of it can be done by phone, but for some things you may have to just bite the bullet and travel. I will have made 2-3 trips to Phx for pre-surgery appointments before I actually have the surgery. If you're having surgery out of state, maybe you can coordinate to doall appointments a few days before your surgery and just arrive a few days early. Also, you may be able to do things like your psych eval in your hometown. I did, and then the results were just faxed and mailed to Phx for me. Hope this helps!
   — beeda