Checking In

Hi Pat, Sorry I'm late in answering your post and yeah, we talked to Aronson about Chin and he was kind of vague about how much experience Chin has in this area. There is another Doctor at UCLA that has much more experience, but, of course, I didn't remember his name.

I'm going to call Aronson or ask my husband to call him and get the name of this other doctor. I don't like the vagueness and I can't see anything in the link you gave me on Chin that says anything concrete about his experience with Bladder Surgery.

Thanks for all you help, Sweetie. I'm gonna e-mail this link to my hubby. I don't like any of this already.

Rayn

Rayn,

www.navilystmedical.com/clinicians/index.cfm/114
Here is a link to some information on ports. Often used for administering chemo (and other treatments that require vascular access) it avoids the need to repeatedly try to get an IV in.
The port stays in and is flushed and used multiple times.

When I looked up da Vinci ports on Google, I only found ports that are for animal (mice, rats, monkeys, pigs, etc.) use for early clinical trials. Couldn't find any for humans but that just means I couldn't find it--not that there aren't any.

Since Jim was having chemo, I think JimsWife was referring to the vascular access port (which may have a brand name of da Vinci).
There is also a surgical robot called da Vinci. It is named that (according to the manufacturer) because Leonardo da Vinci designed the first rudimentary "robot" and because he used anatomical accuracy and three-dimensional details to bring his works to life.


Mike

P.S. Here is another link with good information about ports: Vascular Access Ports

Rayn,

Glad you get my warped sense of humor. I was typing in an apology via my phone earlier thinking I had (once again) gone too far, but then the massage therapist came out and it was my turn. So, my message got forgotten.

A two hour massage can make you forget darn near everything and anything.

Really glad he's starting to talk and think things through.

Mike

Hello JW,

What are Davinci Ports? I'm glad your husband's surgery was successful and that you both are doing well. Everyone I've talked to here seems to have had a good outcome, regardless of the problems along the way, so this is very encouraging.

I don't see the netting as being a problem either, but those records of his prior surgeries will be going to the surgeon.

Thank you for your prayers for peace . . . sure would like it to be more peaceful around here. It's stressful by virtue alone of having most of his body parts below his intestines removed. We don't need anything else on top of that.

We both need to prepare for this, physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally. I need to be on top of my game to take care of him in the best way possible. He needs an enormous amount of emotional support, which I'm more then willing to give him and absolutely anything else he needs.

Rayn

Mike, he's the one that cooks . . . why do think I want him to live?!

Yes, I could do the blackmail thing, but I've tried that, as early as last night. I told him if he didn't want me involved in his medical issues, then I would pull the plug on ANYTHING involving mine . . . all it did was inflame the situation.

I realized between last night and this morning that if I keep pushing him, he's just going to get angrier and more withdrawn.

However, we did have a talk this morning on the way to a dear friend's funeral, btw. We had both calmed down and I took the high road and apologized and told him I had been wrong in pushing him. It was the only thing I could think of to get us on an even keel again; to just bring the tension down as much as possible and get back to being "us" again.

He seemed relieved and after some quiet time, he started talking about Cystectomy. He wanted to discuss what we needed to do to prepare for it and the first thing was exercise and getting stronger. I said it was much like preparing for a major marathon from what I had read on this support group and that alot of the men here encouraged exercise prior to surgery.

The other thing is the possible complications, for which I said I would get that information on this support group. We need to know what kind of complications there are that are across the board in terms of commonality; I know it depends on the person and their chemistry but for Neo Bladder, are there any complications that are the same and of course the ones that are out of left field.

I feel like a yoyo. Once minute, I'm a Dentist pulling teeth and the next, we're talking "real time" reality.

I don't know what happened, but he just started discussing what we need to do to prepare for this as much as we can.

I think he just wants to discuss what he believes he has control over doing on his own . . . as for the other stuff, second opinions, finding out about the surgeons, maybe possibly looking for a better one, etc. is something he needs to think of himself. If I suggest it, he'll go off the wall again.

I have to learn the fine art of making it look like these things are his ideas and not mine.

Thanks for your humor and your support Mike. I sure appreciate it. Let's see what happens next week.

Rayn

well he's better than Aronson....i wonder how many cystectomys he's done? Ask. I looked at his PubMed papers and nary a thing on bladder cancer written.....
www.uclahealth.org/body.cfm?id=479&action=detail&ref=84466
pat