Emergency Room Visits

I am literally reading this from the hospital with my mother as we speak and the answer is ALWAYS ask them to consult your melanoma specialist.   ❤️

My husband has ended up at the ER three times with treatment related side effects.  ABSOLUTELY contact your oncology team – my experience is that the ER staff docs will not be familiar with any of the immunotherapy treatments and side effect issues and aren't really interested in the patient's input or my "quasi professional" diagnosis.  I usually call the oncology clinic/on-call doc to let them know we're going to the ER so they can make notes in the chart which the ER doc will hopefully read.  We've also paged the oncology hospitalist to let them know we're in the ER so they can come down and consult.  These three visits were by far the most exasperating experiences we've dealt with.

Absolutely tell the ER that you are on treatment.  Tell them the treatment you are on and give them the contact information of your oncologist.  I've done this twice and both times the ER docs were great.  Very happy to have a reason for my symptoms as well as a reason to transfer me to another hospital.  My oncologist is in Boston and the ER closes to me is in a suburb so twice I've been transferred to Boston from the local ER.  It goes much more smoothly than you would think and it isn't as bad as it sounds.  I was on Yervoy/Opdivo combo and they gave me a card to present at the ER if/when side effects called for it.  Ultimately they did and we were happy to have the card.  I wish you well.

Jennifer

I went in with a heart attack, after the ct scan to check for a pulmonary embolism a very nervous ER physician informed of my suspected lung tumours, I laughed and said "oh I know about those, that's the melanoma", they'd seen melanoma on my file, but hadn't been aware that it included tumours…….. You really need to ensure you're oncologist is informed for all hospital visits

This is a very important post that I haven't seen on here in quite sometime.  Make sure you carry the information with you about your treatment.  In my experience, when I was on the IPI/NIVO combo that information was huge for the ER people.  I have had three different ER doctors in the past 2 years that had no idea what immunotherapy even is.  One kept referring to Pembro as my chemo.  I had to explain the difference at great length more than once.  Always have them contact your oncologist/melanoma specialist or the on call doctor if it is after hours.  It has become the first thing I ask for when I make the trip to the ER.  It is always a good idea to have your caregiver bring you to the ER as well.  Make sure that person can speak for you and about you current treatment if you are out of it.  I went to the ER alone once and will never do that again. 

Brad