Tune in to hear from VDMC Provider Jade Williams as she shares her journey on the other side of the room, as a patient navigating ovarian cancer.
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(00:00):
Good morningand welcome to Focus on Health.
I am your host, Lori Foster.
And today we will hear parttwo of provider Jade Williams
sharing her storyas a patient with ovarian cancer.
Mine is a subtype of epithelial.
It's called clear cell carcinoma.
So it is aggressiveand it's on the outside of the ovary,
(00:25):
which makes it badbecause then it's sharing its cancer
cells with every other tissuethat it comes into contact with.
You know, and like a good analogy
that we have used is that, you know,
you have cancer and it's in one spot,
but it's just kind of likegoing to the airport.
(00:47):
That cancer's hanging out at the airport,but it has an intention to go
or can go somewhere else.
And it's just a matter of time.
When is it going to get on that planeand like take off?
So mine we checked the
the fluid that was in my pelvisat that time and it came back suspicious.
And so then that'swhat made it even more concerning was that
(01:10):
it was on the outside of the ovaryand then it in your pelvic washings.
So whatever was touching, the pelvic fluid
has now been exposedto this aggressive subtype of cancer.
And so when we went back for
the follow up,you know, he said, I basically
(01:32):
you're going to heal up from thiswithin four weeks
and then we're going to have youyou need to consider a second surgery.
The beauty was Ryanand I weren't having any more children
after the, you know, complicationsthat I had with both of mine previously.
So we knew that it was okay to take it.
(01:54):
We didn't need to preserveanything necessarily.
And so that made ita little easier for us.
But that can be an extremely difficult situation for patients,
is that they have to decide, likecan they preserve and ovaries
so that they can eventually have childrenor what does that look like?
And it's still putting you at riskfor keeping those things. So.
(02:16):
So we scheduled
the second surgery for November 20th,right before Thanksgiving.
And and so that one was,
you know, I think some people
tend to think of a hysterectomy as,you know, not a real major surgery, but,
(02:37):
you know, so I had a total hysterectomy
with then my right ovariesand fallopian tube being removed.
In additionto just your uterus and your cervix.
And then I had a layer of tissue that sits
on top of your
your intestines.
It's called your omentum.
So they removed that, too,because that's basically like a sponge.
(03:00):
It sucks up the fluidthat was in the pelvis and kind of washes
your intestines and your lower lungwith the potential of the cancer.
And then they took
like 21 lymph nodes, peri aortic
lymph nodes, the lymph nodesthat are attached to your aorta
and then other.
(03:20):
So I think I had a total of 31tissue samples that was taken
with the second surgeryand then, you know, a total hysterectomy.
So I do I did have to have like
I would call it like a lap
assisted hysterectomy because I did haveto have an abdominal incision as well.
So I had like a total of five incisionswith the second surgery.
(03:42):
But it was a relief to methat he was able to modify
it and didn't have to do a full abdominalopen case because,
I mean, that's just extremelyyou know, there's a potential
for a lot of complicationsor something like that.
And then he did keep me in the hospital
for like pain management after that,
(04:03):
just because of the level of surgerythat was done.
So, yeah.
So then they
we did everything and I got put intosurgical menopause on November 20th.
And what that means means is, you know,you take your ovaries
until you no longer have really the,your two primary sources of estrogen.
(04:27):
And so that's a scary thing to being,
you know, 38 years oldand being pushed into menopause abruptly.
You know, your body typically goes throughthat in a very gradual period of time.
And so just to have that done,
it does put you at a greater riskfor like osteoporosis
(04:49):
and cardiovascular issues and dementiaand different things like that.
And so that as a provider,that's where my mind went.
I was trying to like preserve my mind
and maintain my mood without being able
to have additional hormonesand things like that.
(05:11):
To me, you know, there are some women whounfortunately will experience like mood
swings and depression and differentthings like that after it happened.
But thankfully,I think I've had just good support system
and my childrenkeep me busy and active and engaged that I
you know,everybody that knows what happened
(05:33):
or was aware of what was happening,you know, they're like,
you're still the same personthat you were before a surgery,
you know, And my kids don't say that
I yell at them or anything like that. So.
So that's good.
But yeah, so that partthankfully has been preserved.
(05:54):
So then that has made me more optimisticthat things will just
continue to get better.
So that's always a a blessing.
But yes, and then wewe had the surgery on, like I said,
the 20th, and I went back to himfor my follow up.
I had one, I think after two weeks
(06:16):
it was on it was actually on my birthday,December 5th.
I had a follow up with him.
And then my last followup with him was on the 20th.
But the crazy thing is, is
obviously nobody wants to be toldthey have cancer or one
that is a rare subtype and they reallydon't have good treatment for it.
(06:40):
But here's the thingswe're going to try to do to preserve life.
But like my little girl family,she was in The Nutcracker
and it sounds really
probably crazy to people,but I was able to enjoy it
and do that entire week with her.
I get to go to every single dressrehearsal.
I got to be therefor all three performances, all of that,
(07:05):
and unfortunately,I would have had to choose
had I still been workingbetween taking off the week of Christmas
and being home with themor getting to take that week off
and actually really being able toto do that with her.
