She thinks we are seeing too much of each other...

daBeachBum
daBeachBum Member Posts: 164
in Colorectal Cancer #1
...If I only had a nickel for the number of times I have heard this in my life!

In this case it is good! news. My onc says that since I have been responding so well to my treatment, we should only meet once a month. I still have biweekly chemo, but will only do the doctor's visit every other time.

Sorry for the provocative title, but I couldn't resist :-p

My real question is has anyone gotten their chemo away from their home hospital? I travel 2+ hours each way to Penn for an hour and a half treatment and pump hook up. There is a local hospital (Penn affiliated) 20 minutes from me. A doc at this hospital/CrabShack damn near killed me when I was first diagnosed, but I figure chemo is chemo.

Once a month, this would save me a ton of time, traffic and tolls. Is it worth exploring?

Thanks!

Ray

Comments

  • LivinginNH
    LivinginNH Member Posts: 1,456 Member
    #2
    Hi

    Hi Ray - most definitely! As you said, chemo is chemo. Rick's main oncologist is at Dana Farber, which is at least a two hour drive to Boston with traffic. But he also has a secondary oncologist at a local center in NH where he receives his chemo treatment - and it's only a 10 min. drive from home. I can't tell you how thankful we are to be able to have the chemo treatments so close by, especially when there are emergency issues. Rick made the arrangements with the local doctor and then simply told his D.F. onc. who to call with the specific chemo instructions. D.F. provides us with all the reports and scans which we take to the local doctor. All in all, it works out very well. Best wishes, and congrats on the good news! Cynthia
  • plh4gail
    plh4gail Member Posts: 1,238 Member
    #3
    My surgeon is 5 hours away
    My surgeon is 5 hours away and I do my chemo at the cancer treatment center in my small town. When my chemo Dr and I had a different opinion on something (it was whether I should have a PET) I got a second opinion from another onc in a town close by. He said he would probably have done the same as my onc but he also listens to his and his patients gut feelings. But for receiving chemo...I was happy with close to home.

    take care, gail
  • pepebcn
    pepebcn Member Posts: 6,331 Member
    #4
    plh4gail said:

    My surgeon is 5 hours away
    My surgeon is 5 hours away and I do my chemo at the cancer treatment center in my small town. When my chemo Dr and I had a different opinion on something (it was whether I should have a PET) I got a second opinion from another onc in a town close by. He said he would probably have done the same as my onc but he also listens to his and his patients gut feelings. But for receiving chemo...I was happy with close to home.

    take care, gail

    Can't help you mate!
    Have hugs!
  • PhillieG
    PhillieG Member Posts: 4,866 Member
    #5
    Don't Get Caught! :-)
    For the first 6 months or so I went to Sloan for consults with my Oncologist but had treatments at a different hospital under the co-care of a different oncologist due to insurance issues. I liked that guy as much as I liked my Onc at Sloan but I was able to get surgeries and everything done at Sloan at the end. I could go to a local hospital for chemo but the 1 hr drive once every 3 weeks isn't a problem for me. I sort of like to make the most of my treatments too by taking photos or visiting someone I know in the city.
    I would definitely look into it especially since it's affiliated with your main hospital. And chances are you won't see Dr CrabShack at the other place anyway.
    -phil
    Sometimes if you want a question answered a provocative title is the way to go.
    Either that or offer something for free!
    ;-)

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