Orientation

This morning I attended an orientation session for new proton patients. There were 7 in our group, most with spouses sitting in. Besides myself there was a woman from Vancouver, CN, doing follow-up treatment after surgery to remove a brain tumor, another woman from Las Vegas getting treatment for breast cancer, and 4 male prostate cancer patients from Lower Lake, CA, Cloverdale, OR, Seattle, WA, and Munich, Germany.

Patti, from Patient Services, gave us each a folder holding a 7/8 inch stack of papers about various features of LLUMC, the Inland Empire, and Southern California in general. Yes, I measured the stack. The papers covered everything from the presence of rattle snakes in the area (with a handout about Jim Bush's nephew Sean Bush, Dr. Venom) to a flier about the Restaurant Tour which takes place every Thursday evening in which a group of proton patients visits a different area restaurant. At the end of her presentation, Patti warned us that some of us will become so busy with all these activities, we may forget to show up for our treatments. She suggested we should avoid that course of action.

Here are some facts she gave us:

• 66% of the proton patients at LLUMC are being treated for prostate cancer. 44 other cancers are also treated here by proton beam. In addition, the Radiation Medicine department also treats via conventional photon radiation.
• LL University, which celebrates its centennial this year, is the largest medical college in California; aside from a department of religion, the university is entirely focused on medicine. (By the way, my Uncle Evan Bohen was the building inspector on a major expansion of LL Hospital back in the '60s or '70s.)
• LLUMC Radiation Medicine employs 120 people.
• Proton treatments are administered via 3 gantries. Gantry 1 is currently shut down for addition of robotic positioning equipment. I'll be treated in Gantry 3.
• Proton treatments are administered from 5:00 a.m. until midnight, Monday through Friday; on weekends, crews do maintenance. The unit is in operation of one kind or another almost 24/7. I've heard many patients say their treatments were routinely administered in the evening or at night. Not sure when mine will be.
• Radiation Medicine provides the services of a nutritionist (Stella) and a social worker (Mildred) to assist patients with their diets and emotional needs.
• Regularly scheduled support services for proton patients include a Tuesday evening potluck, a Wednesday afternoon patients-only support group, a Wednesday evening meeting for patients and supporters, a patients' supporters group, and the Thursday evening restaurant tour.
• In addition to treatments 5 days a week, each patient sees his (or her) doctor in clinic once a week. My doc, Dr. Bush (David, not Sean), is in clinic on Mondays.
• The town of Loma Linda has about 22,000 permanent residents. 40% of these residents are 7th Day Adventists. During the week, the population swells to nearly 60,000 with patients and students.
• Loma Linda itself has few services for residents. Among these, however, is Loma Linda Market, a vegetarian grocery store. But the town is immediately adjacent to Redlands to the east and San Bernardino to the north, both of which abound in restaurants and stores of all sorts. And Riverside, another sizable town, is just 10 minutes to the south west.

By the way: the picture. This is LLUMC. The graphic at the top of the tower on the left hand side of the picture is the logo for the Children's Hospital. The proton center occupies 2 floors underground beneath the Children's Hospital.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, September 30, I check in for my first treatment. Drum roll!