And and so that has been an actualblessing, you know, to be honest.
(07:27):
And she loved it.
And she had, you know, at that time,my children
had no idea that I actually was a mom.
And had these surgeries inmy mom's life, had changed a little bit.
And my mom wasn't at work at that time.
Finally, it held on that I was goingto come back to work around December 11.
That's what I was shooting for.
(07:47):
And so she kept that dateand she'd be like,
So you're going back on the 11and you know,
when are you going backand why are you going back?
And just different things like that.
But and fortunately,that wasn't the case.
You know, after we visited with Dr.
Elledge and talkedabout what we were dealing with,
(08:10):
you know, his big push was,which I'm very thankful for,
was you need to not
try to rush back to work
because you really can't do anythingwalk on flat surfaces right now.
I mean, I had to be releasedto even do stairs
for The Nutcracker with him,and that was concerning.
(08:31):
I couldn't lift anything more than £10.
His concern was
exposure to infection and then also justhe could tell that my personality's like,
what are you going to doif there's something that happens?
You can't rush into your patient's room.
You can't be there.
You'd have to be standing off him back.
And he's like,You just don't have that personality.
(08:54):
He's like, You'll get into itand you'll think it's going to be fine.
And then we're going to have,unfortunately, a complication for that,
which is just going to push you backeven more.
So like, let's just take the time and,you know, focus on these things
so that you have a good recovery.
And then when I seen himon the 20th of December,
(09:15):
you know, that's when he gave usthe big push for the chemotherapy.
And, you know, he basically told me
if we didn't do it,we were crazy is what he said.
Because in my mind I was like, well,if you've already taken it.
And the Washingsweren't confirmed that their suspicions,
(09:37):
which I'm fortunately in our world,we air, then that is a positive,
you know, then what's the point in doingthe chemotherapy?
Let's just see what happens.
And he said, you know, you're crazyif you don't go forward
with the chemotherapy.
And so then he referred us to Dr.
Luke Hamil, and we met with him
(10:00):
on January 10th,
and then we set upfor the first round of treatment,
which was on the 31st of this monthof January.
Sorry.
So up to this point,
I'd like to say that
chemo was fine,but it's different for everybody
(10:22):
and unfortunately
they recommended I also have a port placed
and so we did that on the 22nd of January
and the port itself went fine.
But I had a reaction
to the vancomycin,which was the antibiotic they gave me.
I developed like Redman's syndrome,which is something
(10:45):
as a provider you never want your patientto experience with myosin.
And so now I can still get it.
It's it'sa reaction. It's an allergic reaction.
You can still get Vanco.
It's just at a much lower doserate for the medication.
So if I do need it downthe road, I could still have it
(11:06):
and or they could pre medicate me with,
you know,like steroids or something like that.
But I'm going to be optimisticthat I won't have the need
to have to have a co myosinanywhere in the near future.
So I had an allergic reaction
essentially after the portwe got through that.
We knew what was coming up.
I got the blessing.
(11:27):
This is something else.
It's not for everybody by any means, but
my physician and teamthought that it was a good option for me.
It's somethingthat's being studied at Mayo.
They've been doing their own studies.
University San Diego has been studyingwhat's called a fasting
mimicking dietthat you do before you take chemo.
(11:50):
And so like for mine,I started it on a Saturday
or I apologize Sundayand had chemo on Wednesday.
And the goal is, is that you
you do your fasting mimicking dietso it's very specific foods
and I'm a certain amountthat you're getting for those three days
(12:10):
and then you're supposed to continuethe day of treatment and the day
after, and it's supposed to help with a couple of things.
It creates a level of they call it top.
So like where you havethese senescent cells that
they're kind of like, maybe you've heardof zombie cells or something like that.
So in our bodies,sometimes our system doesn't necessarily
(12:31):
clear things out like it's supposed to,or that's kind of the basis behind this.
And so you get these sleeper cellsor senescent cells, which we used to think
was actually meant only for somebody'saging or advanced age.
But now we're finding from studiesthat it's it can happen at any age
that you get these sleeper cells.
And so the fasting mimicking nightessentially causes
(12:53):
enough stress on your body and that it
causes these cellsto decide what they're going to do, like
if they're waking up or if they're goingto get flushed out, that type of thing.
And so it's supposed to help with the
treatmentthat I'm getting, the chemo treatment,
the two kinds that I have the taxon, the carboplatin, and then it's also
(13:15):
supposed to help with the side effectsfrom the chemotherapy.
But I broke the fastthe night before treatment
and decided I wanted
to be able to enjoy a good meal
with my family and just like, enjoy a pop
(13:37):
because chemotherapy can affectthe way you taste things.
And it can also affect even the waylike your appetite and it can affect
like how food tastesand just all of that. So
So I broke the fast after three days,
went in and had chemo on the January 31st
(13:59):
and the treatment itselfdid not, in my opinion,
go well, but by my physician and his team.
They said it was fine
because the treatment got finishedand I had a pretty significant reaction
to the chemotherapyand required like rescue meds.
And just like all of this.
(14:20):
And so that was justa traumatic situation.
And they had prepared methat there was a potential for a reaction.
