Friday, September 9, 2011

Friday September 9 2011

Today was a follow-up visit with oncologist.
God bless the case manager!
Work this morning for Pat, cleaning a house with a friend who helps with this house.
At 1:40 the lady we are cleaning for asks
won't Roger be getting worried, shouldn't you be leaving?
At 1:40:15 Roger calls the house I am working at
lady answers the phone and the next thing I hear is
Well, Hello, Roger
and she hands me the phone, lady and husband laugh
I tell Roger I am wrapping it up and will be home shortly
I only clean houses for wonderful people.
I go home, change clothes (so I don't look like I just got off the wagon train)
and we head to the oncologist's office.

Roger checks in at first floor desk, it is 3:00, appt is for 3:30
they need lab work so we go sit in the lab waiting area
we sit, Roger waits, I go get coffee (this office has a coffee shop)
nurse calls Roger while I am waiting for the coffee tree to grow beans
nurse sees Roger's port,(he has a dual port that most nurses recoginze as a dialysis port) and Roger asks if she can just take the blood sample from the port
yes
nurse asks ROGER if it matters which port she takes the blood from
I wonder if a nurse should know this and shouldn't a nurse who draws blood on a daily basis know this?
nurse gets blood samples and Roger is okay
I am happy about that
We head upstairs, we check in
we wait
nurse calls us back, weighs Roger in at 164 (we figure he is 166 since they are about 2 pounds off from other offices)
nurse takes vitals, takes us back to exam room
nurse asks nurse questions
Roger answers, we ask questions from our list (medications from urologist, dressing needs changed on port, new patient kit he's never received, chemo classes)
nurse says the doctor's nurse will be in shortly and she will help us
nurse leaves
we wait
next nurse comes in
asks nurse questions, we ask questions from our list
nurse says the doctor will be in shortly and he will help us
nurse leaves
we wait
doctor comes in, asks doctor questions
doctor asks if we have quetions, we ask questions from our list
doctor answers questions expect he doesn't know about the new patient kit or if we need to go to chemo classes since the provenge thing isn't really chemo, and Roger has not had any bad side effects
Doc is exicted about Provenge treatment, yes we are the first in northwest Arkansas and probably in Arkansas, and says the whole clinic is excited.
Doc is exceptionally nice, and looks to be about 20 (we know he is not)
Nice docs are hard to find these days, bedside manners are seemingly a thing of the past
Doc writes orders for prescriptions, Lupron shot, port dressing
and we are on our way
we take paper work to 2nd floor check out desk
Receptionist can't figure out orders the doc has written,
another receptionist takes the orders back to the doc
1st receptionist is trying to figure out how to schedule the Provenge infusion for next Friday.
so
I explain it as best I can, it has to correlate with the provenge delivery, receptionist is more confused,
so
I explain just schedule it the same time as the 1st provenge infusion, since that is the schedule Dendreon company gave us
and 2nd receptionist returns with orders the nurse can hopefully understand
and we are told to wait
over there is fine
and
we wait
and wait some some more
nurse calls Roger back,
asks why he has a dialysis port
Roger explains Provenge and leukaphresis
nurse changes dressing on port
I ask if the dressing on the neck entry point can be changed
she takes the gauze off the neck spot and we (the nurse and I) can see the awesome job the surgeon did on the incision point where the cath goes down to the heart and you can't even tell there was an incision.
and the nurse asks if it would be okay just to put a band aid on it.
I say I don't know but it looks like that is all it needs
so
nurse puts a bandaid on it
then nurse gets Lupron shot ready, has to shake it up
and gives Roger his shot in his left hip
since Roger and I think the last one was in his right hip
and we are ready to go
eat
Where should we go?
and  Roger suggests the barbeque place I suggested the other day
and although this place has the best potatoe salad ever,
the roll is cold
and Roger is dismayed that he's paid $20 for us to eat and he gets a cold roll.
and we head home
to rest up this weekend
for the 2nd round which will begin Monday afternoon as we head back to Tulsa to spend the night at a motel so we are close to the Red Cross Tuesday morning.

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