The first part of the visit, we really focus on getting to know their medical history,
understanding what symptoms they're having.
Then I examine the patient, and then we really talk through the specifics of their cancer.
So that is the stage of their cancer, and we talk through a treatment plan.
So oftentimes it involves lots of different doctors, a surgical oncologist, a radiation
oncologist, and we just make a map going forward as far as, like, what's the most
appropriate treatment for that cancer.
I'm an infusion pharmacist at Sutter.
We're utilized in a lot of different spaces.
So there's the infusion pharmacists that work directly in the infusion center, in the clinic,
so mixing medications, responding to any urgent issues like medication reactions, or if
you're having nausea while you're in the clinic, we'll respond to those types of things.
I am an advanced practice pharmacist specializing in oncology, more specifically
oral chemotherapy.
I help manage patients who are starting oral chemotherapy as well as their supportive care
too, and kind of following them throughout their journey on their treatment.
So oral chemotherapy is something that you would take orally, just like most medications
that you might be used to.
And sometimes these can be in lieu of IV treatments, or they can be complementary to
infusion chemotherapy that you might receive at an infusion center.
It just depends on the regimen, depends on the type of cancer and what's being treated.
Oftentimes, patients can be on both IV chemo and oral chemotherapy at the same time.
Takes about a week or two, sometimes three weeks, depending on your insurance.
And so we just want to make the patients be aware that it can take about a week to three
weeks sometimes to get the treatment started.
After that, once everything's authorized, it falls into the scheduler queue, and then
that's when we call the patients to get them scheduled for their treatment.
I'm responsible to giving you the medications that are prescribed to you by your oncologist.
So I will be accessing a port if you have a port.
I will be starting an IV line if you don't have a port, and I will be giving you
medications, making sure you're understanding of what you're getting, how you're getting it,
what it looks like. Treatment varies per each patient.
It could be a two-hour treatment.
It could be a five-hour, six-hour treatment, depending on your regimen, what's prescribed
for you. We make sure that you're very comfortable and
that we have snacks, and we have water and juices and things like that.
A lot of people think that they need to have a very specific way to eat, and, and that's
really not the case.
And I find a lot of my role is helping patients to be able to achieve a healthy diet
in, in a way that also feels doable for them or, or is more in line with maybe their
lifestyle as a whole.
So making sure that first and foremost, we're able to maintain your weight and that we're
managing those side effects is so important.
I provide counseling services to people who are affected by cancer.
Primarily what I do here is I like to meet people if I can during their first chemo
treatment just to let them know that the service is available.
