Doctors

My surgery date is now set for next Wed, May 6. I'm not going back to London for it, although I would have loved to. I turns out that although the surgeon's fees are so much cheaper there, once you add in the hospital fees (which here are covered by my insurance) it ends up costing about the same. Add to that all the hassle and the jet lag and the recovery at a friend's house - I didn't really want to be a bother to Delia who has her hands full with her three boys. So instead, I'll have to be a bother to poor Ritesh who insisted that he'd rather do double duty taking care of his dad and taking care of me than having to worry about me on the other side of the Atlantic. Thanks, love...

So instead of the lovely doctor on Harley Street, my surgery will be done by a great doctor in Santa Monica who is an expert in the procedure I'm going to have, committed to being minimally invasive, and who is supremely personable and reassuring, all of which has contributed to him being chosen for Best Doctors in America and Top Doctors since the 1990s. This is him:
He is not within my insurance network and therefore several thousand dollars more expensive than the creepy doctor at UCLA I was with before, but I'm at peace with it. At least I can trust him. I hope :) .

This may be a bit of a cheap shot, but just for contrast, here's Dr. Evil at UCLA who wanted to do a medically unnecessary and outdated procedure on me and just wouldn't back down in spite of second opinions from other doctors with a combined 50 years more experience than him.
This is also a doctor who makes you wait somewhere between 1h and 1.5 h at every appointment, no matter if you're his first appointment of the day. It's because of guys like him that we were warned by a family friend, retired MD herself and professor emeritus at UCLA, that the certain university hospital in question has a reputation for doing unnecessary surgeries to bring in revenue and that I should get a second opinion. Which thankfully I was able to do. But I'm still not quite over my experience with this guy. It left a really bad aftertaste and on some level I feel I should report him so he doesn't do this to other patients. But if the whole system is dysfunctional, what point is it to denounce one individual? I mean, this place is called the Ronald Reagan Medical Center - what else can you expect? Should have known to stay away.

Anyways.

Meanwhile, I'm actually out sick with a weird bronchial infection - it feels like bronchitis, but the doctor says its bacterial. I hope the antibiotics will take care of it or that it will at least have run its course by Wednesday. I'd hate to have to postpone the surgery...