Episode 3. How to Prepare for Cancer Treatments?

This episode talks about practical tips for preparing for cancer treatments including answering the following questions:

• What is a port?

• How to take care of your port at home?

• What is a day at the infusion center like?

Some key takeaways include:

• Ask for lidocaine cream to help make days at the infusion center less painful

• Wear lose fitting or button down clothing for easier access to the port

• Surround yourself with people who you feel comfortable being at your worst with on treatment days

Jessica Stuart, MD

Dr. Jessica Stuart, Jessie, grew up in Connecticut before attending Stanford University, where she obtained her degree in English. She went to Harvard medical school and is training in Internal Medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She also works with the Thoracic Oncology group at Dana Farber Cancer Institute doing research on immunotherapies. She hopes to continue a career treating patients, doing clinical research, and focusing on education.  

Not only does she treat patients, she was herself a cancer patient when she was diagnosed with Lymphoma at age 12 and was treated into her teenage years. She recently published an article in the New England Journal of medicine titled “The Little Things”, which sheds light on how being a patient has shaped how she treats her own patients, linked here.