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August 29-30, 2012
HealtHy life: CanCer
15
By SHANNON O. WELLS
Pamplin Media Group
Sometimes when engaged in a mundane
household task, Kendall Rowe wonders why
she feels sluggish or less efficient than she’s
been in the past.
Then she remembers.
“It sounds stupid, but sometimes I forget I
have cancer,” she says. “I’ll be cleaning the bath-
room and it’ll take a long time or I’ll feel tired.
Then I think, ‘Oh yeah, of course!’”
A 38-year-old Hillsboro resident, Rowe was
diagnosed with colon cancer in the fall of 2009.
Following surgery to remove 25 percent of her
colon, she has undergone a chemotherapy regi-
men every other week for the past two years.
While her “off” weeks are considerably more
enjoyable than those spent on therapy, Rowe is
grateful for the day-to-day life she enjoys with
her husband, Mike.
“I’m still able to do most of the activities I did
before — clean house, exercise, travel,” she
says. “But the hardest thing is kind of slowing
down, allowing time formyself to sleep and rest.
I’ve always been one to push myself.”
Rowe is one of a growing number of patients
living longer, healthier and happier with varia-
tions of a disease that oncewas equatedwith, at
best, a notably diminished quality of life or in
many cases a death sentence.
A gradual transformation in oncology treat-
ment options and approaches is fueling a popu-
lation of patients who — rather than battle or
succumb — are managing their disease quite
well, notes Dr. Miles Hassell, medical director of
Providence Integrated Medicine Program at
Providence St. VincentMedical Center inNorth-
west Portland.
“When you look at the last 10 to 20 years —
that’s the primary time frame — we’ve really
improved our ability to handle cancer as a
chronic disease,” he says. “We tend to find it
earlier. We can keep it suppressed even when
we’re unable to cure it. There are large swaths
of cancer patients becoming chronic illness pa-
tients who are living — rather than dying —
with cancer.”
Among the living
Cancer-related deaths in the U.S. have been
in decline since the early 1990s. The downward
trend in death rates from all cancers — com-
bined for men, women, and children in the U.S.
— continued between 1999 and 2008, according
to theAnnual Report to theNation on the Status
of Cancer, published last spring by the Ameri-
can Cancer Society. During the period, death
rates decreased, on average, 1.7 percent per
year formen, 1.3 percent for women and 1.5 per-
cent annually for children.
Hassell’s department exemplifies the multi-
faceted, integrated approaches to treatment —
including long-term management and overall
health and wellness — practitioners and medi-
cal centers are emphasizing. Patients are tar-
geted based on their particular circumstance:
problems related to existing tumors; complica-
tions related to radiation, chemotherapy and
surgery; or recovering patients who want to be
as healthy and strong as possible.
“We like to divide our targets for any given
individual,” Hassell explains. “What dowe do to
help this person become healthier overall?
What do we do to target the cancer the patient
has? And what do we do to help the patient
through their cancer therapy?”
A patient who undergoes surgery, for exam-
ple, will be considered forwhat might beset pro-
mote tissue healing and boosting his or her im-
mune system. A patient who undergoes radia-
tion or chemotherapy might have doses and
treatment intervals regulated in a way that al-
lows the body to respond at its highest possi-
ble strength.
“If we can help maintain a robust physiol-
ogy through radiation or chemo, we can in-
crease the likelihood the patient is able to
tolerate a full dose of chemotherapy,” which
makes them “more likely to (beat) their can-
cer.”
Team effort
Resources available to cancer patients at
all levels extend well beyond the primary
care physician or oncologist. Teri Gilmore, a
registered oncology nurse at Portland Adven-
tist Medical Center, serves as a breast cancer
patient “navigator,” a relatively new but in-
creasingly common role that focuses on the
needs of those undergoing treatment or in
various stages of recovery.
“It started in 2000 as a pilot project in the
Harlem (N.Y.) area to provide individuals
with a one-on-one navigator to help guide the
patient through treatment, make sure they
get the services they need in a timely way
and remove barriers — language, financial,
insurance — all things that interfere with
treatment,” she says.
In addition to cancer survivor support
groups outside the medical center realm, the
nurse navigator role reflects challenges re-
sulting from significant advances in technol-
ogy and medicine.
“Technology has served us very well in
saving a lot of lives,” Gilmore says. “The chal-
lenge is, now that patients are living longer
with other symptoms that can be debilitating
or disabling but not life threatening, to be
able to manage those so patients have the
most quality of life.”
The multidisciplinary palliative care ap-
proach is another result of changing trends
in treatment and survivor rates. The branch
of medicine brings together physicians, phar-
macists, chaplains, social workers and others
to tailor a plan to relieve suffering and ad-
dress physical, emotional, social and spiritual
needs at all stages.
“The goal is to promote quality of life,”
Gilmore says. “We look at the whole person
— it’s a very holistic kind of program — and
assess patients for symptom management,
working with the patient and family to de-
velop goals for care.”
The approach addresses issues from anxi-
ety and depression to the aftereffects of a
patient who, say, had tongue surgery and dif-
ficulty swallowing.
“It’s usually someone with multiple prob-
lems or chronic pain who’s had a hard time
figuring out what to do,” she says. “I think
(palliative) services will really be expand-
ing.”
Staying in tune
Rowe, who was healthy and had no family
history of colon cancer when she was diag-
nosed at age 35, says acupuncture and yoga
have helped her through periods of treatment
and recovery. After her surgery she partici-
pated in a support group for adults living
with cancer for a while, but withdrew when
the Tuesday sessions interfered with chemo-
therapy or quality time at home.
“I’d rather stay home with my family,” she
says.
Outside of loved ones, Rowe, a former sales
representative for learning.com, finds the
support and solace she needs through online
social networks including Facebook pages
devoted to cancer survivors and the website
caringbridge.org. According to its literature,
the latter attracts more than a half-million
people a day looking to connect, share stories
and support related to personal health
events.
“In the beginning, I really struggled with
how to adjust to my new lifestyle,” she says.
“I was going through chemotherapy and try-
ing to keep up with work. It was making me
really sick. Your relationships change with
people.
“I think now I’mmuch more laid back,” she
adds. “I think my attitude is more Zen-like. I
don’t get stressed out anymore. I try to laugh
at pretty much everything.”
She is serious, however, when it comes to
people listening to their minds and bodies —
and acting when something seems off, as it
did when she began suffering chronic abdom-
inal pain and discomfort after meals, fever
and nausea.
“My biggest message to people — and it’s
really important to me — is when you feel
something wrong or out of the ordinary, you
need to be a self advocate,” she says. “If you
see something out of the ordinary, don’t wait.
Go see a specialist.
“If I had ignored my symptoms, I’d proba-
bly would’ve been dead within six months.”
New
leases
on life
■
Treatments,
support systems
allow survivors to
live longer, better
than ever before
After being diagnosed
with colon cancer in 2009
and undergoing surgery
to remove one fourth of
her colon, Beaverton
resident Kendall Rowe
goes in for chemotherapy
treatment every other
week. With the support
of her husband,
Beaverton police Officer
Mike Rowe, and slowing
down her naturally
frenetic pace, she finds
she’s able to do much of
what she enjoyed before
her diagnosis. She has
become a strong
advocate of cancer
patients to be in tune
with themselves and not
be afraid to see a doctor
if something doesn’t
seem quite right.
PMG PHOTO: JAIME VALDEZ