Chemo Treatment Today

osmotar
osmotar Member Posts: 1,006
in Head and Neck Cancer #1
The location that I go to see my hemotology onco and receive weekly carboplatin is moving into a much larger facility on Dec 2nd.... great for them as they will have more space for all they do there including exam rooms and a larger room where patients receive treatment , it will certainly be more comfortable for those patients that may be wheelchair bound versus being able to sit in one of the nice comfy recliners like I do. All the staff there is thrilled with the move and that they will be able to provide treatment to more people. While I think it's great that the group has the opportunity to move to a larger better facility, my thoughts are that it is sad that such a larger facility is needed, goes to show this awful C hits us all in one way or another or at least sometime in our lives and that such a move is necessitated. Stepping down from my soap box now.

Blessings and light to all have gone thru any treatments and those of us that are still going thru treatments, and that someday that no treatments will be necessary.

Linda

Comments

  • osmotar
    osmotar Member Posts: 1,006
    #2
    Another Vent
    Walking from the treatment area back into the waiting room last nite there was a strong and I mean strong cigarret odor, my sister stood up and we walked outside, she looked at me and said I guess you smelled that..now keep in mind this is @ 8pm in the evening. There were only 4 other people other than my sister sitting in there. I asked my sis who it was she described the lady and said the couple had walked in the door and the lady said oh wait I can't do this , she walked out side and lit up...from the smoke smell she must have swallowed the cig and it was still smoking when she got back in the door,,,PLUS AZ has a law that you can't smoke with in 200 ft of any, and I mean any public building. Here I am walking out of an appointment with waffle marks all over my face, treatment that is required because of tonsil cancer , never a smoker, never much of a drinker...Now both of my parents were smokers, I have friends that are or were smokers, I guess I have become more aware after this little cancer detour I'm on. That said I wanted to walk back in and ask what are you thinking, but I didn't I know that stopping the habit is difficult and maybe sooner than later that lady last night will get the picture I can only hope so. Not knowing what type of cancer she may have , I realize she was more than likely scared, I know I was the first time, what I should have done was walk back in and say you know it's going to be ok, not easy, but your in good hands. Last week I had a business construction meeting , walking out my prime contractor walked out with me , I've known him for years and have worked several projects with him, he is a smoker , he started to light up and I asked him not to do that with me , he already had the cig in his mouth and I said seriously don't lite that with me around , he said are you kidding , apparently before I could answer he saw my face and got rid of the cig. He will never stop smoking but at least he will stop around me. 1 down 50 kabillion to go. :)
  • ratface
    ratface Member Posts: 1,337 Member
    #3
    osmotar said:

    Another Vent
    Walking from the treatment area back into the waiting room last nite there was a strong and I mean strong cigarret odor, my sister stood up and we walked outside, she looked at me and said I guess you smelled that..now keep in mind this is @ 8pm in the evening. There were only 4 other people other than my sister sitting in there. I asked my sis who it was she described the lady and said the couple had walked in the door and the lady said oh wait I can't do this , she walked out side and lit up...from the smoke smell she must have swallowed the cig and it was still smoking when she got back in the door,,,PLUS AZ has a law that you can't smoke with in 200 ft of any, and I mean any public building. Here I am walking out of an appointment with waffle marks all over my face, treatment that is required because of tonsil cancer , never a smoker, never much of a drinker...Now both of my parents were smokers, I have friends that are or were smokers, I guess I have become more aware after this little cancer detour I'm on. That said I wanted to walk back in and ask what are you thinking, but I didn't I know that stopping the habit is difficult and maybe sooner than later that lady last night will get the picture I can only hope so. Not knowing what type of cancer she may have , I realize she was more than likely scared, I know I was the first time, what I should have done was walk back in and say you know it's going to be ok, not easy, but your in good hands. Last week I had a business construction meeting , walking out my prime contractor walked out with me , I've known him for years and have worked several projects with him, he is a smoker , he started to light up and I asked him not to do that with me , he already had the cig in his mouth and I said seriously don't lite that with me around , he said are you kidding , apparently before I could answer he saw my face and got rid of the cig. He will never stop smoking but at least he will stop around me. 1 down 50 kabillion to go. :)

