Changing Nephs.

[goofynina]

Has anyone here changed their Neph recently?  May i ask why?  I am considering changing nephs cuz my neph just doesnt seem to be cutting it, he is very old school, although he is nice, he doesnt seem to be concerned about my neuropathy and my osteoarthritis, and mind you,  he is the one who told me that is what i had, no other follow-ups on those conditions or anything.  Just wanna know  your experiences.  thank you 

[Ohio Buckeye]

I wish I had the same neph. all the time.
There are 5 at the clinic and they change every 3 mos.
A good thing if you don't like him/her but bad if you do.
But you never get used to seeing one of them and always feel like a new patient.

[kitkatz]

I changed neph eight years ago when Iw a sin hospital going withthe kidney failure.  I had a doctor that labeled me poor fat white trash and had a terrible bedside manner and he wanted to experiment with me.  No F**ing way I told him. So I changed and got the best neph in the Kaiser network!    You have to trust the doc you work with because he calls the shots on everything. I say go for it!

[Chicken Little]

So I changed and got the best neph in the Kaiser network!

You wouldn't happen to be in No. California?  My 3rd surgery was messed up and I would really like to change my doctor and facility before I let the cut into me again. 

[Zach]

Has anyone here changed their Neph recently?  May i ask why?  I am considering changing nephs cuz my neph just doesnt seem to be cutting it, he is very old school, although he is nice, he doesnt seem to be concerned about my neuropathy and my osteoarthritis, and mind you,  he is the one who told me that is what i had, no other follow-ups on those conditions or anything.  Just wanna know  your experiences.  thank you 

I had a great Nephrologist when I started in 1982.  By 1992 he seemed tired of the whole thing and made some bad recommendations to me, so I switched to a different Nephrologist.  Now it's 2007, and I'm doing well by the 2nd Nephrologist ... so far.

Nephrologist are people, and people get tired.

I see my first Nephrologist at the center ... he does rounds during dialysis every now and then.  We have great conversations on those occasions.  After 25 years, we now have mutual respect of each other.

[Lucinda]

I found out about my kidney problem about 25 years ago and I have had four nephs in that time.  The first one- when I was 21 - told my boyfriend at he time who I was besotted with that I would never be able to have children so he "should get out now" because he shouldn't have to jeopardise his future happiness by never being able to be a dad.  So he left.

Ten years later I acutally did get pregnant and the second neph told me to have a termination or die.  The third neph I went to said he could have gotten me through the pregnancy.  He was great but then he retired. My fourth and current neph is young, female and very understanding.  She tries to fit in with my schedule as much as I try to fit in with hers and she - or someone on her team - is always available to speak to.

I am a huge supporter of looking until you find someone that suits you.  The relationship you have with your neph is just as important as any family relationship.  Sadly you get a few duds before you hit gold but my advice is to keep trying until you find one that appreciates your lot and actively strives to improve your wellbeing.   

[BigSky]

Do what you think you need to do.  Not sure if they will do anything about the neuropathy.  It seems that particular issue is among several that fall on deaf ears.

I was recently forced to change nephrologists.    Not by my choice.  Seems my nephrologist of 20 years decided he wanted to retire.  

[kitkatz]

So I changed and got the best neph in the Kaiser network!

You wouldn't happen to be in No. California?  My 3rd surgery was messed up and I would really like to change my doctor and facility before I let the cut into me again. 

Sorry, Southern California

[goofynina]

Has anyone here changed their Neph recently?  May i ask why?  I am considering changing nephs cuz my neph just doesnt seem to be cutting it, he is very old school, although he is nice, he doesnt seem to be concerned about my neuropathy and my osteoarthritis, and mind you,  he is the one who told me that is what i had, no other follow-ups on those conditions or anything.  Just wanna know  your experiences.  thank you 

I had a great Nephrologist when I started in 1982.  By 1992 he seemed tired of the whole thing and made some bad recommendations to me, so I switched to a different Nephrologist.  Now it's 2007, and I'm doing well by the 2nd Nephrologist ... so far.

Nephrologist are people, and people get tired.

Sheeit Zach,  as much info as you know, i think YOU could be a nephrologist  

Thank you all for your input, i am going to go for it and see if this neph. will listen a little more to what i am saying,  from what i hear, she is good, i will keep you all posted, thank you friends 

[Sluff]

Good Luck with your new neph.   

[glitter]

My husbands first neph severely overmedicated him and then had no compassion what so ever when he was so very sick from it-she told him it was in his head- he told her she was fired!! He has a brand new one, who is young and hasn't had time to get tired of it all, he is still excited to be there, and he is on 1/3 of the meds and doing very well now. By all means if your not happy try to find another one....its hard though-when we first went looking all the nephs in our area said they would not take him....and the next time he saw the woman neph, she laughed at him and said-"see-no-one else will take you- your stuck with me" but she didn't know we knew of a new one coming to town who was a friend of his gp.

