It is a medical facility, but it does not feel like a medical facility. Somehow, and I can’t really work this one out, they have created a relaxed environment in amongst all the realities of a medical facility. There is no rigid “I am a doctor, she is a nurse and you a patient” structure. If the sisters did not refer to them as doctors we would not even know that they are doctors because they greet and chat as if they are ‘just one of the staff’. Kirstin does not easily befriend people, but Dr Brittain resolved that in no time by merely ‘clicking’ on to her sense of humour.
So let me take you on a Chemo day walk through:
You arrive at reception and the ladies, much to my admiration, are always friendly and go out of their way to help. You then go to an adjacent office where a sister draws blood. (Only once per week) Kirstin has a needle phobia so by the time she puts out her arm she is just waiting for any sense of pain. The sister chats and jokes with her and by that time the blood is drawn and Kirstin realises that she forgot to say ‘ouch’. From then you proceed back to reception where they hand you your file and you walk down the passage way to the chemo room.
At first glance the chemo room is a shock, well that’s if you like me and were expecting an ICU type room with beds and machines and everything else that makes ICU so scary. The ‘shock’ is that it’s a large neatly decorated room with lazyboy chairs and a mini coffee bar. It’s a totally relaxed environment that has been made as comfortable as possible with large windows that allow for a spectacular view of Pretoria East. There is a small separate room where Kirstin lies back while they insert the IV connector into her port and then Kirstin chooses her lazyboy, gets her lines hooked up, puts her feet up and hits the buttons of her PSP. We as parents are encouraged to remain with her and we even get a chair to sit next to her. Sorry parents but you must be a patient to qualify for a lazyboy, unless of course it’s a quite day and then you are lucky. To add to the experience there is even a tea lady that makes your choice of tea or coffee. (nogal Nescafe .. not cheap skate coffee)
There are three highly qualified sisters that continuously move between the patients ensuring that everything is on track. Now, by highly qualified, I mean highly qualified to the extent that they are walking Google’s. I don’t like referring to myself as a sceptic but I am an investigator and even worse, an investigator that has entered a solid marital relationship with Google. In fact if Google was around when I got married and the minister asked “do you take this woman ….” I would have said yes … but lets Google it first. These three sisters put together are Google! Trust me, you can ask them anything from therapy to diet to you name it and they will be able to answer you.
As Kirstin will say, Chemo is not her choice of fun, but she will agree that the experience is not nearly as scary as we all imagined. I suppose that ‘scary’ is there, but it is well managed by all the staff members.
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