Dr. Daniel Lane at Surgical Associates/Mobile Infirmary Care is a gem of a doctor. Not only did he do a great job on my colectomy, he's just a straight-shooter and a super cool guy. How many people can you say that about these days?
When I was faced with colon cancer I asked him to be straight with me, and he obliged and very plainly said to me, "If you don't have this surgery, you will die." It was such a relief to get a straight answer after 5 months of being sick and no one telling me even what they suspected I had (which turned out to be a 1-inch tumor in my colon). Worse still, there were actually doctors and nurses who manhandled/bullied me, finger-wagged at me, and kept information from me! And really, what kind of person bullies a cancer patient?!
But not Dr. Lane. He was great - all business -- and when you have cancer, that's just exactly what you want: Someone to take the time to answer all your questions, someone who's direct, someone who gets the job done as quickly as possible, and someone who will tell you the truth, including your options, your survivability and prognosis.
Dr. Lane even squeezed me in for an appointment during his lunch hour after my referring GI's office neglected to tell me I had a surgical consult and I missed it. (Seriously, who does that!?) Dr. Lane spent at least an hour explaining to me about my colectomy and what the procedure would entail. He knew it was all happening fast, and so he wanted to reassure me about the procedure, and he did. In fact, he was the only one in my cancer "journey" who explained everything, answered all my questions, and spoke plainly in a way I could understand. I wish he could be my GI and oncologist too since he ended up explaining to me what they didn't!
After the surgery, I spent several days in the hospital and he checked on me every day. I've never had a doctor do that. I was also allowed to have healthier organic foods from home to speed my recovery. You would expect a doctor to argue about something like that, but he was totally cool about it. And Dr. Lane did such a good job, I went home early, having spent only 3 days there when I was expected to spend 5 or more.
All-in-all it was a very quick, surprisingly almost painless ordeal, thanks to Dr. Lane and his awesome staff. Compare that with my GI's office who sat on my biopsy results for a week without telling me, and then neglected to tell me about a surgical consult they set up for me! Yeah, cause it's not like you want cancer cut out of you as soon as possible or anything! But Dr. Lane and his staff just rolled with it, and they got the job done in a mere 1 1/2 weeks -- from CAT scans and blood work to the surgery itself. Again, I can't thank Dr. Lane and his staff enough! These folks are THE best.
And a very special shout-out also to Dr. Lane's medical assistant Kylie Hart. She spent over an hour calling all over the place trying to squeeze me in for blood work and CT scans, all so I could get my surgery done more quickly. Seriously, all of this happened in less than 2 weeks (!) and Dr. Lane and Kylie are the reasons why. Thank you! You all saved my life, and I will pray blessings for you for the rest of my life, which I can now look forward to thanks to you. read more