Feels Like Starting Over

After waiting all week to hear back from Dr Black's office with what he wanted me to do next I finally received a phone call from Dr Black's nurse Nancy this morning. I expected to get an appt for another MRI or an appt with Dr Black. Instead she gave me the name and phone number of yet another Ophthalmologist, Dr Mami Aiello Iwamoto, who Dr Black was referring me to. When I asked why I was being referred to a new Dr I was told that Dr Iwamoto specialized in obital tumors, plastic surgery, and reconstruction, and that she was very nice. She has worked with Dr Black when she was at Brigham and Women's Hospital, before her whole depatrment left the hospital and went up near Mass Eye and Ear Hospital. I was also told that since this new tumor "was in the macular of my left eye" Dr Black was not the person who could treat it. I hung up the phone and was stunned that after wasting a week I was being referred to yet another doctor...similar to starting all over again (sigh). I have a strange sense of de ja vous or coming full circle since Dr Iwamoto is associated with the Ophthalmic Consultants of Boston, which is the same group as Dr Oats who found the first tumor. On the positive side Dr Iwamoto practices in Boston, Sandwich, and Yarmouth, MA so I can see her on the Cape sometimes instead of having to go up to Boston.

I don't understand why Dr Black's nurse said that the tumor is in the macular of my left eye when I have the picture of the ultrasound and it clearly shows the tumor in the orbit and pressing into the eye (the macular is located in the eye). On this past Monday Dr Bien-Fang, the NeuroOphthalmologist who had ordered the ultrasound, had referred me back to Dr Black and told me that Dr Black would be the person I needed to see. Confused, I called Dr Calderon at the Beetham Eye Institute (Joslyn Diabetes Center, Boston, MA), who performed the ultrasound last week and asked if he could send me a copy of my records to bring to Dr Iwamoto and also to ask him about where the tumor is located. He clearly told me that the tumor is in my orbit, just below and closer to my eye then where the other was located but not in the macular. He also didn't understand why Dr Black was referring me somewhere else, but Dr Calderon reassured me that he was a personal friend of Dr Iwamoto and that she was very good, skilled in what I needed, and also very nice. I like Dr Calderon, he is very friendly, has answered all my questions without hesitation, and seems to really love what he does.

Initially when I called to get the appt with Dr Iwamoto the soonest appt was towards the end of November. I stressed to the person making the appts that I needed to see someone sooner and felt like I was starting all over again. She put me on hold twice but finally found an appt for me Nov 2 in Yarmouth, about 45 minutes from me...which is half the time it takes to get to Boston and has free parking :-) The appts that I had already scheduled for Nov 2 have been rescheduled to Nov 14 and now I just have 6 more days to wait to see what Dr Iwamoto thinks.

I have looked up Dr Iwamoto on several websites and found that she does seem to be very highly skilled. It is probably a plus that she is also a plastic surgeon since my left eye is now a bit sunken in on that side and I would like it to be fixed if possible. Another plus is that since the surgery I have had no working tear ducts in my left eye and she also lists this as an interest, even though I haven't had a chance to mention that to too many of the doctors (I always forget). Here is a link to the website for the Ophthalmic Consultants of Boston where you can learn a bit more about Dr Iwamoto if you are interested (just copy and paste into your browser): http://www.eyeboston.com/doctor/bio.aspx?id=11

Sue