The outpatient clinic at Methodist Healthcare Cancer Center now offers ambulatory infusion pumps for patients needing certain types of chemotherapy. These pumps provide patients with continuous chemotherapy in the comfort of their own home.

“We are firmly committed to providing the best care we can for our patients,” said Dava Gerard, MD, FACS, MPH, administrator, Methodist Healthcare Cancer Center. “By providing ambulatory infusion pumps for certain chemotherapies, we are helping our patients have the best quality of life possible. We are giving them a tool to help them live their lives to the fullest.”

Patients like Alvonia Shotwell, who is finishing up chemotherapy treatment for colon cancer, are much happier going home with an infusion pump rather than being admitted to the hospital.

“I’m just more relaxed,” said Shotwell. “My appetite is better. My family is there. I can just rest and take it easy.”

A cycle of chemotherapy can run between two to three weeks. During this time, patients come to the Methodist Healthcare Cancer Center outpatient center to refill their pumps with medicine and then they can go home again. The pump slips inside a small fanny pouch. The medicine is delivered into a vein through a catheter that is normally implanted in the patient’s chest. Currently, only patients with colon cancer who are prescribed FOLFOX or FOLFIRI are candidates for an ambulatory infusion pump at the Methodist Healthcare Cancer Center. Hospital officials hope to expand the use of ambulatory infusion pumps to other forms of cancer.

To find out if you are a candidate for chemotherapy through an ambulatory pump, ask your oncologist. For more information about Methodist Healthcare Cancer Center, visit www.methodisthealth.org.