Next phase
Recently, I accompanied my dad at his follow-up appointment with Penang GH's oncologist. Surprisingly, we waited only 1 hour before being called into the room, crammed with 3 doctors @@
(1) Renal function test results seem ok, just below borderline.
(2) Tumour marker (pancreas) level has increased again, from 80+ to 133.
(3) When asked by oncologist, dad said yes to chemotherapy. When asked by dad, the oncologist also recommended that treatment since dad is (relatively) healthy. If the response rate is good, the pain in his leg will likely be gone. I have strong suspicion that that's just a guess on her part.
(4) Will start chemo 2 weeks later. 6 cycles. 1 cycle: chemo on day 1 and 8, and then rest until day 21.
(5) Dad will need to go for blood test on the day before chemo and to bring the results to hospital when going for chemo.
(6) If during chemo treatment dad falls sick e.g. fever, he is to go to emergency ward (of any hospital) and inform doctor he's under chemo treatment.
I forgot to ask which chemo drugs they're prescribing (will it be 1 or 2 drugs?).
Waited for another hour before the palliative care unit specialist met us.
(5) Asked quite a number of questions about leg and history.
(6) Interestingly, there were quite long pause in between (at least 30seconds) where he was seemingly deep in though.
(7) Prescribed morphine, to be taken once every 4 hours and on adhoc basis if pain appears in between; constipation medicine, taken before bed, in anticipation of side effect from morphine; and Gabapentin (painkiller), to be taken at night before sleep.
Waited another 20mins before collecting medicine. Overall, it was quite a fast process especially for a public hospital. The most time consuming bit was traveling in the morning and so our errand took a total 6 hours.
(1) Renal function test results seem ok, just below borderline.
(2) Tumour marker (pancreas) level has increased again, from 80+ to 133.
(3) When asked by oncologist, dad said yes to chemotherapy. When asked by dad, the oncologist also recommended that treatment since dad is (relatively) healthy. If the response rate is good, the pain in his leg will likely be gone. I have strong suspicion that that's just a guess on her part.
(4) Will start chemo 2 weeks later. 6 cycles. 1 cycle: chemo on day 1 and 8, and then rest until day 21.
(5) Dad will need to go for blood test on the day before chemo and to bring the results to hospital when going for chemo.
(6) If during chemo treatment dad falls sick e.g. fever, he is to go to emergency ward (of any hospital) and inform doctor he's under chemo treatment.
I forgot to ask which chemo drugs they're prescribing (will it be 1 or 2 drugs?).
Waited for another hour before the palliative care unit specialist met us.
(5) Asked quite a number of questions about leg and history.
(6) Interestingly, there were quite long pause in between (at least 30seconds) where he was seemingly deep in though.
(7) Prescribed morphine, to be taken once every 4 hours and on adhoc basis if pain appears in between; constipation medicine, taken before bed, in anticipation of side effect from morphine; and Gabapentin (painkiller), to be taken at night before sleep.
Waited another 20mins before collecting medicine. Overall, it was quite a fast process especially for a public hospital. The most time consuming bit was traveling in the morning and so our errand took a total 6 hours.
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