Selecting a medical specialist

The medical community can sometimes be difficult to deal with or find out information.

Case in point: I have testicular cancer and have been told to go to an oncologist to determine the treatment regimen, if any. Then the fun or agony begins.

Yes, there are places like Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers or the new Memorial Hospital Cancer Center. However, how do you find anything about any of the oncologists on site?

The friendly receptionist will try to schedule you an appointment, but won’t tell you anything about the background of staff members. Twice this morning, when I made that request, they put me on hold and never came back. Both times, I hung up after five minutes.

I found more information from people on Nextdoor Southface, a site for residents in the northwest part of Colorado Springs. Many were glad to relate their experiences with many different oncologists, including going to Denver as a better choice.

Yes, I know you aren’t supposed to do background checks on esteemed medical people. However, this is my life and body. I don’t want some medical person claiming chemo is the solution, just so there is an increase in revenue. Don’t believe it doesn’t happen. I have a medical institution threatening me about a co-pay for an annual physical, when Humana’s policy clearly states there is no co-pay for that procedure.

I guess throwing a dart at the clip board is as good a method as any, in selecting a medical specialist.

Duane Slocum

Colorado Springs

There is a gulf of sorts

May I offer a response to Joseph Ford’s forceful letter in the April 12 Gazette?

Mr. Ford, I prefer to offer a few words to you directly rather than writing that “they” have an agenda, or “they” want to push those of us who are LGBT back into the closet. There is a gulf of sorts between you and me, and that is all the more reason to keep talking to each other as individuals.

I assert at the outset that I have no right or basis to call you a bigot. None. I also do not ask that you celebrate anything about my sexuality or marital status. And no one has any right or basis to question your own journey to find an agreeable set of moral tenets. If others have done this, I cannot support it; I think of this as basic respect.

I do still insist that others and I be treated equally by actors in the public sphere; this is also respect.

You state, “the LGBT community has made (sexual orientation or marital status) our business.” I must concede there is an element of truth here and this development must be unsettling for those more traditionally minded.

I submit that this comes largely from our living with the silent assumption, for example, that any guy walking into my bakery will be straight. It probably feels awkward to hear he wants a cake for a same-sex wedding. An alternate rationale for the cake is now not so silent! It may feel as if this is being thrust unfairly upon the unsuspecting baker, and yet the request is as basic as if it were for a groom and bride.

I hope you are up to a challenge. I do not seek to challenge your moral standards (never that), but I ask that you first acknowledge that there are LGBT citizens with the same rights you have; second, accept that you will not change this reality, nor the fact this group of citizens will form bonds of union; and third, respect – yes, respect, not just tolerate – these individuals as individuals and treat them thusly.

We also have the responsibility to treat you with respect, not just tolerance, not to throw epithets at you or to insult you for your beliefs. Let us keep talking.

John Birkhead

Colorado Springs

Understanding election processes

Let’s be sure we have this straight: Donald Trump’s a multi-billionaire who is running for the most important job in the world and he’s complaining because he didn’t take the time to understand the election process (“Candidates shift to delegate hunt,” April 11)?

“What they’re trying to do is subvert the system with crooked shenanigans,” Trump whined. So, Mr. Tough Guy who says he has the moxie and acumen to take on Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, and China’s Xi Jinping, doesn’t have the discipline and foresight to study the GOP’s delegate selection rules?

Ironically, it’s those very rules that are ingeniously designed to prevent autocratic blowhards such as Trump, who thinks he’s above the rules, from winning. He arrogantly believes all he needs is the super-PAC called Fox News to prevail.

Although Senator Ted Cruz may be the least popular person in Congressional history, a year ago he drafted a strategically astute blueprint, state by state, to win as many delegates as possible. In contrast, Trump is convinced that this is a reality TV show where he can just fire and replace delegates.

Add to that his uncanny ability to antagonize every voting bloc, from women to minorities, and his deep understanding of complex issues such as trade and foreign affairs which can be jotted down on the back of an envelope with room to spare, and it’s amazing he thinks he could win a municipal election, much less the presidency.

In truth, Trump is a self-made man who worships his creator.

Philip Mella

Woodland Park

Learn the rules of the game

I have a couple of news flashes for Donald Trump. A few days ago he stated the United States is a democracy. Well, that is wrong. We are a republic, which means we elect representatives to make our laws in Congress and also we elect representatives to nominate our presidential candidates.

My second news flash for Trump is that the United States is governed by our Constitution and laws made by our representatives. Similarly our political parties make rules for nominating our presidential candidates. One of those rules for the Republicans says that the presidential candidate must receive a majority of the delegate votes in order to be nominated to run for president.

This rule was made long before Trump decided to run for president and he should have understood the meaning of this rule before he entered the “game.”

It means that getting a plurality of the delegate votes will not make him the presidential nominee of the Republican Party no matter how loud he yells. So my final message to Trump is learn the rules before you decide to enter the game.

Larry Stanley

Colorado Springs