Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
McFarland Clinic Oncology nurse, Pam Luna, shares her experiences with the clinic's William
R. Bliss Cancer Center, as both nurse and patient. Hi, I'm Pam Luna. I've worked at
the William R. Bliss Cancer Center for 21 years as a certified oncology nurse, and eight
years ago, the tables were turned and I became the patient when I was diagnosed with stage
II breast cancer. I felt fairly sure I knew what was coming, and Dr. Guffy, you know,
just immediately took care of me, started the whole process with the lab work and getting
all the up-to-the-minute clinical trial information. I enrolled in a clinical trial, and it only
took from four weeks from start to the beginning of chemotherapy. I'd been through all the
testing, the surgery, enrolled in the trial, and started chemotherapy. For me, the worst
part was just finding out that you're diagnosed, and you don't really know what you're going
to be doing. And once you've had all the testing done, and you have a plan, and you know, "Okay,
I know what I've got. This is what I've got to do." Things get better. Understanding that
knowledge of what to expect after a cancer diagnosis was beneficial for her, Pam offers
highlights of the Oncology department at McFarland Clinic, from the friendly receptionists to
the infusion center, where patients receive a great deal of their cancer treatment. Walk
into our waiting room and be greeted by one of our receptionists, and I think our receptionists
are second to none. They're extremely friendly, good at answering questions. When it comes
time to schedule things, they work with people to make it convenient for them. We have a
lab that is staffed by an RN who draws blood from ports or Groshong catheters, Hickman's,
and a lab technician who does the phlebotomies and kind of keeps organized, gets the lab
orders all set. And that doesn't take too long. It's right here, very handy for people.
Our infusion center, we have ten private rooms and one larger room with four chairs in it.
We have recliners. We have beverages available, cable TV and magazines. You may have already,
if you have a port or a Groshong catheter, have had your IV accessed in the lab. If not,
we'll be starting an IV. The nurses prepare the chemotherapy and bring it in. If it's
your first treatment, we're going to spend quite a bit of time talking to you about the
different drugs and the different side effects, and what to do about them. After you've got
one under your belt and you kind of know what's going on, people pretty much relax and visit
or sleep, watch TV. And of course, once you've got one treatment under your belt, you kind
of know what to expect. Things get better, but, you know, everybody's right up-to-the-minute
on all of the latest treatment, the clinical trials. The staff is so supportive and, you
know, kind of tries to wrap their arms around everyone and just be as helpful as we can.
And it's hard not to get discouraged, but really, there's a lot more happy stories than
there are sad stories. For more information about McFarland Clinic's Oncology department,
call (515) 239-4401, or visit us on the web at mcfarlandclinic.com.