First IV Infusion of Topotecan

Back to reality,
Rachel gets to take Charlotte to MCV today for her first IV infusion of Topotecal. This will be an every weekday event for many many months. There's an oral version but I sincerely doubt we would be able to get CJ to take it.

I'm headed up to DC today to be in a panel discussion about jazz vocal ensembles. Should be interesting. That means, however, that Rachel will be doing most of the work today. Keep her in your thoughts. Thank goodness for Phyllis and Kolbey.

Have a good day,
Rog

Update:

OK, So Rachel gets there and they DIDN'T HAVE CJ ON THE LIST!!! URGH! ARGH!!! DUFRNVG:SKSAD Hds!!!!!!!

How many times have we said it? The main thing keeping MCV back from beeing world class is communication. The CB community is full of stories of mis-communications at MCV.

Unfortunately, it isn't isolated by any means. There was a story on NPR just this morning about patient advocates and how necessary they are because of wide spread communication problems within the nation's hospitals. If you're involved with healthcare reform, there's one area that should be tackled first!

Breathe! Gotta go "panelize!"

Update:

Yes, more than a TAD frustrating today. We get to the clinic right before 10 AM and the receptionist says "you're not on the schedule". I told her that we had been told by Dr. Khan to be there by 10 and that he was going to put the orders in first thing in the morning for her medicine. I also told her that April (our nurse) also knew what was going on. She said April was in a meeting.

SOOOO....they work on getting us in. We actually got into the clinic before 10:30, got her vitals, etc. but then we waited...and waited. About 11 (after they had drawn her labs), I asked the nurse what kind of time frame she thought we were looking at and she said they were waiting on the order to come up from Dr. Khan (WHAT?????!!!!) I informed them that I was supposed to be at work by 12:30 and I was trying to figure out exactly what I was supposed to do. Not happy.

So I proceeded to leave the clinic (since I get ZERO cell phone reception in there) and make some phone calls. Fortunately members of our fabulous RNR staff saved the day and covered my class and camp...since I didn't LEAVE clinic till 2 PM.

In the meantime...funny story: I came out of our room as Charlotte was watching movies to make all of our appointments for the remainder of the week. One of the receptionists was flagging down Matt Bitsko (the psychologist) to get a spider that had invaded their office. They were asking him to "kill it". Well, he wanted nothing to do with the spider but I told him if somebody would get me a cup, I would take care of her humanely. I don't kill spiders. Bad karma...

The receptionists thought I was nuts but I scooped up Miss Spider (she was about the size of a half dollar) in a styrofoam cup and escorted her down two flights of stairs, out the building, and into some bushes. My good deed for the day and a chance to get some fresh air.

Charlotte finally got the Topotecan about 1 PM (preceded by Zofran) and then we were able to leave the clinic. As with many of her meds, this one can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and low blood counts so we will see what happens. Oh joy.

Now I'm at Romp n' Roll and looks like I will be covering Roger's classes tonight as he got stuck in the mess that is DC traffic.

Let's hope tomorrow's clinic visit will go a bit smoother.