Catheter Surgery Day

Tuesday October 20, 1992 Catheter Surgery Day

I don't sleep as usual when I'm apprehensive and must get up early. I'm up at 5:30. My last great shower. At 7 a.m. we're off. We make good time and arrive at 8:10. At 8:30 we can go upstairs but some confusion, Dr. Semrad forgot he was doing me today so doesn't show up until about 10 a.m. In a special examining room I'm given a small dose of something to relax me, then a couple of locals. I feel fine and talk with the doctor and nurse the whole time. They say to sponge bathe only tomorrow and come back at 10 a.m. We go to Denny's for breakfast about 1 p.m.

I don't feel like going to the meeting tonight re: decorations for New Years Eve dance.

I have one incision in my chest with stitches where the tube enters my vein, another in my breast where it comes out--no stitches, a coil of tube and catheter there.

Again, I can relate to Mom not being able to sleep the night before her procedure. Whether it's excitement or apprehension I always have a sleepless night before the event. I have learned to just automatically take a Xanax when I go to bed, and if that doesn't work, I take 2. I make sure the volume is on high on the alarm clock so that I don't sleep through it in the morning.

On September 1, 2008 I had back surgery scheduled in Sacramento which involved having nothing to eat or drink after midnight the night before, getting up early, driving 2 hours to the Sacramento Kaiser Hospital, and checking in at the waiting room area around 9 a.m. I was kept waiting until 1:30 with nothing to eat or drink and no one to keep me company as my husband had gone to work in Sacramento after dropping me off. So frustrating to be kept waiting so long! By the time my procedure was completed and I was released to go home and got something to eat it had been more than 24 hours since I had food or drink. I was happy I didn't have to spend the night in the hospital, but that 2 hour drive home was a painful one, and I felt every bump in the road.

Mom's procedure sounds pretty invasive, much more of an intrusion into her lifestyle than taking chemo medication or checking in once a week for an infusion of chemotherapy. But with the tumors growing and all her other options exhausted, this was her next step. I'll bet she hated not being able to shower.

Discussion of the Portable Pump

Wednesday December 11, 1991

Up at 7 a.m. to get ready to go to Kaiser Sunset Hollywood Clinic to meet with a team of doctors to discuss the pump. Dr. Senarad doesn't think I'm a good candidate because he has nothing to measure how well it is doing. My cancer does not show up in a CT scan. He suggests I have another CT and if there are visible tumors now he will reconsider.

We stop for lunch and then go to Woodland Hills Kaiser where I make an appointment for a CT for Christmas Eve and I have a mammogram.

I have a talk with the head of Oncology. I state my case against Dr. Bix and request Dr. Schultz. She will look into it and call me tomorrow. It's been 8 days since Dr. Bix said I'll call you tomorrow through Dr. Russack.

We go to the movies to see "Hook" and eat out--tacos.

The use of a portable pump and port-a-cath allows medication to be given over several days in the home rather than as a patient in the hospital. The port-a-cath is placed under the skin on the chest as shown in the above illustration. The catheter is then inserted into the superior vena cava vessel at the entrance to the right atrium of the heart.

It's been 20 years since Mom had her CT scans. Imaging techniques have improved and lower doses of radiation are needed for the images. It's a shame that her tumors did not show up on the CT scans in 1991 even though they saw them when she had surgery.