Two to One; we'll go with the One
The other doctor's opinions are in and two specialists say my dad has cancer, but one says it's just a cyst. Guess which diagnosis we are going with? There are some good reasons to go with the odd man out since he is the only doctor that bothered to look over my dad's past medical records which include quite a few scans and sonograms of the kidney in question. When I heard this from my mom, I was amazed. Mind you, I wasn't surprised that the first doctor at the VA hospital didn't bother to pull his past records, but I thought surely the kidney specialist in town would have at least bothered to do a little research. Apparently not, and according to my mom, the kidney specialist, in addition to not bothering to research his patient, was also an arrogant asshole. However, third doctor who did bother to pull the records pointed out that the mass in question was in the exact same spot as a cyst that was diagnosed back in 2005. His opinion was that the only difference was that it was no longer filled with fluid and was now solidified. He couldn't guarantee that it wasn't cancer, but felt that we should just address the reduced kidney function and schedule another scan in six months to look for any change. That was much relief and while it didn't change the fact that my dad's kidneys are still gradually failing, it was a much more hopeful diagnosis.