Club Vampire
Well, I'm home from the first set of appointments for the clinical trial. I missed the cats, I missed my bed, I missed being home, but overall things appear to have gone pretty well.
At the appointed time on Monday we went to "Pod 4" to begin the treatment. The treatment on day 1 involves multiple blood tests over a 4-hour time period. Remember my reservations about using my veins for blood collection during the treatment? Poor Vicki started looking at my veins and immediately called over other nurses: "Who's the best stick here? Who wants to try this first?" Eileen, the regular attendant, tackled the outside of my left forearm, but admitted defeat after about a minute. Vicki then surveyed the back of my right hand and asked about one likely spot. "Yeah, it looks promising but I can tell you that it's been blown at least twice over the past 5 years," I responded. She found another potential vein and went in, telling me to relax and keep my hand still; naturally I tensed up and my hand started jerking, and the vein blew immediately. Then JoAnne, the acknowledged expert, was recruited; by this time I was in tears and facing the possibility that I might be refused entry into the trial. JoAnne tapped into a spot outside my right elbow. Moments later, that one blew too, and she saw no other likely veins to try. I had visions of the time several years ago when I needed a bone scan and endured seven sticks before the contrast medium could be injected; I can't begin to communicate how miserable I was after that experience, almost to the point of nausea.
Fortunately, Vicki, Eileen and JoAnne decided enough was enough. I brought up my port: "It's a dual lumen port; can't we at least try it?" Vicki decided to make a plea to the company and went off for a phone call. She came back a few minutes later, all smiles - so long as we're consistent and always use the same lumen for blood draws, the company is willing to let us use my port for both blood draws and infusions. Perfect!!
Vicki's got years of experience with clinical trials. She has nothing but praise for this company - they're considerate of patient needs; her calls get priority and are directed to decision-makers, not to intermediaries; they get back to her quickly and make decisions on the spot. If she's happy, I'm happy.
All the while I was getting stuck, the patient in the neighboring chair was also being searched for veins. Turns out he's also in the clinical trial, so we joked about seeing one another again at "Club Vampire" in two weeks.
At the appointed time on Monday we went to "Pod 4" to begin the treatment. The treatment on day 1 involves multiple blood tests over a 4-hour time period. Remember my reservations about using my veins for blood collection during the treatment? Poor Vicki started looking at my veins and immediately called over other nurses: "Who's the best stick here? Who wants to try this first?" Eileen, the regular attendant, tackled the outside of my left forearm, but admitted defeat after about a minute. Vicki then surveyed the back of my right hand and asked about one likely spot. "Yeah, it looks promising but I can tell you that it's been blown at least twice over the past 5 years," I responded. She found another potential vein and went in, telling me to relax and keep my hand still; naturally I tensed up and my hand started jerking, and the vein blew immediately. Then JoAnne, the acknowledged expert, was recruited; by this time I was in tears and facing the possibility that I might be refused entry into the trial. JoAnne tapped into a spot outside my right elbow. Moments later, that one blew too, and she saw no other likely veins to try. I had visions of the time several years ago when I needed a bone scan and endured seven sticks before the contrast medium could be injected; I can't begin to communicate how miserable I was after that experience, almost to the point of nausea.
Fortunately, Vicki, Eileen and JoAnne decided enough was enough. I brought up my port: "It's a dual lumen port; can't we at least try it?" Vicki decided to make a plea to the company and went off for a phone call. She came back a few minutes later, all smiles - so long as we're consistent and always use the same lumen for blood draws, the company is willing to let us use my port for both blood draws and infusions. Perfect!!
Vicki's got years of experience with clinical trials. She has nothing but praise for this company - they're considerate of patient needs; her calls get priority and are directed to decision-makers, not to intermediaries; they get back to her quickly and make decisions on the spot. If she's happy, I'm happy.
All the while I was getting stuck, the patient in the neighboring chair was also being searched for veins. Turns out he's also in the clinical trial, so we joked about seeing one another again at "Club Vampire" in two weeks.
Labels: appointment results, clinical trial, mediport
posted by rcclive at
4:41 PM
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