"Benign Breast Lump Removal"

I was admitted into the care a consultant breast surgeon, for the removal of 2 rather large benign breast lumps. He was very dismissive of me from the start and spoke to me much like one would speak to a 5 year old. He was extremely distant throughout my consultation and also when I was admitted as a day surgery case for the removal of my lump. I have to say that the nurses, however, were lovely and did all that they could to ensure I felt happy and comfortable.

When I attend my post-op with the consultant, yet again he could not wait to dishcarge me. He even became visibly annoyed when I mentioned that I could feel that one of the lumps had grown back (I later learnt that he only removed 1 lump even though he initially said that he would remove both lumps as they were in close proximity to each other) and made me feel like a trouble-maker even though a further investigation showed that there was a lump which was surgically removed at a later date. In his examination of this lump he performed a thin needle aspiration test in which a needle is inserted into the lump and a few cells are removed for microscopic examination. The way he performed this needle test was entirely different to the way in which a nurse had done it previously as he used a very large and outdated instrument, shaped much like a hand gun, which caused me so much discomfort and pain that I nearly fainted even though I was lying down when it was being done. I have never felt so sick in my entire life and was shocked to see a consultant surgeon using such an out dated method of examination when the nurse who had previously carried out the same test on my first lump found it quite satisfactory to perform it using a small needle which made the examination virtually painless.

When examining my scar, the consultant removed the dressing and decided that it did not need another dressing because 'a bit of air' would do it some good. This was his clinical decision even though my wound was still partially open and the lovely nurse who attended the consultation even admitted to having concerns about his judgement and decided to apply another dressing anyway. This consultant said something along the lines of 'do what you want' before walking out of the room. When I complained to his secretary I was told that he was a surgeon and as such was not concerned with speaking to patients, but was only concerned with dealing with their physical problems (which in my view he didn't do very well either!). The secretary even admitted to me that she had received quite a lot of complaints from patients about this and made it seem like I was just complaining about a rather inane issue.

Suffice to say I do not want to be treated by this surgeon ever again and if I ever needed to go back to hospital with this problem I will be attending a different clinic.