Monday, February 11, 2013

5 Ways to Tell if Your Dallas Physician is One You Should Trust


There are good, trustworthy doctors, and then there are the doctors that will screw you over and take your money before you can blink. The problem with this fact is that no one tells you which physician is good and which isn’t – no one helps you go down the right medical path. It’s up to you to find the right physician that you’ll keep going back to; to decide whether your current physician is one that you can trust or one that you need to report and stay away from indefinitely.


1. Ask Around

Dallas is a big city – there’s no questioning that fact. Knowing that, you can bet that someone’s going to give you a solid answer about your current physician, and whether he or she is actually good at what they do. Get a few opinions and decide for yourself if you want to stay with your physician or not.

2. Google

This doesn’t necessarily mean Googling your physician’s name, but utilizing the Internet is an excellent way to do some research. There are hundreds of websites with medical practitioner reviews, and if your physician is known even the slightest, he or she will be on one of these sites. There, you can read countless positive or negative reviews, look at ratings, and decide if your physician is a slimeball or an honest citizen.

3. Question the nurses

The nurses of any given hospital in Dallas can be an unlimited source of information for you. They work side by side with the physicians in the hospitals, so they get the scoop on whether or not he or she is actually trustworthy firsthand. And if they’re the kind of nurses intent on giving relatively important medical advice, they’ll answer honestly.

4. Ask Your Potential Physicians

Go up and ask each of the physicians you may be considering how much time they usually spend on their patients. If they give you a speedy amount of time as an answer, they might not be worth your time.

5. Look at Certifications

Obviously, if your physician has some seemingly bent up degree on the wall from an unknown college in the middle of nowhere, you may not want to go to them for your medical needs. Though it may make you feel pretentious, looking at their plaques on the wall, certifications, and qualifications will help you to size them up as to what kind of doctor they actually are. In this type of field, the more certifications they means more experience, more years of trial and error, and more importantly, less mistakes when they have you as a patient.

Choosing the right physician in Dallas for your specific needs can be difficult in any situation. Keep in mind through it all, however, that you’re an individual, and you should be treated as such. Never settle for a physician that treats you as a patient in a bulk of patients.


Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Understanding Kidney Pancreas Transplant Surgical Process

One extremely serious surgical procedure involves knocking two major problems out with one surgery: kidney failure and diabetes.  Those patients currently experiencing effects of Type 1 diabetes who are insulin-dependent are sufficient candidates for this procedure; by replacing both organs which make and filter proper levels of naturally induced insulin, diabetics are healed of their diseases and kidney failures are fixed through new kidneys. The kidney pancreas transplant process is actually quite interesting and takes roughly 4-6 hours from start to finish, depending on how well the body reacts to these newer organs.  Here’s how patients of Dallas Nephrology Associates could expect the process to work.

The Pre-Op Process
Once you’ve been identified successfully as the candidate for kidney pancreas transplant surgery, you’ll undergo forms signings and other explanatory sessions so you’ll know what’s happening while you’re asleep.  You may also need to take certain medications as prescribed by your doctor to ease the anesthetics given to you for sedation.  After final cost arrangements have been made, including the expected out-of-pocket costs and insurance coverage, you’ll be scheduled for the procedure probably within the month or sooner, depending on your current medical situation and determined by Dallas Nephrology Associates surgeon assigned to your operation.

The Kidney Pancreas Transplant Procedure
After sedation, your new pancreas is placed in your lower abdominal area on the right side; your new kidney will be placed on the left.  Vessels which connect your pancreas to lower abdominal blood flow lines, also called iliac veins, are reconnected to your new pancreas and attached to your intestines or bladder, depending on what medically makes sense.  Kidney is then attached to left iliac vessels and your ureter is reattached to your bladder.  In most normal kidney pancreas transplants, your old organs are unaffected and therefore not removed since all vessels and arteries were rerouted.

Aftercare
Once your kidney pancreas transplant has been deemed successful, your pancreas will begin insulin making processes within an hour or less; new kidney will react to this by correctly filtering the insulin where it goes.  Expect to stay at Dallas Nephrology Center for roughly 2-4 weeks following this procedure to assure the organs correctly work and no side effects are occurring.  If everything worked according to surgeon’s plan, the need for taking shots of insulin will subside, and your diabetic condition should slowly begin disappearing.

Please note that not everyone will become suitable candidates for kidney pancreas transplant surgery, and all patients are screened professionally before determining the proper course of action for both Type 1 diabetes and kidney failure.  Consultations with Dallas Nephrology Associates physicians are imminent before any life-changing surgical decisions are made.