Meet Georgiana
There’s no convenient time to find a lump you fear might be cancer. But finding it on vacation in Mexico while in the throes of Montezuma’s Revenge may rank as one of the worst times to face a dreaded diagnosis.
“I joke that Mexico gave me cancer,” Albany resident Georgiana Rodriguez laughed. She would need that sense of humor to get her through a tough bout with breast cancer at age 43.
Through the Samaritan Cancer Program, Rodriguez received life-saving chemotherapy, mastectomy, radiation therapy and other treatments. Toward the end of her year-long journey, she was undecided about breast reconstruction. Her surgeon, Mary Harada, MD, of Samaritan Breast Surgical Specialists in Albany, encouraged her to take her time to decide.
At the same time, doctors at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center were actively looking for a patient to undergo a procedure called “free flap” breast reconstruction surgery, which uses the patient’s own tissue to create a new breast.
Kevin Day, MD, is a plastic surgeon with Samaritan Plastic, Reconstructive & Hand Surgery in Corvallis, where he practices with his colleague Richard Havard, MD, who assisted in the free flap reconstruction surgery.
“Tissue expander and implant-based reconstruction is the most commonly performed reconstruction,” said Day. “But when Georgiana came to me, she knew she didn’t want an implant.” After listening to her wants and concerns, Day brought up the option of the free flap breast reconstruction.
With free flap breast reconstruction, the surgeon removes a section of skin and fat from somewhere else on the body — usually the abdomen — and reattaches it to form a breast mound. Since this method gives a woman a breast from living tissue, the new breast will age and feel like a natural breast. Women can lose several inches from their midsection after the surgery, where the donor tissue was removed. Women have the option of deciding if they’d like to match the new breast to the existing breast, or have a more youthful breast mound created. If the latter choice is made, a second surgery can then lift the opposite breast to appear more youthful and match the new one.
Dr. Day encouraged Rodriguez to go home and think about the surgery and come up with a list of questions for him. She did, returning with two full pages. After deciding to go ahead with the procedure, Rodriguez never looked back. “I told Dr. Day, ‘I think I’m supposed to meet you,’” she recalled. “I just got a good feeling from him.”
The surgery is complex and requires several days in the ICU for close nursing observation and flap monitoring. Since there are two surgical sites, recovery can be longer and there is always the risk the flap will fail. Although the healing process was a slow road, Rodriguez is confident she made the right choice.
“It’s a personal decision, but I’m so glad I did it. I don’t feel unbalanced. I won’t have to worry about my prosthesis coming out in a swimsuit — I feel like me. I love it.”
Two years after her journey with cancer began, Rodriguez is finally closing that chapter of her life with the completion of her reconstruction and a breast lift on her opposite breast. Rodriguez is planning a family vacation to somewhere sunny with her family soon. This time, she’ll focus on the rest and relaxation she was hoping for on the original trip.
“Time is a gift,” she said. “I look at my son and know I don’t want to miss a minute.”
Meet Stan
Stan Hagen is a numbers guy — and a bit of jokester, too. Which is why when a routine blood test revealed he had a high prostate-specific antigen level of 114, he knew he was in trouble. The antigen test measures the level of a protein produced by the prostate gland, and many physicians routinely test the antigen levels of men age 50 or older.
Stan, age 50 at the time, joined the nearly 250,000 men diagnosed with prostate cancer each year. “I thought I was a goner,” said Stan, “But hey, my cholesterol level was good!”
He embarked on a grueling treatment regimen of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. Ten years later, Stan is cured — with many blessings to count, and a lot to laugh about. For this prostate cancer survivor, a little “tumor humor” goes a long way.
By the numbers
Stan has worked as a controller for decades, most currently at Western Oregon University. He’s been married to his wife Jennifer, a special education assistant for Greater Albany Public Schools, for over 38 years. They have a grown son and daughter, as well as three grandchildren and another on the way. Most everyone in the family seems to have an affinity for numbers. Stan does friends’ taxes “for fun,” and his daughter is an accountant.
“We’re also all a bunch of gamblers,” he said of his family. He recently returned from a trip to Vegas where he hit the blackjack tables with his son. In 2002, when his high PSA test results arrived, Stan was floored. “I felt fine,” he recalled. Within a week and a half of getting that PSA number, Stan was in surgery at Samaritan Albany General Hospital.
After surgery, his prostate-specific antigen level was retested, and the results were not as everyone hoped: he still had a level of 15, when it should be zero. Stan was referred to Dr. Peter Kenyon, a Samaritan oncologist with a long history of superb cancer care
Even though the prospect of chemotherapy was frightening, Stan said, “As soon as I got in with Dr. Kenyon, I had a feeling of confidence.” He tolerated the chemotherapy relatively well, opting to work from home when he felt ill after an infusion. “It was good to keep working, it takes your mind off of it,” he said.
A little tumor humor, if you will
Stan took his chemotherapy treatments at Samaritan’s oncology/infusion services in Albany, in a cozy room with recliners, a bubbling fish tank and natural light pouring in from large windows. Always one for a laugh, he liked to walk into infusion call out, “Look alive, people!” “I fought [cancer] with humor…tumor humor,” he said, noting how much he enjoyed making jokes with oncology care manager Janie Moody, RN, ONC.
All kidding aside, Stan was grateful for the care he received during his chemo sessions. “The infusion center is very comfortable — that comfort makes a difference. The ladies who work there are very good,” he said, adding, “Even with me, the most obnoxious patient!”
After chemo finished, Stan’s antigen level was still not quite low enough for the Samaritan Cancer Program staff, so Dr. Kenyon ordered radiation. Of course the radiation technicians weren’t safe from a good-natured ribbing. “All you do is push a button,” he chided the technicians. “You had to go to college for that?”
Thankfully, after his radiation sessions at Samaritan Regional Cancer Center, Stan’s antigen number was “down to next to nothing.” In other words, exactly where it should be.
Still cracking jokes
Today, at age 60, Stan is cancer-free and enjoying life. He eats a healthy diet and runs 25 to 30 miles a week. He also receives regular injections of a synthetic hormone treatment commonly used with prostate cancer patients. He keeps regular appointments at Samaritan Hematology & Oncology Consultants, where he said oncology nurse practitioner Holly Almond “gets after me to stay healthy.”
As for long-term effects of treatment, he suffers from some bone issues, but says that running helps. “Attitude is a lot of it. Stress and worry weakens your body,” he said. Stan was thoughtful for a moment, then added, “Thinking back on it, I have fond memories of chemo.”
Fond memories? Of chemotherapy? “It’s because of the people — with Janie, Dr. Kenyon, Holly. They were all very caring,” said Stan. “I tell my wife it must be like childbirth where you forget the pain and focus only on the good. My wife says, ‘Oh no, it’s nothing like having a baby!’”
Stan still attends a prostate cancer support group offered through Samaritan Health Services. “When I first got the diagnosis of cancer, my family was good and supported me. But talking about it to people who have gone through it … it’s what I really needed. I still go. I call it ‘cancer camp.’”
And Vegas always beckons. Recently, Stan and his son have been reading up on blackjack strategy. Have they been able to beat the house? “No,” he laughed. “Just lose less!”
But in terms of beating cancer, the numbers add up: for Stan, life has been a pretty big win.