But we were hoping because I had premedicated with like a steroid heavy
steroid the night before in the day ofand then they give you other
pre-med like histamine blockersand things like that
(14:43):
to try to dampen your immune systemso that it doesn't have a reaction
when you start to takethis foreign substance into your body.
But unfortunately, my case,
my immune system just went off the rails.
I did decidedit didn't like what was happening.
And so now I'm
(15:05):
trying to be very optimisticthat with the second
round on the 21st that it willit'll go much better,
which we're going to trysome different medications
and a different regimenand hopefully it'll, you know, work out.
But we'll see. So
the chemo itself, after the treatment,
(15:28):
it was like, you know, five days thatI really didn't feel like myself and felt
like I had the flu, like a really bad caseof the flu, like bone pain and fatigue.
And just, you know, one of the daysI tried making my bed
and that wore me out to the pointwhere I had to, like, lay down,
which was new for me
because I'm not used to, you know,being worn out from something like that.
(15:51):
Or like one day I got upand took a shower and then I forced myself
to go outside for a walkand pushed it and marked a mile.
And then as soon as I cameback, I had to lay on the ground
and Iwas like, I'm just going to fall asleep.
I can't.
I don't even have a choice.
I have to go to sleep now.
(16:12):
And I, you know, overdid it to myself. So.
So anyway, that's where we're at today.
I think it's just kind of therapeutic.
I mean, I'm I don't want to say like,
I'm I'm putting it out there,
but I really think if I can help somebody,I that's really the goal from this.
(16:34):
I mean, I can't imagine
had I not been tracking it on my phone
how long I actually would haveprobably let this go.
I mean, even by the second half marathon,
you know, I took a picture of Ryanand I before we went out to run the race
because he he ran it with me and
(16:58):
I look at it and I'm like,I look like I'm three months pregnant.
I do not look like somebodythat had been training for one, let alone
two for the year or been consistentlytaking care of themselves.
In my opinion.
That's how I how it looks to me.
But I also know where my body's had beenphysically up
to this situationreally kind of transpiring. And,
(17:22):
you know, so that's frustrating
that I was working
so hard to take care of myself that
and then it kind of sabotaged meand this, you know,
and this is the situation where we're at,but it's also so
amazing and crazywhat the body is actually capable of.
(17:44):
And being a provider and seeing that dayin and day out with my patients,
but also now being a patient myselfand seeing the things and the stress
and just the different medication
going from somebodywho never takes medication to having,
you know, something that you can lookat chemo as being a poison,
(18:04):
you know, and that's how I feel, likeI worry some people look at it like that.
But realistically,if you look at chemotherapy,
it is really amazingwhat they are able to do.
I mean, thethe certain one, the Taxol that I take,
you know, the nurse practitioner with Dr.
Louisville office, who I see,is she in for me?
(18:25):
She's been doing this for over 30 years.
And she said, you know,when we started using Taxol,
when she started 30 years ago,
she said you'd have to stayin the hospital
and we'd give it over a minimumof a 24 hour period of time
because of how concerning it wasand how we needed to watch the patient.
And she's like, Nowwe can infuse you in an afternoon, like
(18:47):
and then, you know,do you feel crummy? Yes.
But you also have to think on a cellularlevel what this medication is doing.
I mean, it's redoingyour DNA, which is a little
sci fi and scary sometimes,
you know, But it's literallylike just forcing the regeneration.
(19:08):
It's a result.
It's kind of how I've come to think of it,like it's resetting
these rogue cells that's in my body.
And is there going to be some collateral?
Probably, you know, one of thosebeing my hair, others
being like my concernfor what we call like neuropathy.
So like your in your hands, in your feet.
(19:29):
But I've also had a great support system
and one of those is another survivor.
She didn't even know me or knew of me.
And she's reached outand she checks in on me
and she's brought over stufflike she did these cold.
They're called themlike I call them cold packs.
I guess they don't really knowwhat they are, but it's a cold therapy.
(19:51):
And so for the Taxol treatment,it's supposed to be around 3 hours.
You put these gloves onthat look like grill mats
that are have ice packs inside of themthat cool your hands
to a certain temperatureand then your feet and you tape your feet
with these bandsso that the packs, the ice
is, you know, as tightas it possibly can be to your toes.
(20:14):
You're basically freezing your handsand feet for 3 hours
with the potential of basically you'recausing such significant vasoconstriction
and that the medication it'sgoing to circulate there.
Right.
We're not completely excludingoff the area, but it's to try and help
prevent the the side effect of neuropathyso that I don't lose the ability to feel
(20:38):
the need to button somethingor I can pick up my cup and not like
drop it on the groundbecause they don't even realize or,
you know, there's been storieswhere there's
women who are very activeand then they get this neuropathy
in their feet and they can't runor they can't do anything because
maybe even drive because it causessuch a significant impact.
(21:00):
And so,
you know, if I can do somethingthat's going to minimize it
and it's not a medication,I'm willing to try that
because ultimatelyI want to try and preserve,
you know, make my kidneys and my liverand my heart and,
you know, all those thingsas much as I can.
But just also the community in general,
(21:21):
like the hospital has been so supportive.
It's been extremely difficult.
I've been out of work since October 20th.
