Regardless of whether or not you know which questions to ask, your doctor is required, per regulations, to fully educate you, before doing any kind of surgery to you. This is why I think you should get a different doctor.
I am driven to post because I have made it my mission to encourage women to educate themselves before they agree to anything. Foremost, to make sure they actually need surgery. Last but not least, if women do need surgery, I want to make sure women choose the appropriate surgery. At the very least, it will save the quality of their lives. At the most, it will save those lives.
I'll tell you my awful story.
Doctor #1: She looked at my cervix, she knew I had LGSIL with focal HGSIL (CIN II) in less than two quadrants, no dysplasia in the endocervical canal or endocervical glands. She knew I qualified for anything, including watch-and-wait, but she said I needed to schedule a LEEP within two weeks. I asked about the lab report; she was offended. I asked for a further explanation of what I had; she got me off the phone because she was going on vacation. I asked about my options; she refused to discuss them. She said LEEP was cost effective and quick, and then used scare tactics to bully me into it. Rather than explain what LEEP was, she had the front office send me a brochure. When I saw how invasive it was, I said I wanted it done under general anesthesia. She said it would take more time and I'd have to pay for an anesthesiologist. I schechuled it in outpatient, anyway. The day before the LEEP, her assistant let it slip she was planning to do a cone biopsy without tell me and without getting my permission! I demanded to know why, and she refused to answer me. We got into a shouting match, and I dismissed her. Translation: She wanted to keep the insurance company happy and make money, on the side.
Doctor #2: He agreed to do the LEEP in outpatient. Unfortunately, while I was under general anesthesia, he hacked out my cervix in pieces when the loop bent, rather than replace it with a new loop and start from a different direction. In addition, he sutured something, and I still have no idea what it was. Worse still, he didn't tell me what happened. When I wasn't getting better, he pretended nothing was wrong. Even when I ended up in ER because the pain was so terrible, he still refused to communicate with me. His nurse called and said nothing was wrong with me. I ended up in ER a second time, and the doctor still never followed up with me. Translation: He just didn't care about healing his patient and was more interested in covering up because he assumed I would sue him. (Trust me, I wouldn't have.) When I finally got the contents of my file and saw the OR report, I was extremely upset because what happened was even worst than I thought. He basically took out the right side of my cervix, and there are details missing from that report he refuses to talk about. I even had the hospital try to get him to talk so that I have a better idea what I'm trying to heal.
Doctor #3: I found a specialist who is out-of-network. After doing exam, he said the right vaginal side was pulled and irritated, and later on, he also diagnosed me with an inflamed pudendal nerve. He also diagnosed me with bacterial vaginosis, which, due to my symptoms, I more than likely had all along. His office, however, was nervous because they were afraid I would make him stand witness in a lawsuit, against the doctor who botched the LEEP. After reassuring everyone, I decided to keep this doctor because he was so thorough and wanted to make sure I was fully informed, even though he's two hours away. His office also mails me copies of my lab reports.
Doctor #4: I was hoping to have a doctor within my network, who was closer to home and would work in conjuntion with the out-of-network doctor. Unfortunately, when I researched her, I didn't check the clinic. It works in partnership with both the local teaching hospital and the hospital where Doctor #2 is associated. Either she knew the doctor or his clinic director, or she saw he was within her network. But she'd obviously had a conversation with somebody before I arrived. At the appointment, before she had closed the door and without introducing herself, she began shouting at me. She felt my case had been properly managed! My entire appointment was spent with the two of us shouting at each other, and I told the front desk I would not be seen by that doctor, again. She also told me my depleted estrogen level was the reason I hadn't gotten better, without even examining me, first. Even if it were true, I should have been informed of it as a possible complication before the LEEP, and the second ex-doctor should have checked. Translation: She assumed I would sue her colleague and possibly friend, so she was trying to bully and intimidate me. As somebody who works in regulations, it just made me curious, and so I examiend every piece of documentation I had, as I believed if what he did was so bad, other doctors want to protect him, then he needed to be investigated. In the end, I reported the doctor who botched the LEEP to the medical board.
As a footnote, I have chosen to remain with the out-of-network doctor because he is the only one who is actually determined to help me finally get well. The LEEP happened in November 2007.
Since then, I have encountered women whose stories are just as bad as mine. Some are worse, as their doctors knew they more than likely had cancer and chose not to refer them to a GYN/ONC. Now, they have an even more serious problem.
I no longer trust doctors I have not researched, and after Doctor #4, I also check their clinics. Even with my current doctor, I still research everything he tells me because my ability to trust has been so thoroughly destroyed. Fortunately, everything he has told me, so far, has proven true.