I took Chalerm to a hospital. He had this mole on his hand. It was always there but lately it had grown to twice the size. It was black and the surface was shell-like.
Actually I don’t think it is cancer, but why take the risk? It is an ugly thing anyway, something that should be removed for cosmetic reasons.
Bad luck. We got the same doc who treated my foot warts a while ago. It was the same hospital but I had hoped to get another skin doctor. They gave me the impression they had lots of skin doctors. Maybe that was a bluff.
An uneasy silence followed. Why not remove the darn thing and then take a sample from the removed tissue? Why take a biopsy first? Cut it off now. It was not like this mole had sentimental value.
The doc knew I thought this, and hence the silence was loaded. She didn’t want me to ask any questions.
Chalerm said later:
- Every hospital same. Want make money. Want customer come back many time.
Chalerm was surprisingly squeamish. But the doc took the biopsy and nobody cried.
The bill came to 2700 baht. And the mole is still there.
I wonder if the same doc’s refusal to see all my foot warts a few months ago, seeing only the biggest one, was a result of the same money making attitude. Make them come back again and again. Thai doctors make me paranoid. When is what they say based on a medical assessment and when is it something they make up to get my money?
—
Back to the local boys. The ladyboy-in-training nagged me for 20 baht in the Straight Internet Cafe. I had not thought he would sink this low. 20 baht? That’s what the slum kids say when they hold their hands out on the street.
—
I officially give up on Burger King Silom. I went back once more, after a month of boycotting the place over their raw bacon, hoping it was a glitch. They can’t possibly give me raw bacon once again?
I forked out 214 baht for a Double Whopper Meal. It looked promising. But when I ate the unpleasant taste of pork spread in my mouth. I opened the burger to look. This time the bacon was not entirely raw like it had been earlier. They had done something to it. But whatever they had done wasn’t enough. They promise crisp bacon, not poorly done bacon that still tastes like raw pork. I plucked the bacon out of the burger and ate the rest.
My grievances don’t end there. The burger itself is often only lukewarm. This is because they pre-fry the burgers and only re-heat them in a micro wave oven when the customer comes.
Did I mention the French Fries? They are often cold too.
Ah, the sadness of being alive. But I have moved on. There is Dick’s Burger in soy Twilight, and there is Au Bon Pain across the street from Burger Queen, and Subway near soy 4. I will not starve.
Tag: gay Thailand
September 25th, 2007 at 11:14 am
Dentists do it too. Late last year I went to the dentist for a tooth problem. He said I could have it out (the Thai option, because it’s cheaper) or I could have root canal treatment. Only half a dozen visits would be needed, he said.
My treatment finally ‘ended’ about two months ago, more than eight months and 10 visits later. After removing the roots, he filled the hole with temporary cement filling.
‘You are not ready for a permanent cap. I will see you every six months until I think you are ready, then I will give one to you,’ he said.
See? Here, dentists keep you coming back, too.
September 25th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
hi have you tried the police hosptal they are very good and government contoled not far from you
September 25th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
I have some experience with mole doctors. After many years of being pestered by family to have mine looked at I went to one. He looked, and said there was nothing worth biopsying, but I should come back every year to have him look again. This was a private doctor, paid for by insurance.
The next year I was in an HMO, so I went and told them what the first doctor had said. He agreed, and told me to come back in another year.
The third year I was in a different HMO, so I went and told a third doctor what the first two had said. This sounds like a shaggy dog story, I know, but it’s true. The third doctor was a bit more concerned. He told me his procedure was to take off three of my moles and have the biopsied. The procedure to take one off was close enough to the procedure to get a sample for biopsy that they just scoop them off and send them to the lab. Of these three, one had a moderate amount of atypical cells, they said, dancing around loaded words like cancer. The other two had small amounts of atypical cells. So he took three more off, and sent them off. I think one of those had a slight amount of atypical cells, so they took 3 more, and those all came back negative and so I was done.
These were moles I’d had all my life, they were larger than a pencil eraser (which is the threshold for worry), but weren’t otherwise bad looking.
A couple years later I switched HMO’s again. This time the doctor claimed that she had been to school, and could now look at a mole using a jeweler’s loupe, which she proceeded to do, and then pronounced it of no concern. She also said I had a condition with a latin name which means I have many more moles than average. It’s true. I read the average person has 100. I counted up to 100 on my left arm and quit. I’m not exactly model material.
So another couple of years went by, I moved again, and have been to a private doctor on my latest insurance, who looked me over, without the loupe, and told me to keep an eye on the remaining ones and come back if they changed. It’s been about 2 years, I should make another appointment.
So I think you should be able to find a doctor who will cut first and do biopsies later, and I think you should not have to pay so much. There’s a lot of material on the web, pictures and such, for people to use in matching their moles up to the many kinds, but basically if it’s larger than a pencil eraser, is growing, has uneven edges, itches, or bleeds, get it off.
Please don’t feel obligated to post this, no one else needs to read it, but it’s your blog if you want to.
September 25th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
How about the new Mike’s on Silom? That big yellow place.
September 25th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
Is Dick’s burger in Soi Twilight at Dick’s Cafe???????
Or is this a new place I have not yet seen?
September 25th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
SF,
You shouldn’t fuss so much about the healthcare system in Thailand; it is obviously modelled after the American System. Three weeks ago I made an appointment to see my doctor for my annual physical.
I ended up making five trips: twice to him, once for lab, and twice for heart tests.
The heart tests were really absurd because I ended having two tests done in the same exact room on different days….and I waited over an hour each time for tests that ran 10 to 30 minutes.
