I read an article posted on this board but I
am still confused. I have been trying to
convince my husband to go to Lomas Linda....he
is THINKING about it!

Another thing that worries me is several of you mentioned a couple of trips to the ER. Both hospital closed to us would be useless hen it comes to cancer.

I also noted reading some of the forums, that some of the patients have chemo in the hospital?
Do you stay there for a day or two or how does that work. The center we are going to said that they would send us home (40 miles) everyday. We would go to radiation everyday but chemo would be given on Mondays with some medication being given in his PICC line throughout the week. Is that how is usually works?

I am getting so overwhelmed and confused.

Many thanks to all of you.

Patsy

Sorry, it am trying to practice typing without using the enter key. Totally different then what I am use to. Please forgive me.....I am brain dead.....

Patsy

Hi Patsy,
I can't speak for all hospitals, but in my mom's case she received chemo on an outpatient basis once a week for about two months (with one week off inbetween treatments). After that, she was hospitalized for a week at a time, for a total of about five weeks treatment, received a 24 hour chemo infusion in addition to twice daily radiation. I suspect the amount and frequency of treatment depends on where the cancer is staged. It's overwhelming, but you're doing the right thing by learning as much as possible to help you through the journey. The PICC line is definitely a good idea for the administration of meds.
Best wishes to you and your husband.
D

PatsyJo, everything I have heard about Loma Linda is that it is a good hospital. I would continue urging your husband to go there.

I had no trips to the ER, but most of the posts I remember of people going to the ER had to do with "normal" things, not cancer specific things, such as peg problems, infections from ports, things that ER's can generally handle. If you are concerned, cancer centers usually have places you can stay on their campus that are reasonably priced. Some are no charge.

My three chemo treatments were done as an in-patient at the hospital. They did full hydration for 24 hours and then administered the anti-nausia drugs and the chemo. There was constant monitoring of my fluid intake and discharge to insure no kidney issues were encountered and then I was discharged. Not a big deal.

Try not to get to confused, this is a long process and we are here to help with the confusion.

Patsy,
Just to offer a different experience...my husband's chemo was administered on Monday mornings on an out-patient basis. It took about three hours - afterward he would go to his radiation appointment.
He would actually lug his chemo infusion bag on a pole to the hospital library to spend the 3 hours there, rather than in the oncology unit.

Anita

Patsy,
My experience was almost the same as Anita's husband, except I had only 2 chemotherapy sessions, three weeks apart. It is preferable to get the radiation first in case you get sick. I traveled 60 miles a day to go to RT at a comprehensive cancer center. The ER vists I made (twice) were always for rehydration which is just getting hooked up to an IV for a couple of hours -any ER should be able to do that.

If you are in fact going to a CCC then it will be on the NCCN list of member institutions. Going to a "Cancer Center" should be almost as good.

CCC: http://www.nccn.org/members/network.asp

CC: http://www3.cancer.gov/cancercenters/description.html