23 replies to this topic

[donkatking]

Hi Pam,

     I go to the cancer center at Community North Hospital.  I see Dr Bhatia who is the oncologist/hemotologist there.  He was highly recommended as the best in this field here in Indy!!  So far everything is OK.  One thing about if you every go to the emergency room at Community North is to let them know you have Leukemnia.  The ER doctors and nurses certainly don't know anything about CML.  It's always strange to see their faces when you tell them what you have been diagnosed with.  They are friendly and almost everone seems to really care for anything I go there for.  I know to make sure they contact the cancer center or we do it personally if i have a stay in the hospital.  I learned this lesson back in February/March--last stay in the hospital.   The ER Staff must be really good as if it wasn't for being diagnosed with a kidney stone they would not have know about the leukemnia.  It was the ER doctor who noticed the high white blood count and took swift action to get me to the cancer center.   I got the doctor's pager number so if I was to ever go again I just let him know.  I still don't understand this leukemnia thing but I figure that if the medication dosen't make me ten toes up then it must be doing its job.  I had a bone marrow aspiration at the 6 month mark and not quite sure when they will do another one.  They do check my blood every other month now and I get the occasional EKG.  People there are very friendly and since I only have to drive about five miles nothing to complain about.  Some side effects I know for certain with the Tasigna are the tingling/numbness with my feet and the skin irratation, especially on my arms.  I see a neurologist for the feet and use a good lotion one the skin.  i had problems with what seemed to be GERD but I take Tagamet daily and that problem isn't bad any more.  I found Tagamet a better drug to take over Prilosec.  They tell me Prilosec is a better medication but it didn't do anything to solve the issue.  The Tagamet seems to help alot more.  Only thing about the cancer center I don't care for is they seem to herd you in and out but i guess that's the same almost everywhere.  If I have questions they do answer them so being allotted a small amount of time, especially for the few real problems I have, isn't too bad.  

[pamsouth]

Thanks Donkatking, 

Always interested in hearing about the different hospitals and Oncologist in the Indianapolis area.  I live In Greenwood Indiana a couple miles south of the Indianapolis County Line Road.  Just 15 miles south of down town Indy.

I went for a second opinion last Oct to Ind Univ.  I was really surprised my appointment was at 2pm.  Got there about 1:45pm.  filled out the paperwork, nurse called me in about 1:55 pm and the doctor was in to see at 2pm sharp.  Couldn't believe how quit, as at my previous oncologist it usually a 1 1/2 hour wait to see her for 5 to 10 minutes. Talking to some of the patients in the room I think most of them were Breast Cancer patients.  Doctor had lots of rooms where she did the IV infusions.  She is the only doctor there but has a pretty big staff.  The Cancer doctor at IU have a group of doctors, I like to think of them as the think tank.  I think two head are better then one.

Thanks for sharing your experience.  " I go to the cancer center at Community North Hospital.  I see Dr Bhatia who is the oncologist/hemotologist there.  He was highly recommended as the best in this field here in Indy!!:  I will keep that in mind.   Never know sometimes I think about moving on the north side, towards Carmel.  But then sometimes we talk about moving back to Florida.  However we are getting older and moving gets stressful.  I will be 64 year old on New Years and my husband just turned 70 years. 

Anyhow please keep in touch, I did a befriend.  Especially like to keep in touch with those in my area.  Although I learn a lot for others all over the world, too.

[LivingWellWithCML]

Hi everyone,

For anyone who is interested, I am still getting these darn night sweats!  I have just started a client trip to London and the first couple of nights have been pretty sweaty ... perhaps as my body goes through jet lag and adjusts to the time zone.  But once again, I feel perfectly healthy during the day.  I will see my CML specialist for my 9-month check-up in a couple of weeks and see what he says.  I got my blood draw last week and CBC / CMP looked fine (Bilirubin is a tad bit above normal at 1.3 / 1.4, but other liver numbers are fine).  FISH/PCR forthcoming.

I am a breakfast Gleevec-taker, so in London, I've decided to keep the timing the same and have been taking Gleevec at lunch (which is breakfast time back on USA Eastern time zone).  That seems to be playing well with me, but it could also be contributing to the night sweats since (technically) I'm taking G later in the day.  In any event, it's very annoying and still causes me a bit of anxiety...........

[pammartin]

Hi Dan

Even though I am taking Sprycel, I still have night sweats, they are not as severe as they were last summer before diagnosis, but they are annoyingly present.  I have read more than a few articles stating they may not go away, and after reading posts from many others, I believe this is true.  For quite a while I blamed them on growing older and being of the female gender, but after the CML diagnosis and information associated with it, they are CML sweats.  I just had bloodwork a week ago and although the PCR is not back yet, my fish is negative, so I guess those darn night sweats are something we have to live with, unfortunately they don't seem to be going anywhere!  Enjoy London, I am jealous.

Pam