…it’s worth coming here. It’s like we’re having a coffee but with an extra side treatment of chemo!
“I can’t praise it highly enough. It’s just an amazing service and I’m so grateful for it,” says Sally, 56, when asked about her experience on the mobile care unit.
Now on her third course of chemo for colon cancer, she visits the unit in three-week cycles for her treatment and once every week to have her PICC line flushed.
“I heard about the mobile care unit, which is five miles away from where I live, after a couple of friends told me about it.” The journey to hospital was a two-hour round trip, something she said was compounding her emotional trauma from the whole experience of dealing with cancer.
“I found it so overwhelming because it all happened so quickly. At first it was all too much and obviously you don’t want to be there. You want to hide yourself away. I hate hospitals anyway, and I was very anxious about it all. I just found the unit so handy because it’s so near. If I’m having the flush through, my husband drives me to the unit and just waits in the car park or sometimes he’ll do the shopping or visit friends nearby. My infusions take three hours, so he can drop me off and go and do something else, come back and pick me up later.
It’s just much more pleasurable – it’s cosy, you get to know the staff. They’re all really lovely. Their drivers are great, they all help out and make the coffee.
As someone who describes herself as a sociable person, she found the environment on the unit totally opposite to the one in hospital: “When I got talking to a couple of people on the unit I thought actually, this is better because you’re connecting with people who are going through similar to what you’re going through. And I think that’s been one of the best things about being on the unit because you’re sat near to people so you can’t ignore them. You do swap stories with people who understand what you’re going through, and compare side effects, then I know what is happening to me is quite normal under the circumstances. Everybody’s treatment is different and everyone reacts differently to the same treatment. You get to know the nurses as well; they’ll ask, how are you? The staff are just too busy and pushed for time in hospital, so you don’t always think of questions you wanted to ask at the right time. On the unit there’s more time for that as it’s more relaxed.
“I remember chatting with one patient who was having her very first treatment, it was good to talk to her and reassure her; that makes all the difference.”
Sally says she now doesn’t dread going to have her treatment: “One day there were four of us and we were chatting away. And I said, it’s worth coming here. It’s like we’re having a coffee but with an extra side treatment of chemo!
“I’ve got all my snacks and drinks and all that kind of thing. You’re not waiting long; if I am waiting a little, sometimes I read my books, or I’ve only got halfway through a crossword puzzle before they call me in.”
She is currently not able to work in her job as counter assistant at her local pharmacy due to side effects from the chemo: “My employers are brilliant, they’ve stressed there is no pressure for me to return – my hands and feet are quite tingly and numb, so I struggle with holding things or standing, which is usually for around eight hours.
“With the unit being just 10 minutes away, it makes life so much easier. I have friends who live around the corner that I can have tea with afterwards. It’s the convenience of it all. And the friendliness.”
…it’s worth coming here. It’s like we’re having a coffee but with an extra side treatment of chemo!
“I can’t praise it highly enough. It’s just an amazing service and I’m so grateful for it,” says Sally, 56, when asked about her experience on the mobile care unit.
Now on her third course of chemo for colon cancer, she visits the unit in three-week cycles for her treatment and once every week to have her PICC line flushed.
“I heard about the mobile care unit, which is five miles away from where I live, after a couple of friends told me about it.” The journey to hospital was a two-hour round trip, something she said was compounding her emotional trauma from the whole experience of dealing with cancer.
“I found it so overwhelming because it all happened so quickly. At first it was all too much and obviously you don’t want to be there. You want to hide yourself away. I hate hospitals anyway, and I was very anxious about it all. I just found the unit so handy because it’s so near. If I’m having the flush through, my husband drives me to the unit and just waits in the car park or sometimes he’ll do the shopping or visit friends nearby. My infusions take three hours, so he can drop me off and go and do something else, come back and pick me up later.
It’s just much more pleasurable – it’s cosy, you get to know the staff. They’re all really lovely. Their drivers are great, they all help out and make the coffee.
As someone who describes herself as a sociable person, she found the environment on the unit totally opposite to the one in hospital: “When I got talking to a couple of people on the unit I thought actually, this is better because you’re connecting with people who are going through similar to what you’re going through. And I think that’s been one of the best things about being on the unit because you’re sat near to people so you can’t ignore them. You do swap stories with people who understand what you’re going through, and compare side effects, then I know what is happening to me is quite normal under the circumstances. Everybody’s treatment is different and everyone reacts differently to the same treatment. You get to know the nurses as well; they’ll ask, how are you? The staff are just too busy and pushed for time in hospital, so you don’t always think of questions you wanted to ask at the right time. On the unit there’s more time for that as it’s more relaxed.
“I remember chatting with one patient who was having her very first treatment, it was good to talk to her and reassure her; that makes all the difference.”
Sally says she now doesn’t dread going to have her treatment: “One day there were four of us and we were chatting away. And I said, it’s worth coming here. It’s like we’re having a coffee but with an extra side treatment of chemo!
“I’ve got all my snacks and drinks and all that kind of thing. You’re not waiting long; if I am waiting a little, sometimes I read my books, or I’ve only got halfway through a crossword puzzle before they call me in.”
She is currently not able to work in her job as counter assistant at her local pharmacy due to side effects from the chemo: “My employers are brilliant, they’ve stressed there is no pressure for me to return – my hands and feet are quite tingly and numb, so I struggle with holding things or standing, which is usually for around eight hours.
“With the unit being just 10 minutes away, it makes life so much easier. I have friends who live around the corner that I can have tea with afterwards. It’s the convenience of it all. And the friendliness.”
