Last Pre-Chemotherapy visit to the Oncologist and a post-operative visit to the Surgeon – Monday, April 20, 2009

(I composed and posted this entry following chemotherapy on Friday, April 24, ,2009).

Short Story...

I went to my doctors.

Long Story...

My wife, Nancy, and I headed out to the oncologist’s office for last-minute briefings and health checks prior to my chemotherapy on Friday. (On the way out the door, one of my grandkids asked where I was going. I explained that we were going to my oncologist. They asked, “What’s a ‘honkologist’.” Luckily, we had enough time to compare and contrast a “honkologist” with an “oncologist”.)

My oncologist, Dr. Legant, answered our pre-infusion questions, checked my overall health, then we discussed my two options for chemotherapy-infusion methods:

1) Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter (PICC) line: an intravenous line, inserted at the inside of the elbow, with a thin, 12” tube that runs up the main artery in the arm, then connecting to the superior vena cava, which is the main coronary artery.

2) IV Port: an inch-diameter device surgically implanted under my skin, just below the right clavicle, with a thin tube that inserts through my jugular vein, then continues on to my superior vena cava (the heart’s largest blood-supplying vein). The port has a thin rubber membrane covering the center of the outer surface through which an infusion technician can insert a special “Huber” needle for the chemotherapy delivery.

I chose Option 1 (the PICC line) since did not require surgery, and thus, seemed less expensive. The PICC’s downsides, however, are that it requires weekly dressing changes by hospital personnel, it is more susceptible to infection since it extends outside the skin, and it requires a special cover while showering. None of those disadvantages exist for the IV Port, but I did want to save insurance expenditures for my employer wherever possible.

Next stop was to Dr. Murday, my sigmoid-colectomy surgeon. She declared my surgery incision well healed and indicated that Nancy and I need not worry any longer about any bandages for the incision. Next visit with Dr. Murday is a post-surgical re-check in July.

...Successful visits to my "honkologist" and my "sturgeon" (...Hmmm...there something "fishy" about that.)