Questions to ask the oncologist at first meeting

Hi latchbrookIt’s interesting your hospital will let you have EC through cannula - my hospital don’t like to put epirubicin through a cannula because if its ability to burn everything it touches, although I think they will put the other chemo drugs in that way. Apparently the drugs can also be put in more quickly through any sort of line. They seem to fit PICC lines as standard to all patients here unless they request a portacath and justify why they want it. The big issue for me is that I am a regular runner and swimmer and I would not have been prepared to spend 6 months with some sort of line I had to keep dry. I therefore quite easily got them to agree to authorise a portacath. It sits under the skin in my upper chest and has to be accessed through a needle on each use. It was a small operation to fit it, but I was able to have it done under local anaesthetic after a lengthy screening chat with the surgeon. It will have to be removed through a less intrusive procedure at the end and I will be left with a permanent scar. But it works really well and I have been able to run and swim with it. You put numbing cream on it before they dock the needle and it was totally painless.