That's the last day I closed my officeknowing that
I wouldn't be backat least for 6 to 8 weeks.
And, you know, here we are. It's February.
Now I'm slotted to do
(21:43):
six rounds total of treatment.
So my last regimen or
my last treatment won't be until May likemiddle of May if everything goes well,
you know, And so just trying tofigure out what that's going to look like,
you know, if I can come back to workand work a little bit here or there,
I think just to add some normalcy tomy life would be nice.
(22:07):
But then also
there's just a huge fear of, well,what if that ends up being a bad day?
And then, you know, Ithen I don't like letting people down
and I know everybody would understand,but it would just be like me
feeling like I was letting everybody down,like the one day
I'm supposed to, you know, come backor do around or something like that.
(22:28):
And I can't do it, you know,because I'm feeling so crummy or whatever.
So I think just really figuring out
what that's going to look like.
And like I said, I can't ask
for a better placeto work to be dealing with this.
You know, I justI can't imagine trying to do this
in any other type of employmentthat I've had.
(22:49):
So, you know, that's been great.
And then also just
the community that was shownto my children, they didn't even know why.
They knew mom had surgeries,but they didn't know why people were just
sending flowers to the houseor why there was a little gift basket
showing up at the door or,you know, different things like that
(23:10):
or people popping overjust to check in or stuff like that.
And it's you know, it just shows themthat there's good in the world
and that people do care.
And I think that's a privilegeliving in a small community, because,
you know, if we unfortunately,in my opinion, if I lived in, say, Des
Moines, I don't know that we would havethat level of support at all.
(23:36):
But we did choose to
tell the girls about the chemo finally
and cancer in general.
After we talked with Dr.
Luke and Bill when we knew it was goingto get closer to the actual treatment
and I had to have the port put inand we decided to share it with them.
And, you know, there's a lot of tears and,
(24:00):
you know, we
she's very quiet,
but she'll sporadically ask me, you know,
different questions, like last night,she and no way,
she just told me thatshe thought I was brave and
I don't know.
(24:21):
So I don't know how much that actuallymeans to me her saying that because,
you know, I don't feel brave.
I feel like I do a lot of journaling and
I really just
try to stay positive and optimistic.
But if she knew how scared I was,
(24:42):
then, you know,
I'm so many times over, like, get
knowing I'm going through itand I'm a young person in my mind,
you know, I'm 38.
Then it makes it like
and how scared I am and the side effectsand just navigating it and all of that.
(25:06):
And the cancer is on her.
I'm with his mission and they,they have an excellent team and they have
all these resources and it's great.
And they constantly call and check in onme and see how things are going.
And I love that.
And they're always giving me advice or,you know, different things like that.
I mean, I can get in touch with my
(25:27):
my doctors nurse at any time.
I send her an email,she emails me back with a response
or even a phone call if I need it and all.
But then I get
my heart starts to hurt.
For the older patientsthat go through this, because
I can't imagine, you know, hereI am talking about running,
(25:48):
you know, a couple of racesand working out and things like that.
Well, physically,I, I would think I'm a strong person
from a physical standpoint,but the amount of fatigue
that I've experienced alreadyfrom just one round of chemo.
And so I do think,
you know,I have a challenge in general for any
(26:08):
a cancer provider or cancer researchwould be like they need to do better.
I mean, they can always do better. There's
I just we're taking peopleat their most vulnerable time
and we're asking them to trustin something
that only,unfortunately going to have side effects
and bring about,you know, days that they really don't have
(26:32):
maybe the abilityto even care for themselves,
depending on where they were alreadyat in their in their life.
And so, I mean, that's just
makes me very sad.
I've already projected
that ethical soapboxon to my doctor and his team. So
(26:53):
where do we get which they are?
They are they're doing, you know,everything that they can and they provide
whatever is needed to help minimizethe symptoms within their ability.
You know, but the reality isthat there's just like certain things,
you know, that they can'tthey just can't do.
We're not there yet.
You know, in my case,
(27:13):
we're still lookingfor clinical trials for me.
So there's also that'salso kind of part of it
that makes me nervous about making a planfor coming back to work yet.
Because if I get put in a clinical trial,we're only going
to be adding more different typesof chemo agents into the mix,
which obviouslycomes with side effects and,
(27:39):
you know, which then
just makes ita little more difficult to navigate life.
Finley has she's in
competition dance,and so she has several competitions
coming up in March and in April,and then they have a recital.
Her in Harleston, a wholesince my four year old.
They have a recital coming up inMay and it's
(28:01):
I don't want to miss outon any of that stuff.
I'm not going to allow myself to do that.
So saving my energy,I guess, is what I'm saying for
those types of things is definitely,you know, a priority right now
on my list,
Jade's story can be heard in
full length on our new podcast channel.
(28:24):
You can access it directly at VMC, dot
pod being talked on,or by going to our Web site at bandes.
M.C. Dawg and selecting Focus on Healthunder the News and Events tab.
Other ways to listen are throughyour favorite podcast app, like Amazon
Music, Audible iHeartRadio, Spotify,
(28:45):
Google Podcasts, and Apple Podcasts.
Watch for more details about the launch
of our podcast channelon our social media channels
that will
do itfor today's edition of Focus on Health,
brought to you by the AndesMedical Center, where our focus is you.
