Chemotherapy Consult & Treatment Cordination

Monday, April 6th, 9:00am: Coordinating the Hematologist /Oncologist, Radiation and Nutrition

It was a long day of meeting with doctors for Mom, Mishawn and I (Karen) from 9:00am to 4:30pm coordinating both chemotherapy and radiation. As the doctor visits went on, it began to get more overwhelming and a bit confusing. Early on, Mom checked ouf the scheduling conversations and Mishawn and I took a lot of notes and clarified with each other often. Abrielle was the humor relief we needed and fish tanks are great!

Here are the cliff notes, we met with...

• Dr Rado the hematologist/oncologist
• Michelle the hematologist/oncology nurse who will be administering Ethyol shots, daily hydration drips and chemotherapy
• Tour of the chemotherapy facility
• Dr Giever the radiation oncologist
• Karen the radiation case manager to talk about radiation schedules
• Mom had a block test (her radiation mask fitted and radiation lines tested)
• back to Michelle in chemotherapy oncology to coordinate schedules between the shot, hydration, chemotherapy and radiation,
• back to Karen in radiation to confirm schedules
• Lunch at McDonalds
• then off to Option Care to meet with Carol dietician and talked about cancer nutrition and managing side effects
• Lastly with Sue the RN who showed us how to use the feeding tube
  
  Below is the current plan; remember it may change after the PET scan results come back.
  
  Dr Rado agreed that chemotherapy combined with radiation is the best treatment plan for Mom. There will also be daily shots of Ethyol and hydration (drip IV) before each radiation. Chemotherapy will be once a week (Fridays) and will take approximately three hours and a half hours. The chemotherapy will consist of a low dose of Cisplatin weekly for the same seven weeks of radiation.
  To know more about Cisplatin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisplatin
  
  Blood laps will be drawn every Thursday during the hydration so that the doctors will have results on Fridays for Dr Rado and Mondays for Dr Giever.
  
  The radiation will be Monday-Friday for seven weeks at 1:30pm. It is the radiation that requires the daily shot of Ethyol a half hour before each treatment and at the hydration. Both the shot and hydration is done at the Tri-City Cancer Center in the Hematology side (Building B) then she will just go the radiation side (Building A).
  
  Mom will meet with Dr Giever on Mondays before radiation and Dr Rado every other Friday before chemotherapy.
  
  It was decided to have a portacath put in for the chemotherapy and daily hydration. Having one for during my breast cancer treatment I think Mom will like having this over being stuck daily with IV’s. To learn more about portacaths
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_(medical
  
  To learn more about Ethyol http://www.ethyol.com/
  ETHYOL® (amifostine) is a prescription drug given by injection prior to each postoperative radiation treatment session for head and neck cancer. ETHYOL is used to lower the rate of moderate to severe xerostomia (zee-roh-STOW-mee-uh) (dry mouth). It is used in patients receiving radiation therapy following surgery for head and neck cancer when the radiation area includes a large part of the parotid glands (the largest of the salivary glands).