Well, after waiting a mere hour and fifteen minutes - then another fifteen...I met with Dr. May. I can't say enough about her! She is such a positive and special person!!! She did 'think' I should do chemo again....but decided that this 'arterial pump' may do the trick. I asked a ton of questions and at the end I asked her if I could contact the woman that has this pump in her already. She called her and asked if it was okay and I called her once I got home.
Now, this pump is 'surgically' implanted -- all the info I have is what this woman Pat said -- she has hers on her left side of her belly - between her waist and hip/pelvic area and it's the size of a hockey puck but much thinner. She also still has the port in (that I can't figure out because she isn't getting regular chemo). She had her pump put in when she had her liver resection. She was in the hospital for 6 days - but that was mostly for the recovery of the liver resection...she did say that they probably keep you overnight to make sure that it is working. She is 65 years old and started her chemo treatments in Jan. 2009. She had a colon resection, then chemo, then the liver resection and pump put in the same time. She had a lot of problems with her chemo and feels great having this new procedure! She goes back and forth to Sloan Kettering (and Dr. Allen did her surgery too). She went every two weeks to have the chemo put in the pump which took about 10 minutes and then she was going back to Sparta to have it emptied but it ended up getting clogged so she decided to keep going back to the city for that. This is the part I didn't really understand....I think she said she began with getting the chemo into the pump then two weeks later she had it emptied....I think she said she waited another two weeks to do it all over again...and the empty/flush took about the same time = 10 minutes. She traveled via automobile with a friend. She said she felt fine afterwards and everytime she and her friend would go places in the city...never feeling ill or tired....with the chemo she felt terrible!
Pat talked alot so sometimes I got a little confused...I thought she said she didn't feel well and they lowered the dose...but I think that was when she was having regular chemo. She did say that she hated the 'back pack pump'....me too! She said that was the worst...how to carry it when you were sleeping and her dog hated the beeping sound. Pat did say that when she goes into a building that they have the alarm/wand...she is always 'going off'!!! and has to tell them she has this.
All in all....what she said is very positive. Paul is out today at a job and when he comes home I will find out what his schedule is and then I will contact Dr. Allen in NY and I'm sure we will set a date for this surgery implant....Pat said another doctor implanted this pump so maybe Dr. Allen may want the new surgeon to meet me to set the date. Pat said that this pump stays implanted for 5 (five) years....that's something I'm not looking forward to. She did say it does protrude a little...doesn't really matter as I always wear my blouses/shirts on the long side.
Oh and Pat is disease free for one year!!! She loves to bake and eat what she makes - so she does consume lots of sugar! I remember her now from the cancer center. She had been in there while I was waiting and I remember her always talking about what she was baking and always brought 'stuff' in for the office....she about my size!
I also asked Dr. May if I can begin the Nutrisystem...she said 'yes'. I had gone on that several years ago and it did help me loose weight....they give you ALL the food you are to eat in (I think) a months time...which is hard to put it someplace! Gives you the snacks and desserts...nothing to weigh - just heat and eat or just eat out of the bag! I will 'tell' Charlie I am going to order this again --- the last time I did it...I ordered for 3 months or maybe it was 4 months but never finished the one month worth of food and he was still working and brought it all in for his guys - they ate it -- as a snack!!! I'm just hoping Charlie doesn't say 'no' because of that....one will see later!!!
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