Invasive Bladder Cancer - Non Cystectomy Treatments???

hey carmine - one more thing. when we spoke to the penn oncologist and he said of course we could go for the chemo closer to our house, he volunteered to speak to the oncologist close to our house to just make sure it was the exact same protocol. also, he gave me his email address if i had any questions. now, you can't ask for much more than that. any good doctor will do what's best for the patient, and won't be threatened by you going to a more convenient place. yes, if you had a rare tumor, you need to go to someplace like sloan-kettering. but for the garden-variety bladder cancer, your neighborhood oncologist is fine. our hospital made no mistakes; our doctor was EXTREMELY accessible to us, and returned every call within the hour or less. some of these big fancy hospitals have very limited access to the doctor. but as i said before, it's a totally different thing when you choose your surgeon.

good luck! keep us all posted.

eileen

Carmine, I'm going to echo what Pat said. After my surgery uncovered lymph node involvement and my doctor recommended three rounds of chemo, we asked about having it closer to home. He said that was absolutely no problem, but he wanted my local oncologist to call him just to make sure they were on the same page. As it turns out, they had exactly the same protocol in mind, but it wouldn't hurt to have your local chemo doctor call Dr. Chen just to make they're in agreement.

By the way, this doesn't apply to you, but since I got my chemo after my RC, on the days I got cisplatin (followed by the powerful diuretic lasix), I asked my oncologist if I could get a private room with a portable hospital-type urinal (an upscale chamber pot), since when I had to pee it was almost impossible to get down the hall to the (communal) bathroom.

One thing different after my RC is I've lost the "gotta go" signal. Now, when I feel the sensation that I have to urinate, it's a warning that I have to find a bathroom RIGHT NOW. There's no time to wait in line.

My oncologist agreed and I got a private room on cisplatin days. Just a thought for those who are going through this, or are about to.

Hi Joe, Eileen, and Mznoregrets,

Sorry for not answering you Joe. I have been busy trying to get a few things done around my home before I go for Chemo/Surgery so I haven't really answered anyone and I also apologize to them as well. I really do appreciate everyone's advice and comments. I am not sure I would be as calm about this whole thing without everyone's support. I did ask Dr. Chen about doing the Chemo at Crozier and he said that would be fine I only asked about it because you mentioned it in an earlier post Joe. I wouldn't have known that otherwise. There is a hospital with a cancer treatment center 2 miles from where I live, but I don't know if they could do it as well. I will ask the Oncologist on Nov. 13th. I won't know what "Chemo Cocktail" I will be getting until the 13th (I hope).
Sincerily Thanks
- Carmine -

Only note i have to add is when you get the protocal from your prescribing doctor for the chemotherapy regardless of where you have it done...memorize it or take the papers with you. Check every bag that the nurses hang first. Dependent on how the room is set up nurses get tired..mistakes can happen. I saw it first hand myself with my son who had testicular cancer whose consult and surgeon was at Indiana U. Med Center but his chemo was done closer to home. His doctor gave him that advise and one particular day the nurse came in his room and started to hang a bag to which my son looked at it and recognized it was not his meds..he stated so..the nurse insisted she was right...he insisted she was wrong...she went out to check only to come back and apologise that she had gone in the wrong room. So heads up!!
Good luck Carmine.......Pat

Hello,

Here I also agree. Although my surgery was in Minnesota ( I live in Illinois 275 miles away), my chemo was administered here just 5 miles from home at Swedes Hospital. Chemo days bite - I did 4 months cisplatin an gemzar. Any further distance and I would have needed way more of those "blue bags". I would reccommend getting it administered closer to home. Bless you, Holly

hi carmine - just wanted to tell you about our chemo experience. if you are getting the regular regimen, which is cisplatin/gemzar day 1, gemzar day 8, gemzar day 15, off day 22, and then repeat two more times (3 months total, 9 treatments total), then you can go ANYWHERE for the chemo. the bags of chemicals are mixed up - it's standard. then the nurse weighs you. then she starts the IV, takes some blood for blood work while you wait. when she has the results she shows them to the oncologist. as long as your numbers haven't dropped to a certain level, they proceed with the chemo. she starts the drips. they do saline, then your chemo drug, then more saline, then the second chemo drug (on the cis/gem weeks), then saline. the saline drips the whole time. the cis/gem weeks take about 6 hours start to finish. the gem week takes about 2 hours start to finish. we went to dr. vaughn for a second opinion - he's the big oncologist at penn who specializes in bladder cancer. he told us the exact same regimen as the guy did at abington hospital 3 minutes from our house. so we asked him if we could go to abington and he said "absolutely". it's way easier, so if you're very far from fox chase, i would go to a more local hospital for your chemo. chemo days suck - why make them worse with a long drive? however, i would go to the other side of the world for the best surgeon. anyway, that's just what we chose to do. good luck. glad to hear you're getting the chemo first.

eileen