National Physician’s Week: grateful for excellent medical care and report from Oregon talks, tv.
Scott is almost 8000 miles into the milesformoney journey. He left off in Lincoln Beach, Oregon, where he will pick up after we return from this Mayo visit.
We drove to McMinnville to drop the RV in storage – thank you to Gary Squires for allowing us to park the RV in your storage area while we are back in Minnesota. Huge thanks to Cynthia Easterday who arranged for a community talk in McMinnville. Everyone loved the yummy cupcakes and was moved by Scott’s inspirational talk. We also spoke to the East Portland Rotary, as well as speaking to Wesleigh Ogle and her team, of KATU news, who are putting a tv piece together for their “everyday heroes” segment. We are extremely excited to see and hear the piece! For me especially, as a long time rotarian, it is like a piece of home every time we speak at a Rotary, which is an international service organization based on “service above self.”
Last week was National Physician’s week. What a fantastic opportunity to thank Scott’s doctors. I have mentioned before how grateful we are for the great medical care Scott has received. I am highlighting a few of the doctors below. Check out the pictures of those who did virtual rides with Scott!
Dr. Greg Pippert: Twin Cities Integrative Medicine
He is the one who ordered and found the elevated PSA. We thank him for saving Scott’s life. Scott was 53, we were newly married, and Scott had zero symptoms. Scott had not even heard of a PSA test. This was a preventive health appt and we are eternally grateful to Dr. Pippert as he ordered this test and insisted Scott be seen by a urologist. Dr. Pippert is an innovative, creative, and expansive thinking doctor with an extraordinary ability to listen with great compassion. Check out Dr. Pippert doing the virtual pedal with Scott! - he even did elevation, 8 percent incline, to support Scott with the climbing).
Dr. Larry Leadbetter, Essentia Park Rapids
Scott’s life is enhanced by his great relationship with his
local doctor in Park Rapids, who ensures whatever Scott needs for his medical care
happens – for cancer and all non-cancer needs. Small town doctors become not just your
medical provider but your friend, and we value Dr. Leadbetter (and his wife
Mary,) as not just Scott’s doctor but our very good friends.
Dr. Kendall Feia, Dr Travis Pagliara and Jenna Carbone, Urology, Hennepin Healthcare
Dr Feia did the biopsy and the radical prostatectomy - Dr
Pagliara did reconstructive surgery. Two very skilled surgeons with great bed
side manner too! Dr Feia had to deliver the news on the cancer – that no one
wants to hear- and did it in a positive, uplifting manner. He is gifted in not just his surgical skills but his deliver of the news that no one ever wants to hear- you have cancer! No bigger gift than
that. Dr Pagliara gave Scott the ability to continue his relational life,
again, a huge gift to us both. Jenna is the nurse practitioner that works with
them, and guided Scott to these excellent docs, and happens to be Scott’s
daughter. We are grateful.
Dr. Bradley Stish, Radiation Oncologist, Mayo Clinic
He managed the administration of chemotherapy and the side effects during covid. Even
with covid restrictions he effectively connected with Scott, and with me, to
ensure we felt cared for and heard during the process in trying times. One of Scott's challenges was when he became immune deficient - but was continuing to work in person at the Post Office. Dr. Hugec saw him through this. Dr. Hugec also encouraged Scott to
exercises 6 times a week for 60 minutes a time, as the early clinical studies were
showing that exercise increased survival benefit by 250%! Scott took that to heart as it gave him something he could focus on that was in his control, when so much of cancer is out of your control. We were especially
grateful that we had somewhere in the cities so
close to Scott’s mom, which allowed us to stay with her during chemotherapy
visits. Dr Hugec and Dr Kwon regularly work together, so we felt comfortable with this team approach.
Dr. Eugene Kwon, Amy Jo Lee-Wiener, APRN and Dr. Kown’s Mayo team
Dr. Kwon and his team have expertly and compassionately directed Scott’s care the last few years, through chemotherapy, through hormone deprivation therapy, and through the new treatment to come as the psa is rising again even though Scott remains on hormone deprivation therapy. They have embraced Scott's milesformoney.org journey and encouraged throughout the trip. We have traveled back to see Dr. Kwon and his team every three months.
Dr Kwon and his team really care about Scott. They never
give up on finding a cure, not just palliative care. Dr Kwon believes in fully
educating the patient and actually has a patient combat manual on the PCRI.org
website, where he is a regular lecturer. But more than that we appreciate him
not for his brilliance, or creativity, or his continual pursuit of a cure, but his
heart. It is truly clear in each visit how much he cares about Scott and this flows through his whole team. He and his team always listen and always respond to questions. We are so comfortable with our trust in them.
Even though cancer visits carry much anxiety, and we are headed to Mayo tomorrow, we always look forward to seeing Dr Kwon, Amy Jo, Madison, Jamie, and all the Dr. Kwon team. (Check out Amy Jo’s picture doing the virtual pedal with Scott! She also did a video on Facebook but I was not skilled enough to upload the video- sorry Amy Jo!)
We have been very blessed by extraordinary healers that care. While we are a few days late for National Physicians week, we want each and every one of them to know that we are thankful and appreciate them. Scott and Katy Freitag; milesformoney.org
Comments
Post a Comment