[thegrammalady]

you have to kiss a lot of toads before you find the prince.................works with doc's too

[Deanne]

I changed mine. The neph I started seeing when I first moved to Portland put me on prednisone. That was the right thing to do, but he didn't take me seriously / wasn't supportive about the side effects. Within two weeks, it was difficult to walk because of muscle-wasting. When I told him about it at my next appointment, I got a "too bad" response.

The last straw was when I called him first thing one morning (I rarely called, so it wasn't like I'd trained him to ignore my calls) to tell him I was going blind and didn't know what to do about this side effect. He didn't call me back until mid-afternoon. I know he's busy, but I also know that he knew as soon as he heard my message that I had steroid-induced diabetes (I'm not diabetic). By the time he called back and had me drop everything to get my blood checked, my blood sugar level was over 1500. They were surprised I wasn't dead or in a coma. I let him get me through coming off prednisone, then switched nephs.

[goofynina]

Well, i met with the my new Neph today and I LOVE HER!!  She is awesome, very caring and she seems very caring.  So far so good, of course i got a crap load of new meds to take, she took me off my Tums (darnit) and put me back on Renagel,  due to my calcium being a little too high, she says we'll wait and see what next month labs are and if my phos goes up and calcium goes down, she will throw one or two in with the Renagels just to even things out.  Just lettin' you all know   thanks for all your advice   Love ya  xoxoxox     

Goofy/Susie

[Kathleen]

Susie

I'm so happy for you!! 

[anja]

   It means so much to have a neph. you can believe in and is caring, so glad you feel you got lucky with this one!

[Duane]

Just a reminder first. I'm new to this site so in no way do i want to come off as though i've arrived, i haven't and respect all posts and experience.

I just want to share my experience and learn from you.

My neph and i have been together for 1 1/2 yrs now and in the beginning we made a promise together and that was, he wouild give me the best treatment and advise and i would do all that he suggest for my health and keep him as my neph.. Yes, i picked a young neph., one that has another 10 to 20 yrs to go in practice and not looking forward to retirement in the next 10 yrs.

My neph specializes in kidney failure and care, he is not a heart specialist, so when i had a concern about my blood pressure and heart i asked him for a referral to a cardiologist, he gave me 3 to call, naturally i picked the first on his list and that turned out to be the best choice for me.

my neph is young and up to date on all the new stuff, so naturally his peers in other fields will be like minded. smart thinking duane.

I got most of it all now: A neph, dentist, heart doctor, head nurse, social worker, family doctor, dietitian, owner of dialysis center and i have their email addresses and communicate with them as needed.

I don't have to see my neph every week, why? because i have communication with the head nurse, social worker, dietitian and tech on site three times a week.

I let them know how much i appreciate them and there talents.

So far all is  going well with minimum problems.

No, i would not currently trade my neph for another.

[goofynina]

I am glad you are happy with you neph and health care team Duane, all of us could be so lucky    Keep on keepin' on, 

[Duane]

Nina, thank you.

In the 90's i worked with this guy who's Father was a dentist, older man that's been a dentist in this town for 25yrs at the time i met him. He did some "fillings" work on 4 teeth, with the pins and stuff, "root canal".

Years later on another job i met another Dentist, he was my age group and was trained on the latest and the best of equipment and procedures. Before going into private practice he worked as the only Dentist at a prison employed by the Government. That's a lot of mouths on a daily basis.

After going to him i realized that 80% of the work the first dentist did was outdated procedures and had current replacements done without pins, etc..

The point i'm getting at is this. I've learned this in sales, the customer/client pays the bills and as a paying client (with insurance) i have the power to change nephs if i think i'm not getting quality care.

I saw 3 renal neph's and choosed him and i got a referral from him for my heart doctor (cardiologist) after 5 of them and this one is around my age also and up to date and hungry. So the only one that's behind on my medical condition is me, they are right on key.

He also referred the surgeon to me.

I just thank God that he's answering my prayers and being patient with me concerning my character defects.

I'm including everyone here in my prayers daily now that i'm here fellowshipping, and so far this forum has been a blessing for me.

Love ya!

[goofynina]

I'm including everyone here in my prayers daily now that i'm here fellowshipping, and so far this forum has been a blessing for me.

Love ya!

Duane,  Thank you for your prayers and you can believe this forum is a blessing to all of us in one way or another and i am very happy you have found us