Good morningand welcome to Focus on Health.
I am your host, Lori Foster.
And today we will hear parttwo of provider Jade Williams
sharing her storyas a patient with ovarian cancer.
Mine is a subtype of epithelial.
It's called clear cell carcinoma.
So it is aggressiveand it's on the outside of the ovary,
(00:25):
which makes it badbecause then it's sharing its cancer
cells with every other tissuethat it comes into contact with.
You know, and like a good analogy
that we have used is that, you know,
you have cancer and it's in one spot,
but it's just kind of likegoing to the airport.
(00:47):
That cancer's hanging out at the airport,but it has an intention to go
or can go somewhere else.
And it's just a matter of time.
When is it going to get on that planeand like take off?
So mine we checked the
the fluid that was in my pelvisat that time and it came back suspicious.
And so then that'swhat made it even more concerning was that
(01:10):
it was on the outside of the ovaryand then it in your pelvic washings.
So whatever was touching, the pelvic fluid
has now been exposedto this aggressive subtype of cancer.
And so when we went back for
the follow up,you know, he said, I basically
(01:32):
you're going to heal up from thiswithin four weeks
and then we're going to have youyou need to consider a second surgery.
The beauty was Ryanand I weren't having any more children
after the, you know, complicationsthat I had with both of mine previously.
So we knew that it was okay to take it.
(01:54):
We didn't need to preserveanything necessarily.
And so that made ita little easier for us.
But that can be an extremely difficult situation for patients,
is that they have to decide, likecan they preserve and ovaries
so that they can eventually have childrenor what does that look like?
And it's still putting you at riskfor keeping those things. So.
(02:16):
So we scheduled
the second surgery for November 20th,right before Thanksgiving.
And and so that one was,
you know, I think some people
tend to think of a hysterectomy as,you know, not a real major surgery, but,
(02:37):
you know, so I had a total hysterectomy
with then my right ovariesand fallopian tube being removed.
In additionto just your uterus and your cervix.
And then I had a layer of tissue that sits
on top of your
your intestines.
It's called your omentum.
So they removed that, too,because that's basically like a sponge.
(03:00):
It sucks up the fluidthat was in the pelvis and kind of washes
your intestines and your lower lungwith the potential of the cancer.
And then they took
like 21 lymph nodes, peri aortic
lymph nodes, the lymph nodesthat are attached to your aorta
and then other.
(03:20):
So I think I had a total of 31tissue samples that was taken
with the second surgeryand then, you know, a total hysterectomy.
So I do I did have to have like
I would call it like a lap
assisted hysterectomy because I did haveto have an abdominal incision as well.
So I had like a total of five incisionswith the second surgery.
(03:42):
But it was a relief to methat he was able to modify
it and didn't have to do a full abdominalopen case because,
I mean, that's just extremelyyou know, there's a potential
for a lot of complicationsor something like that.
And then he did keep me in the hospital
for like pain management after that,
(04:03):
just because of the level of surgerythat was done.
So, yeah.
So then they
we did everything and I got put intosurgical menopause on November 20th.
And what that means means is, you know,you take your ovaries
until you no longer have really the,your two primary sources of estrogen.
(04:27):
And so that's a scary thing to being,
you know, 38 years oldand being pushed into menopause abruptly.
You know, your body typically goes throughthat in a very gradual period of time.
And so just to have that done,
it does put you at a greater riskfor like osteoporosis
(04:49):
and cardiovascular issues and dementiaand different things like that.
And so that as a provider,that's where my mind went.
I was trying to like preserve my mind
and maintain my mood without being able
to have additional hormonesand things like that.
(05:11):
To me, you know, there are some women whounfortunately will experience like mood
swings and depression and differentthings like that after it happened.
But thankfully,I think I've had just good support system
and my childrenkeep me busy and active and engaged that I
you know,everybody that knows what happened
(05:33):
or was aware of what was happening,you know, they're like,
you're still the same personthat you were before a surgery,
you know, And my kids don't say that
I yell at them or anything like that. So.
So that's good.
But yeah, so that partthankfully has been preserved.
(05:54):
So then that has made me more optimisticthat things will just
continue to get better.
So that's always a a blessing.
But yes, and then wewe had the surgery on, like I said,
the 20th, and I went back to himfor my follow up.
I had one, I think after two weeks
(06:16):
it was on it was actually on my birthday,December 5th.
I had a follow up with him.
And then my last followup with him was on the 20th.
But the crazy thing is, is
obviously nobody wants to be toldthey have cancer or one
that is a rare subtype and they reallydon't have good treatment for it.
(06:40):
But here's the thingswe're going to try to do to preserve life.
But like my little girl family,she was in The Nutcracker
and it sounds really
probably crazy to people,but I was able to enjoy it
and do that entire week with her.
I get to go to every single dressrehearsal.
I got to be therefor all three performances, all of that,
(07:05):
and unfortunately,I would have had to choose
had I still been workingbetween taking off the week of Christmas
and being home with themor getting to take that week off
and actually really being able toto do that with her.
And and so that has been an actualblessing, you know, to be honest.
(07:27):
And she loved it.
