Wednesday, May 9, 2007

The Port, Robert Wood Johnson and Happy Birthday

Yesterday Karen's "port-a-cath" or port was "installed". This is a small rubber disc with a few tubes attached. The whole thing goes under your skin around your collar bone on the right side. When a nurse needs to give you a chemo treatment or take blood, they simply draw from the disc, thus saving wear and tear on your veins. Karen took it like a champ.

Today we met with doctors from Robert Wood Johnson. Overall they were consistent with what we'd heard from Overlook hospital. The folks in the waiting room were all complaining about being kept waiting and called in for unnecessary reasons, despite having appointments setup in the very near future. One 77 year old was asked to wait 40mins to take some blood when she'll be back next week for chemo. Why they couldn't wait until next week was beyond her. I got the feeling that this was not the place for us. Karen felt the same way. I have no doubt in the knowledge of the doctors but the bedside manner and level of care was not on par with what we've seen closer to home. We will likely return here for surgery though.

Lastly, today is Karen's birthday! Happy birthday sweetheart.

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