Hello Mtn Gal,
Considering everything that has been going on with your Dr's I'm so glad your switching.
You have the right as a patient to seek out care from whomever you want. You don't need anyone else's permission, you damn well don't need the permission of a Dr who has failed you multiple times in multiple ways. This your health and ultimately you need to take charge.
As for the process I would first do some research to find a Dr that you want to switch to, then just call their office directly and explain your situation. Recently diagnosed CML that has been stubborn to react to treatment so far and the care you have been receiving has been severely lacking. As long as they take your insurance and are taking new patients you will get an appointment and that's it, just show up to your appointment with your new Dr. They will probably ask for your old Dr's office info and their office can coordinate with the old place to get all your charts and history sent over.
Your main obstacle living in the US will be just making sure wherever you want to go takes your current insurance, however open enrollment for next year has begun so what I would do would be.
1) Find a specialist that you want to see. Look at all large hospitals, cancer centers along the west coast (somewhat within range of where you are I'm assuming by your name). Though honestly at this point location may not matter (see below), so you could even look nation wide.
2) Call and speak to their office to make sure they are taking new patients, explain your situation and that you are desperate to find a highly experienced specialist in CML. Figure out with them if they can do Teledoc conferences with you so that you can have them as a Dr even while not living directly next to the center. This will open your options up to the entire country and you are guaranteed to find an amazing Dr if you can do this.
3) Ask them what insurance they take.
4) If they are not covered under your current insurance, switch to a provider who does cover them. I would highly recommend you go with some sort of PPO plan so you have a high amount of freedom to seek care as you wish with as little insurance obstacles as possible moving forward. PPO plans are a little more expensive but for people like us they are basically mandatory in my opinion. If you receive insurance through your employer as most in the US do they will have PPO options, make sure you are on one of those.
Just as an aside I live in CA and am being treated at the Samuel Oschin Cancer Center at Cedars-Sinai in Los angeles.
Good luck!
