Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine

Dr. Raymond Pastore has been my hematologist since 2015. He and his entire staff are a joy to be with the two,three times I see them. Dr Pastore is now the director of blood disorders. Dr Pastore is an amazing physician,when I met him he charmed me with his jovial personality and cool demeanor. At this time,he was more into his private practice,sharing an office with another doctor an oncologist. His patients received infusions in a room separate from the reception area. I think he was teaching at Weill Cornell part of the time. As a teacher myself,I appreciated the feelings of closeness he created this first visit with me. Appointments were met in a timely fashion. In time ,I witnessed many patients,most with very serious illinesses. Each of us were treated to a reception area that provided us with top of the line beverages,a library of relevant books and magazines provided to cause the wait to be pleasurable. Most of us were elderly. I suffer from conditions caused by three whole knee replacements,one a pulmonary embolism and deep vain thrombosis. I also have R/A and suffer chronic pain. Dr Pastore makes me feel secure,taking the fear out of the possibility of dying from internal bleeding. He is the son of a hematologist,a graduate of I think Princeton another top notch medical school and residences. His staff loves working with him,I know because I see precision team work over these five years. Before he left private practice to teach at the college,he actually would take calls from patients. Well those days are long gone as his position now as Director of Blood Disorders and faculty member and personal physician to patients ,he does not have much time for telephone calls from patients. Now, he has a nurse practioner to do such tasks and to assist him with the trememdous number of patients who like I will never think of leaving him. Dr Pastore visits with each patient and sometimes family members in his private office. My disorder is not as serious as many of his patients. Once I could not get my zarelto because of insurance denials. He actually sent me samples this medicine by one of his assistants who lived near me in Brooklyn. Once I had a problem at the New York University Dental School and he took the the time to write a very thorough letter that solved the problem. There is more I could say here but,I think you have gotten the point. Dr Raymond Pastore is a special physician because he is a special man whom I am fortunate to call my doctor. He is the best of the best!

How was your experience with Hey-Joo Kang at Weill Cornell Medical College?Dr. Kang is very warm and does take the time to answer my questions when I have them. My appointments are usually very short since they are mostly monitoring and there are always a lot of people so it is easy to feel rushed. I had a few HSGs with her, which were painful for me and she was always very understanding and encouraging. She was also able to spend more time with me when I had an appointment as opposed to the monitoring visits. I do wish I had more time to spend with Dr. Kang, but she did encourage me with my personal situation from the get-go.What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Hey-Joo Kang at Weill Cornell Medical College?Don't expect to have long appointments with her. During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Hey-Joo Kang at Weill Cornell Medical College?The place is definitely a factory, so the face-to-face time is usually quite short. Dr. Kang, however, is very good at still making me feel like she knows who I am. She's always very warm.Describe the protocols Hey-Joo Kang used in your cycles at Weill Cornell Medical College and their degree of success.I started with natural IUIs because I have regular cycles and had good ovarian reserve etc. My "advanced" age is a factor we considered throughout as well as being single. I tried IUIs three times and all failed. I used donor sperm so my egg quality was seen as a factor. I had a blocked Fallopian tube as well, but after repeating the test, it eventually opened. To help with egg quality, she recommended I try CoQ10. We were going to try a medicated IUI, but based on my attempts, my age and egg quality, we went to IVF after failed IUI #3. I am just starting that cycle but it is much more complicated. Describe your experience with your nurse at Weill Cornell Medical College. (Assigned nurse: Jennifer)Jennifer (IUI nurse) was great. She was usually available when I called or at least gave me a call back that same day. Super organised and willing to answer my questions without rushing me off the phone. Diana, the care coordinator was also super helpful and she worked pretty seamlessly with Jennifer to schedule my IUIs and other appointments. The IVF team is different and I am just getting started there. The nurse I was assigned, Sarah, is different from Jennifer and a bit less warm and more "rushy". While I haven't had many interactions with her yet, so far I am not as satisfied as I was with the IUI nurse. Describe your experience with Weill Cornell Medical College.It's so busy. Monitoring hours are between 6:30 and 8:30 am so the waiting room is usually crowded. The staff is good about getting everyone checked in quickly and the nurses are constantly calling patients in so there is movement in the "line", but you just have to wait. The nurses drawing blood are quite skilled so the blood work is usually quick and painless. The system works like clockwork. The IUI scheduling didn't work out that great for me. They tell you to arrive by 8:30am, which is when the andrology lab opens. From there, if you are using frozen sperm, it is an hour-long thawing process, but it can be a long wait. For one IUI, I didn't actually get into the room for the IUI until after 10:30am (which I did not expect) so I was stressed out. I saw at least two other women in the waiting room who were also complaining about waiting for a long time. I don't know what they were in for, however. I would recommend that if you have other obligations, try to reschedule those obligations for hours later or another day if you go for an IUI. It takes much more time than they tell you. Describe the costs associated with your care under Hey-Joo Kang at Weill Cornell Medical College.My insurance covered most of my IUI appointments so I just had to pay co-pays.