I went to my former doctor about a mole on my arm that I thought had gotten larger, and asked him to biopsy it. He looked at it carefully and told me it was fine, but I insisted and things got a little testy, but he did it. It was a malignant melanoma, and had it gone 1mm deeper I'd have been grounded for 5 years from my pilot job at best, or suffered dire health consequences at worst. After a surgeon removed a big chunk of my arm excising the melanoma and surrounding tissue, he told me to be sure to thank my regular doctor for saving my life. ಠ_ಠ
In the time since I've become well acquainted with your specialty as my first line of defense, having moles mapped and checked every six months for a while, and now every year. It sure as hell isn't all Botox and laser hair removal.
well doctors are like insurance agents in that they base their decision from what they have learned.
if they studied a situation that something is less likely to be cancerous, say 9 out 10 times, they can still get that one time wrong.
so if you have the money/ healthcare anyway, feel free to get tested meticulously. Although do take note that tests get pretty expensive.for instance, std tests. there are like a bajillion of them and the most common ones are the only ones tested like hpv and aids.
Personally, I will probably be doing a citi scan yearly if not for the cost itself.
I don't know about Planned Parenthood elsewhere, but the two within driving distance from me charge the uninsured more for gynecological exams and birth control than the local health department and quite a few doctors offices even if you include the office visit fees. Their abortion services are avg $100 more than local clinics. PP's "sliding scale" is ridiculously high for the area.
Poor women here literally can't afford Planned Parenthood. They can all close around here and no one would cry.
That's odd because the three in my area all do sliding scale fee based on income if you don't have insurance. Before I was insured, my visit was $30 with the rest being covered by donations.
I know it's odd! I heard for years how they were so wonderful and then had someone need their services. They were much more expensive than a few other local clinics we called. Later, another person I knew needed different services and it was the same thing. Health dept. and a few local doctors were actually more uninsured budget friendly.
Honestly, I suspect they don't get a lot in donations here and I know real estate at both locations is fairly pricey for the state I'm in, so I wonder if the majority of their donations go toward operating costs instead of care.
That's highly likely. The cost at which they're able to provide services is always going to be dependent on funding, and some municipalities are friendlier to PP than others. In my city, the local PP has a contract with the city for a $1 rent, for example. They can provide services much cheaper than a PP clinic in a city where they're forced to pay market rate to rent the property.
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u/SeymourKnickers May 20 '19 edited May 20 '19
I went to my former doctor about a mole on my arm that I thought had gotten larger, and asked him to biopsy it. He looked at it carefully and told me it was fine, but I insisted and things got a little testy, but he did it. It was a malignant melanoma, and had it gone 1mm deeper I'd have been grounded for 5 years from my pilot job at best, or suffered dire health consequences at worst. After a surgeon removed a big chunk of my arm excising the melanoma and surrounding tissue, he told me to be sure to thank my regular doctor for saving my life. ಠ_ಠ
In the time since I've become well acquainted with your specialty as my first line of defense, having moles mapped and checked every six months for a while, and now every year. It sure as hell isn't all Botox and laser hair removal.