Thursday, September 21, 2017

Day 21 A Month of Teal : Your Treatment Team

In the past few posts I have discussed different treatments that women diagnosed with ovarian cancer may undergo . You might think the only members on your health care team are a gynecologic oncologist or surgeon, oncologist and oncology nurses. That is what I thought too initially. But I was wrong.

I learned in a very short period of time that there were other very valuable members of my team.

On my team was my pharmacist who helped me create a schedule for taking my medications to prevent nausea, constipation and pain without interfering with other prescriptions I was taking.

On my team was my social worker who was there when I needed a shoulder to cry on or a technique to keeping me calm while waiting for test results or when my treatment was delayed due to low white blood counts.

On my team was my nutritionist  who gave me tips on what to eat to try to get my hemoglobin higher and how to eat smaller meals through the day.

On my team was my genetic counselor who I spoke to before ( we put together a pedigree/ family tree) and after having genetic testing ( we discussed the results).

On my team was my pathologist who even thought I never meeting him/her in person provided me with information that impacted the treatments I had.

On my team was my radiologist who let me know when my tumors were shrinking and when I was disease free. I was lucky enough to meet one radiologist in person.

On my team was my clinical trial nurse who gave me her cell phone so I could reach out to her at any time with questions and concerns.

On my team were the oncology treatment nurses who made sure I was administered the correct chemotherapy.

On my team was the cancer center staff who greeted me warmly as I signed in for chemo and scheduled port flush and  follow-up appointments.

All of these people played a role in my life for months at a time.

You may read more about your treatment team on the Patient Resource Page
http://www.patientresource.com/Ovarian_Cancer_Team.aspx 
and
Cancer Care
https://www.cancercare.org/publications/59-your_health_care_team_your_doctor_is_only_the_beginning


Dee
Every Day is a Blessing!  


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