    The horrible routineness of it all
    I personally had both my parents die from cancer and even took them to treatment as a young man in my twenties. It never really hit me until I was the one in treatment. Cancer is always something that happens to other people, like those awful people that smoke. Fast forward and the sad reality is that 1 out of 3 people will likely get some form of cancer. My first time in the chemo room was an eye opener for me. I will never forget that long line of grey recliners each with a little TV embedded in the console with IV stands and lines next to each station and the white curtain that could swing around the top ceiling track for privacy, as if we all had something to hide. A long routine line of human beings hooked up to chemo infusions watching, "The Price is Right" or "Who wants to be a Millionaire", drinking coffee and eating cookies. The routineness of it all is appalling and frightening and difficult to get one's mind around it and what you are feeling is unfortunately quite normal. Godspeed in finishing this leg of the journey.
  • osmotar
    osmotar Member Posts: 1,006
    #4
    ratface said:

    The horrible routineness of it all
    I personally had both my parents die from cancer and even took them to treatment as a young man in my twenties. It never really hit me until I was the one in treatment. Cancer is always something that happens to other people, like those awful people that smoke. Fast forward and the sad reality is that 1 out of 3 people will likely get some form of cancer. My first time in the chemo room was an eye opener for me. I will never forget that long line of grey recliners each with a little TV embedded in the console with IV stands and lines next to each station and the white curtain that could swing around the top ceiling track for privacy, as if we all had something to hide. A long routine line of human beings hooked up to chemo infusions watching, "The Price is Right" or "Who wants to be a Millionaire", drinking coffee and eating cookies. The routineness of it all is appalling and frightening and difficult to get one's mind around it and what you are feeling is unfortunately quite normal. Godspeed in finishing this leg of the journey.

    Chemo Room
    The treatment room is all open , black recliners, magazines , snacks and a hee haw load of movies. I like the open area , people you see all the time , though not knowing their names, we chat , some sleep especially after the benadryl, the onco nurses are great, family memebers chat, but then they is also some sense of sadness at least for me, because I see what this nasty thing has done to some people, the toll that it has taken on there bodies and minds, I count my blessings everyday that I have been lucky in the process and the support I have from family, friends and even my employeer.
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    #5
    Open Area
    That's how mine was....

    Big open room with recliners around the outside walls...each with a small swivel TV and headphones. Also, they had chairs for family members...

    Very important, a rest room at each end of the room...LOL.

    Snacks were free as well as drinks.

    It was nice, I liked it...they even had a huge aqaurium...so I could dream of fishing, LOL...while I was watching their's...

    JG
  • sweetblood22
    sweetblood22 Member Posts: 3,228
    #6
    Cigarettes
    Well, I sincerely apologize to ever person I ever annoyed while smoking. I always smoked outside though, never in my house or indoors. Certainly not in someone else's home. I didn't smoke a lot, I don't know how people can smoke like two packs a day. :p

    Anyway, there is not supposed to be any smoking on hospital property at Geisinger. I got into an argument last year with some guy. We were at the little shuttle stop and there are no smoking signs all over the property and at the bus stops. There was a dude standing right next to me in the bus shelter and I asked him to please stop smoking. He got pretty nasty and I pointed to the sign. It got pretty heated and when we got on the shuttle the shuttle driver had called security and they were waiting for him at the first entrance and asked him to step off the shuttle.
  • jtl
    jtl Member Posts: 456
    #7
    sweetblood22 said:

    Cigarettes
    Well, I sincerely apologize to ever person I ever annoyed while smoking. I always smoked outside though, never in my house or indoors. Certainly not in someone else's home. I didn't smoke a lot, I don't know how people can smoke like two packs a day. :p

    Anyway, there is not supposed to be any smoking on hospital property at Geisinger. I got into an argument last year with some guy. We were at the little shuttle stop and there are no smoking signs all over the property and at the bus stops. There was a dude standing right next to me in the bus shelter and I asked him to please stop smoking. He got pretty nasty and I pointed to the sign. It got pretty heated and when we got on the shuttle the shuttle driver had called security and they were waiting for him at the first entrance and asked him to step off the shuttle.

    Cigs
    I smoked a lot for many years and quit 11 years ago. I still have several friends who smoke and even more who quit. My wife never smoked and I don't know how she put up with me but I never smoked in the house. I'm sure that many of us remember when we could smoke and at work but I also remember being in the hospital in the late 60's and you could smoke in your room even if you shared it with another patient. Times have certainly changed. Personally, I don't care if people smoke around me because it doesn't happen very often and it is usually out doors, providing the area is not posted as non-smoking. What really irrates me is the littering people who flick cig butts out the car window or just throw them on the ground. The beach by my house recently went non-smoking, primariy because people were not properly disposing of their butts.

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