Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Today we saw Laura, Dr. Agerwal's nurse practitioner, just to follow up on how Mom is doing.  Not a lot really happened.  Just routine follow up.  It was decided that Mom should go ahead and have a port placed for her chemo.  I will attach an explanation of what a chemo port is at the end of this post for those who aren't familiar with them.  She is scheduled to have the port placed on Friday, Jan. 6th.

Since it's the week of Christmas, Jeff thought it would be fun to wear his Santa suit (after all he IS the real Santa).  It was really fun for everyone.  People stopped him all day telling him what they wanted for Christmas and he gave out candy canes.  One doctor came over and asked if she could take his picture to show her kids that Santa showed up at her work to check up on the kids.  He walked around to many of the patients and it brought a lot of joy to them as well. Lots of smiles!

After her appointment with Laura, Mom went to the infusion center for her chemo treatment.  All the nurses up at Huntsman are wonderful, but there is one nurse in particular that we have really felt connected to.  Her name is Tawnie, and she has really helped Mom so much!  She is truly an angel!  We are so very grateful to her for her tender loving care of Mom.

What is Chemotherapy Port
A chemotherapy port is a relatively simple and painless way to deliver chemotherapy drugs into the body. Chemotherapy is a medical treatment for cancer, which can have many harsh side effects. A chemotherapy port can be a more comfortable way of administering chemotherapy and also prove safer for the patient’s overall health.
Chemotherapy is usually given in cycles of treatment that can last for a few days to several weeks. Several drugs are often involved in a course of this treatment often administered through the use of a drip or IV line. If no port is installed for a patient, this can mean multiple needle sticks not only for the drugs, but also to draw blood for tests.
Finding a vein from which to draw blood and then yet more usable veins for IV lines can be difficult even in a relatively healthy person. For a cancer patient, this can be even more problematic, since they might already be experiencing physical issues and side effects from the treatment as well as from the disease. Common side effects of chemotherapy are nausea and vomiting, weight loss, anemia, fatigue, and increased chance of infections.
The consequence of vomiting and weight loss is dehydration. Dehydration can make the skin overly sensitive and cause finding veins suitable for an IV line or blood draw difficult to locate. Anemia is the result of the low white blood cell count caused by chemotherapy treatments and other treatments the patient might be taking such as radiation therapy. This low white blood cell count is one of the causes of an increased risk of infection. Every needle stick then becomes a possible entry point for infection to such a patient.
It’s also natural that the more a patient is stuck with needles at a time when they are already feeling sick can cause apprehension and be emotionally draining. In short multiple injections, blood drawing, and IV jabs make a bad situation even worse.
A chemotherapy port or portacath is a medical appliance installed beneath the skin. A mild anesthesia is used on the site reducing the pain. A catheter then connects the chemotherapy port to a vein. Drugs can then be injected into or blood can be drawn through this port. This reduces the pain a patient will experience during chemotherapy and a single site is easier to keep free of infection.