Re-locating far away from your MD specialists? (relocate, years, husband)
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Food for thought. Transplanting prior to 65 is doing so without Medicare. Doing so at 65 or later with Medicare. It is a lot easier to find doctors with private insurance and a lot harder with Medicare.
I was in good health when I moved to rural Hawaii, and it sounded like it would be fun to fly to Oahu if I ever needed a specialist.
Then I got sick, and had to spend a whole day hanging around in airports and waiting rooms every time I needed a CT, 15-minute visit with a specialist, or colonoscopy (think about that). And I spent a lot of time in a hospital far from home, where friends had to spend a day traveling to visit me.
Rural areas are not doctor magnets; they come for a couple of years, then leave. I had six different primary care doctors in 12 years, and rarely got the same specialist twice.
I'm happy to be back in civilization, with hot and cold running medical care within easy reach, and a doctor who has been here for years.
I have low-grade prostate cancer, and have had atrial fibrillation for 20 years. I moved from IL to SC and finally got around to finding a new cardiologist and urologist here. I made sure I had all of my records (including scans and X-rays) transferred to my new family clinic, and got referrals from them for specialists. I've dialogued with my new doctors about things like medications and surgeries so they understand my background. It's building a new relationship. And my last urologist retired before I moved here, so you can't count on a doctor being around forever. The older I get, the more important having good medical care nearby becomes to me. You have to face the facts in retirement: it's not always going to be like this, there will be additional problems, and one of us is going to outlive the other. I personally wouldn't choose to move to a small mountain town for medical (as well as other) reasons - I'm in Greenville and that's close enough to the mountains for me.
I have low-grade prostate cancer, and have had atrial fibrillation for 20 years. I moved from IL to SC and finally got around to finding a new cardiologist and urologist here. I made sure I had all of my records (including scans and X-rays) transferred to my new family clinic, and got referrals from them for specialists. I've dialogued with my new doctors about things like medications and surgeries so they understand my background. It's building a new relationship. And my last urologist retired before I moved here, so you can't count on a doctor being around forever. The older I get, the more important having good medical care nearby becomes to me. You have to face the facts in retirement: it's not always going to be like this, there will be additional problems, and one of us is going to outlive the other. I personally wouldn't choose to move to a small mountain town for medical (as well as other) reasons - I'm in Greenville and that's close enough to the mountains for me.
You're far better off in Greenville with local control retained with the whole GHS/Prisma deal than Asheville is with the Mission sellout. I'm from the Tri-Cities in northeast TN. Our two systems merged. While there are tons of issues, all of the management is at least local. That helps.
You're close enough to the mountains to be able to enjoy the amenities without the rural, isolated drawbacks. Greenville would be a perfect spot for me.
We planned to move to the mtns of NC when we retired 10 years ago but I came down a nasty bladder condition and 'was under the care of a specialist in that problem which took me a year to get into remission
In addition we both have other illnesses and have long time specialists at local research hospitals (cardiac, gastroenterology, etc.)
I'd love to hear from people with serious medical issues who made the decision and moved to a new location away from their doctors.
Thanks for your input!
You really should get a pros and cons list going to see if it's worth moving out of the area for, especially since you both have medical issues.
I wouldn't move to a place that didn't have similar medical care. I'm fighting my hub on not only moving out of this area but moving out of NJ because I'm on narcotics for chronic pain. I also have a lot of serious medication allergies. I had the shingles vaccine which almost closed my throat; no clue what is in it that I'm allergic to.
I've been with my pain management doctor 6 years. When I transferred to them it was from a doctor I had been to for over 10 years. My hub had switched jobs, my old doctor was not taking the insurance I had.
My GP is with a university medical practice. She took over prescribing for me while I waited to get into the university pain management department. I thought everything would be fine because my GP has records of the various medication allergies I had with her. I'm allergic to the newer antibiotics. I'm also allergic to steroids. My GP wasn't available for one appointment. I don't recall what was wrong with me but the doctor I saw, practically laughed in my face when I told her I was allergic to steroids. She prescribed the Medrol dose pack, refused to prescribe something else; so I had to take it, which did not last very long because of the side effects. I contacted my GP thru the university messaging system. She prescribed something different.
I had a lot of history with my old pain management doctor. I had a lot of spine injections, had tried many medications as well as doing a trial for a medication pump that gave me side effects. I suffered with migraines for a year.
It was a royal pain for 2 years as my new doctor did not believe I had so many medication allergies even though she could see the medication allergies I had from my GP. I was forced to try other things like depression meds and Lyrica which made me feel like I had acid in my veins in my left leg. That side effect last a year. She also made me try a long lasting morphine pill. I couldn't just get a 7 day prescription for some reason, it had to be 30 days. I took 3 pills, it started closing my throat. My doctor was very sorry but felt she had to have me try other medications so that it was in my records.
After having so many issues after going to a new pain management doctor; I surely do not want to go to any doctor not associated with the university practice I'm currently seeing.
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