treatment update August 19
By daeckardt
@daeckardt (6237)
United States
September 19, 2012 9:36pm CST
I went in for my weekly labs and treatment this morning. The nurse left me hanging for about 15-20 minutes before she came and drew my blood. Then she sent the blood to the lab and I waited for what seemed like an eternity. About two hours after she drew the blood I asked one of the other nurses if they had heard anything and she came back in and said my nurse was waiting on something. My nurse came in and said a couple of my readings were a little low and she had been waiting to hear back from the doctor on whether the treatment could take place or not. When she finally got the answer she started the treatment. This was three hours after the labs were drawn even though they had the results two hours earlier. I was happy to get the treatment and get that much closer to done, but I hate being made to wait.
A funny thing happened today. There are volunteers who bring sack lunches that are purchased for patients every day and when the volunteer came through she asked the others in the room what they wanted and then I asked what sandwiches were left. She said she would have to go down and find out was left of the "day old" sandwiches which are all that are available to visitors. I showed her the IV coming from my port and asked her "what's this?" and she was all apologies and gave me a roast beef sandwich although I prefer turkey they were all out of it. Oh well...It was still a good day and I am feeling great still!!!
3 people like this
7 responses
I really hate waiting, and especially if I don't know what the holdup is. I hope you had reading material or tv or something to keep you occupied.@daeckardt (6237)
• United States
21 Sep 12
Actually my eyelids were entertaining enough for me. I woke up really tired and I wound up spending a few minutes playing a game on my phone since I didn't bring anything with me. At least I got the treatment and that is what really counts. I found out today that my CA-125 dropped to 49 from 68 two weeks ago so I am happy about that. Have a great weekend!!!
1 person likes this
@stk40m (1119)
• Koeln, Germany
20 Sep 12
Waiting can be quite annoying, I hope they won't let you wait so long in the future :-) I suppose the IV notifies the hospital staff of your medical condition and the volunteer hadn't noticed it, right? She wanted to bring you an old sandwich when in fact she has to bring you fresh food. Glad you took it with good-humouredly!
2 people like this
@daeckardt (6237)
• United States
21 Sep 12
Actually, I wasn't hooked up to anything, but the end of the tube to hook up to was sticking outside my shirt since I have a port in my chest. I guess I looked too young to be in treatment since the other patients were much older than me and she thought that I was with one of them. It was almost not funny but I had to laugh when I told the nurse about it. I guess I am starting to look too good. Have a great weekend!!!
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (160777)
• United States
21 Sep 12
I am glad that you had such a good day. You must look like you are pretty healthy if they thought you were just a visitor. I like that so many places do provide extra food and snacks for people under going treatments.
1 person likes this
@daeckardt (6237)
• United States
21 Sep 12
That is very helpful since many days I don't eat well in the morning and I am hungry by the time they bring the sandwiches around. I think I was the youngest person in the chairs and only one of the patients had visitors so I guess that is why she thought I was a visitor. And I was in pretty high spirits lately.
@daeckardt (6237)
• United States
20 Sep 12
The poor nurse that was working with me came in joking around how first she kept me waiting for her before she got me into the room and then the results got to her half an hour before she actually looked at them and then she tried calling the doctor and the nurse practitioner and then was waiting to hear back from one of them. She said her name tag had the wrong letters on it (RN rather than MD) and that if she didn't hear from someone soon she would call again. She showed up with the IV equipment about twenty minutes later telling me that the doctor felt bad that I had been kept waiting because I was "her favorite" and all that kind of nonsense. I'm just glad they went ahead with the treatment! I guess the nurse had to "CYA" if you know what I mean...
2 people like this
@marguicha (223439)
• Chile
24 Sep 12
Hi Debbie,
Sometimes having an IV and bragging about it can get you something
. At St. Marteen, I was given an upgrade in our apartment because I said that I could not climb up and down 4 flights of stairs all day long. THe girl on the desk asked me if my feet hurt and I wickedly replied that my problem was a little worse; that I did not have much energy due to cancer and chemo. I had my miserable short hair to show, so the sent us to a much better place
I´m glad you got your treatment although sometimes the wait can be maddening.
A big HUG!!!
. At St. Marteen, I was given an upgrade in our apartment because I said that I could not climb up and down 4 flights of stairs all day long. THe girl on the desk asked me if my feet hurt and I wickedly replied that my problem was a little worse; that I did not have much energy due to cancer and chemo. I had my miserable short hair to show, so the sent us to a much better place
I´m glad you got your treatment although sometimes the wait can be maddening.
A big HUG!!!@daeckardt (6237)
• United States
24 Sep 12
I know the last time I needed something it did help to have cancer. I had been pulled over because my tags had expired and I just explained to him that I had just got the car out of the shop and hadn't had a chance to stop by to get that taken care of yet. Needless to say I took care of it the next day the office was open. At least the guy was nice and let me off with a warning since I looked pretty bad at the time.
@marguicha (223439)
• Chile
27 Sep 12
Having cancer it`s pretty bad so I don`t feel a bit of shame if I take advantage of it once in a while to make someone treat me as I should anyway, cancer or no cancer. 
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
22 Sep 12
That is awesome that you were able to get your treatment as planned. I remember how frustrated that we were the two times that Tom's treatments were late last year when he was going through it. One time he was delayed for five days because his lungs didn't sound quite right and the other time that he was delayed was because of the fact that his port had shifted and ended up having to be replaced before he could get another treatment.
I think that it is really cool that they give the patients sack lunches while they are going through treatment. Our cancer center had a lot of snacks and drinks for patients and visitors, but they didn't provide sandwiches at all.
1 person likes this
@daeckardt (6237)
• United States
22 Sep 12
The way I understand it, the volunteers recycle all the cans and bottles that are used from snacks and that, along with the sales from the gift shop, goes towards buying about a dozen or so sandwiches every day. I guess they also have the snacks available all day long but the fresh sandwiches come in around 11 or so. I'm so glad I have had no problem with this port. There was a time when they had to use a declotting medication before it would work, but after that no problem. I know the last one I had was removed about 3 months after my last treatment in 2004 because they couldn't push anything in or out and I was cancer free so there was no reason to leave it in.
@KrauseHome (36448)
• United States
4 Oct 12
Wow!! But in reality not surprised. I know with all the issues I am going thru even though all the computers are practically tied in to one another now, it is almost impossible to ever get anything done as in results. Makes me wonder why, and if they had the results earlier, why could they not have told you something? Sometimes I think it is only a continued sign of things yet to come... and I hate to even think about it. But glad you got a sandwich.