And she had, you know, at that time,my children
had no idea that I actually was a mom.
And had these surgeries inmy mom's life, had changed a little bit.
And my mom wasn't at work at that time.
Finally, it held on that I was goingto come back to work around December 11.
That's what I was shooting for.
(07:47):
And so she kept that dateand she'd be like,
So you're going back on the 11and you know,
when are you going backand why are you going back?
And just different things like that.
But and fortunately,that wasn't the case.
You know, after we visited with Dr.
Elledge and talkedabout what we were dealing with,
(08:10):
you know, his big push was,which I'm very thankful for,
was you need to not
try to rush back to work
because you really can't do anythingwalk on flat surfaces right now.
I mean, I had to be releasedto even do stairs
for The Nutcracker with him,and that was concerning.
(08:31):
I couldn't lift anything more than £10.
His concern was
exposure to infection and then also justhe could tell that my personality's like,
what are you going to doif there's something that happens?
You can't rush into your patient's room.
You can't be there.
You'd have to be standing off him back.
And he's like,You just don't have that personality.
(08:54):
He's like, You'll get into itand you'll think it's going to be fine.
And then we're going to have,unfortunately, a complication for that,
which is just going to push you backeven more.
So like, let's just take the time and,you know, focus on these things
so that you have a good recovery.
And then when I seen himon the 20th of December,
(09:15):
you know, that's when he gave usthe big push for the chemotherapy.
And, you know, he basically told me
if we didn't do it,we were crazy is what he said.
Because in my mind I was like, well,if you've already taken it.
And the Washingsweren't confirmed that their suspicions,
(09:37):
which I'm fortunately in our world,we air, then that is a positive,
you know, then what's the point in doingthe chemotherapy?
Let's just see what happens.
And he said, you know, you're crazyif you don't go forward
with the chemotherapy.
And so then he referred us to Dr.
Luke Hamil, and we met with him
(10:00):
on January 10th,
and then we set upfor the first round of treatment,
which was on the 31st of this monthof January.
Sorry.
So up to this point,
I'd like to say that
chemo was fine,but it's different for everybody
(10:22):
and unfortunately
they recommended I also have a port placed
and so we did that on the 22nd of January
and the port itself went fine.
But I had a reaction
to the vancomycin,which was the antibiotic they gave me.
I developed like Redman's syndrome,which is something
(10:45):
as a provider you never want your patientto experience with myosin.
And so now I can still get it.
It's it'sa reaction. It's an allergic reaction.
You can still get Vanco.
It's just at a much lower doserate for the medication.
So if I do need it downthe road, I could still have it
(11:06):
and or they could pre medicate me with,
you know,like steroids or something like that.
But I'm going to be optimisticthat I won't have the need
to have to have a co myosinanywhere in the near future.
So I had an allergic reaction
essentially after the portwe got through that.
We knew what was coming up.
I got the blessing.
(11:27):
This is something else.
It's not for everybody by any means, but
my physician and teamthought that it was a good option for me.
It's somethingthat's being studied at Mayo.
They've been doing their own studies.
University San Diego has been studyingwhat's called a fasting
mimicking dietthat you do before you take chemo.
(11:50):
And so like for mine,I started it on a Saturday
or I apologize Sundayand had chemo on Wednesday.
And the goal is, is that you
you do your fasting mimicking dietso it's very specific foods
and I'm a certain amountthat you're getting for those three days
(12:10):
and then you're supposed to continuethe day of treatment and the day
after, and it's supposed to help with a couple of things.
It creates a level of they call it top.
So like where you havethese senescent cells that
they're kind of like, maybe you've heardof zombie cells or something like that.
So in our bodies,sometimes our system doesn't necessarily
(12:31):
clear things out like it's supposed to,or that's kind of the basis behind this.
And so you get these sleeper cellsor senescent cells, which we used to think
was actually meant only for somebody'saging or advanced age.
But now we're finding from studiesthat it's it can happen at any age
that you get these sleeper cells.
And so the fasting mimicking nightessentially causes
(12:53):
enough stress on your body and that it
causes these cellsto decide what they're going to do, like
if they're waking up or if they're goingto get flushed out, that type of thing.
And so it's supposed to help with the
treatmentthat I'm getting, the chemo treatment,
the two kinds that I have the taxon, the carboplatin, and then it's also
(13:15):
supposed to help with the side effectsfrom the chemotherapy.
But I broke the fastthe night before treatment
and decided I wanted
to be able to enjoy a good meal
with my family and just like, enjoy a pop
(13:37):
because chemotherapy can affectthe way you taste things.
And it can also affect even the waylike your appetite and it can affect
like how food tastesand just all of that. So
So I broke the fast after three days,
went in and had chemo on the January 31st
(13:59):
and the treatment itselfdid not, in my opinion,
go well, but by my physician and his team.
They said it was fine
because the treatment got finishedand I had a pretty significant reaction
to the chemotherapyand required like rescue meds.
And just like all of this.
(14:20):
And so that was justa traumatic situation.
And they had prepared methat there was a potential for a reaction.
But we were hoping because I had premedicated with like a steroid heavy
steroid the night before in the day ofand then they give you other
pre-med like histamine blockersand things like that
(14:43):
to try to dampen your immune systemso that it doesn't have a reaction
when you start to takethis foreign substance into your body.
