Clinical Pharmacist
What does it mean to take chemo pills at the same time as you have radiation? We didn't really have a hot clue before our meeting with Danica, our clinical pharmacist, but we received a complete education very quickly.
When Danica began talking it did not take me long to feel like a fish out of water with all of the information that she was handing out. But, she was very patient with my questions and she made sure that we understood everything she was saying before she would move on to the next thing.
Then she pulled out a number of sheets that she said would be the calendar that would help us keep our meds in order. I really REALLY thanked her for those sheets of paper! Every day was marked with specifics covering every detail about when and how the meds were to be taken.
I knew Wes would have things figured out much quicker than I would, but then again he is much younger than I am...OK, only three months younger, but he keeps reminding me that they were very formative months...whatever!
It turns out that chemo is not just simply a pill per day. It goes by height and weight and so Wes is allocated 3 chemo pills per day, but it's still not quite so cut and dried. He begins his day with anti-nausea pills, then 30 minutes later he takes his chemo pills and then another 30 minutes to an hour later he takes his Dilantin with breakfast and then another Dilantin at lunch and again at supper.
Three times per week he also needs to remember to take his antibiotics. They have scheduled those pills for Monday, Wednesday and Friday at supper time.
They took 3 vials of blood before this appointment started so that they had a starting point to watch his blood levels. Then every week that he is on radiation and chemo they will take more blood to make sure that his levels are staying within a certain range.
I am also supposed to make sure that I keep a close eye on his temperature. Even if his temp only shows 100 degrees I need to get him to the hospital as quickly as possible because even the slightest spike in his temp is indication that an infection is already on its way.
She told us that the cost for chemo meds is quite high and that we should apply for a new program through pharmacare that would help us to pay for our meds through, believe it or not, Manitoba Hydro. She said the reason that they went through Manitoba Hydro is because everyone has a hydro account...you can't live in Manitoba without hydro, no matter what the season is...so we needed to go to our pharmacist and ask for an application form. She politely wrote everything down for us and I added more papers to my already growing pile that was sitting on my lap.
The social worker has been there at every appointment so far and I'll be honest, there was nothing that she was saying that we hadn't already discussed and made decisions about. And some of it just felt like a waste of time.
I remember the one comment she made about the fact that I would need to stop worrying about having the house dusted every week, because now my priorities had changed...OK, now if you really know me and how often I worry about dusting you would find that comment very VERY funny...
So, we shook the dust off our sandals and went out for lunch with Nic...we really had better things to do!
"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1
When Danica began talking it did not take me long to feel like a fish out of water with all of the information that she was handing out. But, she was very patient with my questions and she made sure that we understood everything she was saying before she would move on to the next thing.
Then she pulled out a number of sheets that she said would be the calendar that would help us keep our meds in order. I really REALLY thanked her for those sheets of paper! Every day was marked with specifics covering every detail about when and how the meds were to be taken.
I knew Wes would have things figured out much quicker than I would, but then again he is much younger than I am...OK, only three months younger, but he keeps reminding me that they were very formative months...whatever!
It turns out that chemo is not just simply a pill per day. It goes by height and weight and so Wes is allocated 3 chemo pills per day, but it's still not quite so cut and dried. He begins his day with anti-nausea pills, then 30 minutes later he takes his chemo pills and then another 30 minutes to an hour later he takes his Dilantin with breakfast and then another Dilantin at lunch and again at supper.Three times per week he also needs to remember to take his antibiotics. They have scheduled those pills for Monday, Wednesday and Friday at supper time.
They took 3 vials of blood before this appointment started so that they had a starting point to watch his blood levels. Then every week that he is on radiation and chemo they will take more blood to make sure that his levels are staying within a certain range.
I am also supposed to make sure that I keep a close eye on his temperature. Even if his temp only shows 100 degrees I need to get him to the hospital as quickly as possible because even the slightest spike in his temp is indication that an infection is already on its way.
She told us that the cost for chemo meds is quite high and that we should apply for a new program through pharmacare that would help us to pay for our meds through, believe it or not, Manitoba Hydro. She said the reason that they went through Manitoba Hydro is because everyone has a hydro account...you can't live in Manitoba without hydro, no matter what the season is...so we needed to go to our pharmacist and ask for an application form. She politely wrote everything down for us and I added more papers to my already growing pile that was sitting on my lap.
The social worker has been there at every appointment so far and I'll be honest, there was nothing that she was saying that we hadn't already discussed and made decisions about. And some of it just felt like a waste of time.
I remember the one comment she made about the fact that I would need to stop worrying about having the house dusted every week, because now my priorities had changed...OK, now if you really know me and how often I worry about dusting you would find that comment very VERY funny...
So, we shook the dust off our sandals and went out for lunch with Nic...we really had better things to do!
"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1
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