I went to First Surgical Consultant in Hayward, Ca following a referral of a professional from Bay Valley Medical Group due to a lump on my breast. After a week of not hearing back from First Surgical Consultants, I called their office and I was told that they either had lost the referral or they hadn't received it. That should had been the FIRST CLUE for me to not waste my time there. Anyways, the attendant was really nice and she set up an appointment with Doctor Gregory Broderick-Villa about 4 WEEKS from then. That should had been my SECOND CLUE. The attendant told me that they would send me a package with paperwork for me to fill out prior to the visit. 3 days prior to the consultation, I called their office in Hayward because I hadn't received the material. The person who answered the phone realized that they had never sent me the package. THIRD CLUE, but I was blind.
I saw doctor Broderick on August 4th. I waited about an hour! He examined me and comment on the probability of that lump being cancer. He said there was a very small chance that it was cancer "like 1%", but the only way of ruling it out was to do a biopsy.
He suggested surgery/biopsy or needle biopsy. I told him I had to think about it. I called their office 2 business days after to schedule a needle biopsy. I was told I had to wait for doctor Broderick to put the order in. 1 WEEK later and no call from them. FORTH CLUE.
I called their office again and I spoke to his scheduler DeAngela. She called me the next day because doctor Broderick had finally put the order in! Hooray, but no. He put the order in for a surgery when I had asked for a needle biopsy. Not sure where the information got lost, but still, the order was incorrect. The next day, I called DeAngela again and asked her to change that order. She told me she would send doctor Broderick a message to clarify things. That was 8/17. I called their office 8/19, 8/23, and no return from Doctor Broderick. WAS THAT ANOTHER CLUE? Yes, the LAST CLUE I needed. I finally woke up from that stupid process I was going through.
On 8/30, doctor Broderick himself called me to ask if I wanted to do a needle biopsy. I spoke to him and said yes even though I had already visited a PCP from another medical group that morning. FINALLY, Doctor Broderick referred me to his colleagues
Dr. Bailey and Dr. Kidwell's from Bay Area Breast Surgeon for the needle biopsy. That's another review, but I can guarantee they have administrative issues as well. When an attendant answers the phone and says she doesn't know how to set up a needle biopsy appointment and ask you to call again later or the next day, you know it won't work.
Like I said, I visited a PCP from another medical group on 8/30 and things are going well there except that I have been diagnosed with cancer and I have some indication on my lymph nodes now due to the waiting :/ When I first visited doctor Broderick, there was no indications on my underarm.
I believe I was put on some kind of low priority list since doctor Broderick believed the chance of my problem being cancer was really low. I will speak out on this issue because I don't want anybody else going through this. read more
