Monday, August 23, 2010

Cancer clinic bits and pieces

I haven't heard from my oncologist's office about my bone scan, which is weird. Normally they call me with the booking the day of or the day after my appointment with my oncologist. I actually wondered if I'd misheard my oncologist in saying that we would do a bone scan, but then I remembered very clearly her saying that she would book my next appointment as usual and call me before that appointment if anything sows up on the scan.

The doctor at my cancer clinic here is a good doctor, I think - I haven't had to really test her yet - but I'm finding that there's something lacking in the support staff which is a bit frustrating. It's hard for me to stay calm if, say, I didn't have to resign myself to making at least two calls because my nurse won't call me back.

It's not like I get to leave a voicemail or anything, either. I talk to a real person who writes down my message on a piece of paper. That takes time, especially because I'm long-winded when I leave messages (which I'm sure none of you have noticed :) In this era of technology I can't help but think that communication would be better if there was a more electronic component to it. Honestly, I wish I could just email them but that's almost certainly asking too much.

They're making some changes over at the chemo suite starting in September: at that time, only one adult visitor per patient will be allowed to visit and visitors are not allowed to eat while they're in the chemo suite. Light food will continue to be provided for the patients but that food is not for visitors. I don't know if chemo patients are allowed to eat outside food; that wasn't clear.

I guess they've had a problem with too many visitors (and maybe with kid visitors?) and with outside food. I can see how some people receiving chemo might not want a huge group of people or kids next to them because the noise could be tiring. Plus since chemo can make people super-sensitive to smells, I understand why someone might not want to smell outside food while they're there.

1 comment:

manchester fat acceptance said...

yeah, i can actually imagine a big family of visitors in oncology eating a big smelly heap of mcdonald's. that would be horrible for someone who is nauseous i think. also: microwave popcorn.

hope everything goes fine with the oncologist. i wonder why they haven't called?

love,
vicki