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What are the conditions where you receive bladder chemo installation?
I have just completed the 6 GEMDOCE weekly treatments and am awaiting my cystoscopy to see how things went.
I hate to be negative, but I do have a concern that bothered me more each week.
Where I am having the treatments locally, I spend an hour and a half atop an examination table. I is extremely uncomfortable. I am expected to "rotate" every so often, and trying to turn while connected to a catheter and perched atop an elevated exam table is both difficult and scary. It causes discomfort with the catheter and since I am placed on a paper sheet, as I try to turn, it "tries" to stick with me!
The chemo is administered by a nurse, and I haven't been able to see the oncological urologist throughout this process.
I had visited another facility (Shands Hospital) which provides the treatment/installations in a room with a single hospital style bed.
Could anyone share how their own treatments have been handled? I plan to speak to my oncological urologist about this when I have my check-up and it would be good to know if there are others experiencing this in a more comfortable environment. This is a new'ish' facility and I cannot see why they couldn't provide something more comfortable. Even the cat scan "bed" would feel safer since it is lower down.
Thank you for any input. I have trouble thinking that I will be the first one to complain about this at this facility. I would love to have some examples of something better from this group. If I have some examples of more comfortable environments, perhaps it could spur some ideas where I am being treated. It will be less frequent now that I have had the six-week treatment completed, but still, it seems like it could be so much better.
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What is GEM/DOCE? DIFFERENT THAN BCG?
I've only had BCG but what you discribe would annoy me. Why can't you be allowed to dress so moving around is easier? Or better yet, go home if you promise to keep moving per instructions! Some medical people don't seem to appreciate the need for patient comfort. The last thing you need is stress while fighting cancer.
Oh, and the catheter can be removed by you at home.
My gem/doc treatment is in private room. On bed and 1st treatment is one hr via catheter
Bladder emptied and 2nd chemo put in. Catheter then removed and keep 2nd chemo in for hour. I choose to stay this last hr and eliminate chemo in hospital after hr is up. I have very sensitive bladder with spasms. This process works for me
Deb,
Thank you for your encouragement. I think that if I had to have cancer, this was the one to have, and it was caught while still NMIBC. Thank goodness.
Beth
Since there are two administrations of chemo drugs, first one, then it is removed, and then the other. When the second one is administered, I am allowed to go home.
I also asked the doctor directly about the rotating thing. It turns out that there is no study done on its effectiveness, but some believe it is a safer choice - here is the kicker - if your canceer was located on the lateral walls or the dome. Mind was down on the neck. He suggested that I don't need to rotate. I found that out before my last treatment. It was much nicer to just stay put.
Beth
Because I have two drugs administered into the bladder, one after the other, they leave the catheter in until the first one is removed and the second one is administered.
If I wanted them to remove it at the beginning, they would, but I would still have to have one inserted again for the second drug. I find it more painful to have it go in than to keep it. Now that I found out I don't have to do any "rotating", it got much easier. I am having it every four weeks for a year, so there is still time for further refining, I guess.
In the long run, since I don't have to rotate anymore, and the catheter is smaller and less painful, I will get through it more easily. Now my biggest complaint is that I am running out of feel good movies to download from Netflix! If we watch a movie that is really happy, our endorphins are increased. When endorphins are increased, there is less pain/discomfort.