But unfortunately, my case,
my immune system just went off the rails.
I did decidedit didn't like what was happening.
And so now I'm
(15:05):
trying to be very optimisticthat with the second
round on the 21st that it willit'll go much better,
which we're going to trysome different medications
and a different regimenand hopefully it'll, you know, work out.
But we'll see. So
the chemo itself, after the treatment,
(15:28):
it was like, you know, five days thatI really didn't feel like myself and felt
like I had the flu, like a really bad caseof the flu, like bone pain and fatigue.
And just, you know, one of the daysI tried making my bed
and that wore me out to the pointwhere I had to, like, lay down,
which was new for me
because I'm not used to, you know,being worn out from something like that.
(15:51):
Or like one day I got upand took a shower and then I forced myself
to go outside for a walkand pushed it and marked a mile.
And then as soon as I cameback, I had to lay on the ground
and Iwas like, I'm just going to fall asleep.
I can't.
I don't even have a choice.
I have to go to sleep now.
(16:12):
And I, you know, overdid it to myself. So.
So anyway, that's where we're at today.
I think it's just kind of therapeutic.
I mean, I'm I don't want to say like,
I'm I'm putting it out there,
but I really think if I can help somebody,I that's really the goal from this.
(16:34):
I mean, I can't imagine
had I not been tracking it on my phone
how long I actually would haveprobably let this go.
I mean, even by the second half marathon,
you know, I took a picture of Ryanand I before we went out to run the race
because he he ran it with me and
(16:58):
I look at it and I'm like,I look like I'm three months pregnant.
I do not look like somebodythat had been training for one, let alone
two for the year or been consistentlytaking care of themselves.
In my opinion.
That's how I how it looks to me.
But I also know where my body's had beenphysically up
to this situationreally kind of transpiring. And,
(17:22):
you know, so that's frustrating
that I was working
so hard to take care of myself that
and then it kind of sabotaged meand this, you know,
and this is the situation where we're at,but it's also so
amazing and crazywhat the body is actually capable of.
(17:44):
And being a provider and seeing that dayin and day out with my patients,
but also now being a patient myselfand seeing the things and the stress
and just the different medication
going from somebodywho never takes medication to having,
you know, something that you can lookat chemo as being a poison,
(18:04):
you know, and that's how I feel, likeI worry some people look at it like that.
But realistically,if you look at chemotherapy,
it is really amazingwhat they are able to do.
I mean, thethe certain one, the Taxol that I take,
you know, the nurse practitioner with Dr.
Louisville office, who I see,is she in for me?
(18:25):
She's been doing this for over 30 years.
And she said, you know,when we started using Taxol,
when she started 30 years ago,
she said you'd have to stayin the hospital
and we'd give it over a minimumof a 24 hour period of time
because of how concerning it wasand how we needed to watch the patient.
And she's like, Nowwe can infuse you in an afternoon, like
(18:47):
and then, you know,do you feel crummy? Yes.
But you also have to think on a cellularlevel what this medication is doing.
I mean, it's redoingyour DNA, which is a little
sci fi and scary sometimes,
you know, But it's literallylike just forcing the regeneration.
(19:08):
It's a result.
It's kind of how I've come to think of it,like it's resetting
these rogue cells that's in my body.
And is there going to be some collateral?
Probably, you know, one of thosebeing my hair, others
being like my concernfor what we call like neuropathy.
So like your in your hands, in your feet.
(19:29):
But I've also had a great support system
and one of those is another survivor.
She didn't even know me or knew of me.
And she's reached outand she checks in on me
and she's brought over stufflike she did these cold.
They're called themlike I call them cold packs.
I guess they don't really knowwhat they are, but it's a cold therapy.
(19:51):
And so for the Taxol treatment,it's supposed to be around 3 hours.
You put these gloves onthat look like grill mats
that are have ice packs inside of themthat cool your hands
to a certain temperatureand then your feet and you tape your feet
with these bandsso that the packs, the ice
is, you know, as tightas it possibly can be to your toes.
(20:14):
You're basically freezing your handsand feet for 3 hours
with the potential of basically you'recausing such significant vasoconstriction
and that the medication it'sgoing to circulate there.
Right.
We're not completely excludingoff the area, but it's to try and help
prevent the the side effect of neuropathyso that I don't lose the ability to feel
(20:38):
the need to button somethingor I can pick up my cup and not like
drop it on the groundbecause they don't even realize or,
you know, there's been storieswhere there's
women who are very activeand then they get this neuropathy
in their feet and they can't runor they can't do anything because
maybe even drive because it causessuch a significant impact.
(21:00):
And so,
you know, if I can do somethingthat's going to minimize it
and it's not a medication,I'm willing to try that
because ultimatelyI want to try and preserve,
you know, make my kidneys and my liverand my heart and,
you know, all those thingsas much as I can.
But just also the community in general,
(21:21):
like the hospital has been so supportive.
It's been extremely difficult.
I've been out of work since October 20th.
That's the last day I closed my officeknowing that
I wouldn't be backat least for 6 to 8 weeks.