Oh, and I had to pay a doctor visit copay all five times….and I only saw a doctor twice.
My doctor says I am fine but that I need to have physicals on an annual basis. I told him I would figure out how to have a physical done annually once they figured out how to administer all of the parts of the physical in a day.
I spent a total of two hours with doctors and or having tests done but with the wait and the commute it tied me up for 15 hours!
The Thais must have heard that America has the best healthcare system in the world….
September 25th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
I got very sick eating at that Burger King 1 year ago. It required me to take a trip to Bumrangrad.
September 25th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
AnonOriginal mounts his soapbox.
You need to take a more active role in your medical treatment, and that of your loved ones, especially in Thailand. As with many things in Thailand, the reasons why a doctor has a prominent position in a a big shiny hospital may have more to do with who their family is than whether they’re any good or not.
Many doctors in the west are now being trained to expect their patients to be informed consumers. I know a couple of young doctors who take this approach with their patients - here is what you’ve got; here are the possible treatments; here are the risks. Now you decide which treatment you want.
To which you might usefully ask, “If I was a member of your family, what would you do ?” But at the end of the day it’s an informed decision on treatment that you make in conjunction with your doctor.
This approach is of course anathema to most doctors, let alone Thai doctors. Doctors are gods after all.
To take medical treatment without ever being given a precise diagnosis is not being an informed consumer. There are many types of skin lesions, some malignant, some not. There’s plenty of yucky pictures on the internet to look at. Start with the benign stuff:
It is not hard to find about about the difference between the more serious melanoma, basal cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma, etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_cancer
Did the dermatologist tell you which of these many possibilities you and Chalerm have ?
The same applies to any form of medical treatment. Do your homework. Ask for a precise diagnosis. Look up the treatment options that expert authorities recommend. Make a decision in conjunction with your doctor.
I’ll get off my soapbox now.
September 25th, 2007 at 7:23 pm
What is it with farangs that love to show scars and tell all these illness stories and what’s up with me wanting to hear these stories?
Burgers: Roadhouse Grill, Rama 4 and Suriwong. Better view at Dick’s Cafe though.
September 25th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
Dick’s Burger is at Dick’s Cafe.
BKKdreamer: if you are lucky he is a real dentist and not just a car mechanic with a side job.
I read somewhere that people with more than 100 moles for unknown reasons live longer on average than other people. I think it was 9 years longer. Had something to do with DNA maybe.
September 25th, 2007 at 7:44 pm
The doc told us nothing, and her attitude made it clear she didn’t want any questions. She seemed to resent that I was there.
Today Chalerm’s hand is swollen, in particular the finger near where the doc took the biopsy. How is that possible? Did she touch the bone? The mole is on top of one of the knuckles on the hand.
September 26th, 2007 at 6:43 am
I read an article..can’t remember where.. that mentioned the Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok where alot of Americans go, US-trained doctors, English speaking staff, etc. Supposedly a really good place.
September 26th, 2007 at 8:21 am
For a decent hospital, lower prices than around Silom but great care and facilities, good English speaking western trained doctors, try Vihavadhi General Hospital, on Vidhavadhi Rangsit Road at intersection with Ngam Wong Wan Road. Well worth the short taxi ride….
September 26th, 2007 at 8:59 am
You should take him to another hospital or tell the doctor that you want it removed (in Thai). I know some Thai doctors are not used to having non-Thai patients, especially when they have to speak English. She was probably nervous seeing you in the room. Also, make sure that she is actually a dermatologist and not just generalist.
September 27th, 2007 at 6:48 am
Re: moles & longevity: http://marksdarcy.bpweb.net/moles.html
September 29th, 2007 at 2:34 am
I go to Pattaya international Hospital. They have three dermatologist. I like the one on the far right side. Can’t remember her name. About 1000 baht per mole. She has removed several of mine and was able to diagnose a rare skin disorder (DH) that I have had for 5 years and seen a bunch of Dermatoligist for. She did it by taking a history and doing some observations and then ruling out fungis and bacteria. Have followed her recommendations and now am free of the problem unless I drink beer or eat bread. She took some moles off and said that with the lazer the biopsy wasn’t really necessary but she could take a biopsy if I really wanted one. Zap em I said.
October 1st, 2007 at 2:11 am
After reading all of this, I’d say take a vacation to Pattaya wth Chalerm. This last message from Sathorn Farang sounds like your best option.
How is dudes hand now?
-Whystler
October 1st, 2007 at 9:44 pm
I have to agree with ‘John’. I have been travelling from Sydney to Bumrungrad for dental and medical treatment for the last several years.
While Bumrungrad is probably top-of-the-tree as far as costs go, it has an international reputation, is frequented by the filthy rich from arabia as well as Euro/Aust/US ex-pats and has served me well.
I especially like knowing that I will be able to communicate with the treating physician/dentist.
I can have a 3-week holiday in Thailand (incl travel costs) and get whatever treatment I believe I need for less than the cost of treatment alone in Aust.
www.bumrungrad.com and follow your nose to whatever medical department you need.
Alternative, my partner insists on using BCH (Bangkok Christian Hospital) on Silom Rd and its medical and dental practioners have all been very professional, offering info for informed decisions and explaining options. Costs are somewhat less than Bumrungrad.
As I am “a white man living in a black man’s country”, I have had many keratoses and several carcinoma so I am very familiar with this subject — as ‘SameSame’ says, if it is growing, itchy, sore to touch or bleeds GET IF OFF. And don’t take ‘No’ for an answer from the doctor.
Now that it has swollen after a biopsy it may also be URGENT. Seek another opinion.
Best wishes to Chalerm (and you).