As a patient for six years, I, James von Veit, can tell you that Dr. Shatenfeld is an excellent doctor as my primary care physician, the quarterback for my latest battle against disease: Wegener's Granulomatosis, which Weill Cornell's, Dr. Michael Stewart, refered me to HSS Rheumatology's Dr. Steven Magid, who will be administering chemotherapy to get the incurable disease under control. Years earlier, I had each shoulder operated on at HSS and between surgeries I began getting horrible sinus infections. Dr. Shatenfeld noticed that I had a peculiar condition of anemia that worsened considerably each blood sample I took to get cleared for the next surgery. Since I was not well enough to be operated on until the infection went away and the blood test couldn't be older than two weeks before the surgery, I took four blood tests during that time, which Dr. Shatenfeld used to compare. He realized that my rbc counts went far below the 13-15 acceptable counts. Each of the four test results had shown that my rbc got considerably lower concerning him enough to recommend I see a hematologist, which I did and I was diagnosed with a chronic form of Leukemia, the disease that claimed my older sister's life at 34. However, she had an acute form of it. Dr. Shatenfeld agreed with the hematologist that I have an endoscopy and colonoscopy done to determine if I had any blood loss, but neither test showed any signs of blood loss. Dr DeVito performed each procedure and the only thing she said to me afterwards was, "Have your hematologist do a bone marrow biopsy, which was done and confirmed the chronic form of Leukemia. My bone marrow was overproducing wbc, causing some wbc to be mutant that actually killed other wbc and rbc, causing Anemia and lowering my immune system which caused the infections. A few years from those procedures I found myself hospitalized with nine broken bones, a dislocated ankle as well as a cleanly broken Tibia and Fibula causing my lower leg to be held on only by my skin. Sloan Kettering was about to accept me for testing weeks before the accident. While in HSS , they tested my blood everyday and amazingly my blood counts were improving towards a remission. What was thought to be my immune system, weakened from the Leukemia, turned out to be Wegener's Granulomatosis after Dr. Stewart put me under general anesthesia to remove hard to get to tissue. The lump on my face is being tested for a melanoma. Chemotherapy is planned to begin in a few weeks. Even though my specialists won awards for being in the top 100 of their category and I do trust their recommendations. I still call Dr. Shat, my 2 year olds nickname for him, for his opinion. The doctors I've had the longest are my neurologist of 15 years, Dr. Jeffrey Mallin and
Dr. Grigory Shatenfeld. I won't make any decisions without eaches advice. If you're considering a primary care doctor or an internist, Dr. Shatenfeld deserves your consideration. He's a wonderful doctor in my opinion. My name is JAMES, not FRANCISCA. Note: a grey box says it'll post publicly asa Francisca?
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