And, you know, here we are. It's February.
Now I'm slotted to do
(21:43):
six rounds total of treatment.
So my last regimen or
my last treatment won't be until May likemiddle of May if everything goes well,
you know, And so just trying tofigure out what that's going to look like,
you know, if I can come back to workand work a little bit here or there,
I think just to add some normalcy tomy life would be nice.
(22:07):
But then also
there's just a huge fear of, well,what if that ends up being a bad day?
And then, you know, Ithen I don't like letting people down
and I know everybody would understand,but it would just be like me
feeling like I was letting everybody down,like the one day
I'm supposed to, you know, come backor do around or something like that.
(22:28):
And I can't do it, you know,because I'm feeling so crummy or whatever.
So I think just really figuring out
what that's going to look like.
And like I said, I can't ask
for a better placeto work to be dealing with this.
You know, I justI can't imagine trying to do this
in any other type of employmentthat I've had.
(22:49):
So, you know, that's been great.
And then also just
the community that was shownto my children, they didn't even know why.
They knew mom had surgeries,but they didn't know why people were just
sending flowers to the houseor why there was a little gift basket
showing up at the door or,you know, different things like that
(23:10):
or people popping overjust to check in or stuff like that.
And it's you know, it just shows themthat there's good in the world
and that people do care.
And I think that's a privilegeliving in a small community, because,
you know, if we unfortunately,in my opinion, if I lived in, say, Des
Moines, I don't know that we would havethat level of support at all.
(23:36):
But we did choose to
tell the girls about the chemo finally
and cancer in general.
After we talked with Dr.
Luke and Bill when we knew it was goingto get closer to the actual treatment
and I had to have the port put inand we decided to share it with them.
And, you know, there's a lot of tears and,
(24:00):
you know, we
she's very quiet,
but she'll sporadically ask me, you know,
different questions, like last night,she and no way,
she just told me thatshe thought I was brave and
I don't know.
(24:21):
So I don't know how much that actuallymeans to me her saying that because,
you know, I don't feel brave.
I feel like I do a lot of journaling and
I really just
try to stay positive and optimistic.
But if she knew how scared I was,
(24:42):
then, you know,
I'm so many times over, like, get
knowing I'm going through itand I'm a young person in my mind,
you know, I'm 38.
Then it makes it like
and how scared I am and the side effectsand just navigating it and all of that.
(25:06):
And the cancer is on her.
I'm with his mission and they,they have an excellent team and they have
all these resources and it's great.
And they constantly call and check in onme and see how things are going.
And I love that.
And they're always giving me advice or,you know, different things like that.
I mean, I can get in touch with my
(25:27):
my doctors nurse at any time.
I send her an email,she emails me back with a response
or even a phone call if I need it and all.
But then I get
my heart starts to hurt.
For the older patientsthat go through this, because
I can't imagine, you know, hereI am talking about running,
(25:48):
you know, a couple of racesand working out and things like that.
Well, physically,I, I would think I'm a strong person
from a physical standpoint,but the amount of fatigue
that I've experienced alreadyfrom just one round of chemo.
And so I do think,
you know,I have a challenge in general for any
(26:08):
a cancer provider or cancer researchwould be like they need to do better.
I mean, they can always do better. There's
I just we're taking peopleat their most vulnerable time
and we're asking them to trustin something
that only,unfortunately going to have side effects
and bring about,you know, days that they really don't have
(26:32):
maybe the abilityto even care for themselves,
depending on where they were alreadyat in their in their life.
And so, I mean, that's just
makes me very sad.
I've already projected
that ethical soapboxon to my doctor and his team. So
(26:53):
where do we get which they are?
They are they're doing, you know,everything that they can and they provide
whatever is needed to help minimizethe symptoms within their ability.
You know, but the reality isthat there's just like certain things,
you know, that they can'tthey just can't do.
We're not there yet.
You know, in my case,
(27:13):
we're still lookingfor clinical trials for me.
So there's also that'salso kind of part of it
that makes me nervous about making a planfor coming back to work yet.
Because if I get put in a clinical trial,we're only going
to be adding more different typesof chemo agents into the mix,
which obviouslycomes with side effects and,
(27:39):
you know, which then
just makes ita little more difficult to navigate life.
Finley has she's in
competition dance,and so she has several competitions
coming up in March and in April,and then they have a recital.
Her in Harleston, a wholesince my four year old.
They have a recital coming up inMay and it's
(28:01):
I don't want to miss outon any of that stuff.
I'm not going to allow myself to do that.
So saving my energy,I guess, is what I'm saying for
those types of things is definitely,you know, a priority right now
on my list,
Jade's story can be heard in
full length on our new podcast channel.
(28:24):
You can access it directly at VMC, dot
pod being talked on,or by going to our Web site at bandes.
M.C. Dawg and selecting Focus on Healthunder the News and Events tab.
Other ways to listen are throughyour favorite podcast app, like Amazon
Music, Audible iHeartRadio, Spotify,
(28:45):
Google Podcasts, and Apple Podcasts.
Watch for more details about the launch
of our podcast channelon our social media channels
that will
do itfor today's edition of Focus on Health,
brought to you by the AndesMedical Center, where our focus is you.
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