“If you have to have cancer, it’s nice to be in a place where everyone genuinely wants to help you.”‐Larry Holman
I’m an 83-year-old U.S. Navy veteran. I smoked for twenty-odd years until I was 35 years old, which left me with some lingering COPD. Ten years ago I had a heart attack and had a stent put in. So when I received my cancer diagnosis, it crossed my mind that it might be time to go into hospice. But my wife Debbie was already battling breast cancer, and if she could fight, I felt like I could too.
It started in August 2022, when I began noticing pain in my abdomen. I thought it might be gall bladder disease, since it seemed to correlate with certain things I ate. My primary physician ordered some ultrasounds, but they didn’t show much.
However, the pain kept getting worse, and I began losing a lot of weight, so in the spring of 2023 I went to see Dr. Frank Friedenberg, a gastroenterologist at Temple University Hospital. Dr. Friedenberg is part of Temple Health, as is Fox Chase Cancer Center, where Debbie was being treated. The CAT scan he ordered showed a thickening of the wall of my intestine, so he referred me to Dr. Stephen Heller, a gastroenterologist specializing in endoscopy at Temple University Hospital.
The Right Team
Dr. Heller performed an endoscopy and then sat down with me, Debbie, and my son Andrew and explained that my situation looked pretty serious. Three days later, he called to tell us that the biopsy had come back positive for cancer, and he had set up an appointment with Dr. Sanjay S. Reddy, a surgical oncologist at Fox Chase.
Dr. Reddy was a professional. He conducted thorough exams and had many discussions with me and Debbie. But he was a cheerleader too. He told me about other patients whose cases were similar to mine and highlighted their successes.
I’m 83, but in his mind — and therefore in mine — it’s all about your attitude more than your age. I was scheduled to have surgery the following month, June 2023.
Dr. Reddy told me I had a rare gastrointestinal cancer known as ampullary cancer, which is often mistaken for pancreatic cancer. It gets its name from the ampulla of Vater, which is where your bile duct and pancreatic duct connect and empty into your small intestine.
To get at the cancer, Dr. Reddy performed a Whipple procedure, which meant removing the head of my pancreas and the first section of my small intestine. He also removed 23 lymph nodes, seven of which were found to be cancerous.
Support After Surgery
I spent seven days in the hospital following my surgery. I was blown away by the fact that every morning, Dr. Reddy called Debbie to give her an update on my condition. The entire staff at Fox Chase, from the doctors to the nurse’s aides, was pleasant, helpful, courteous, and supportive. If you have to have cancer, it’s nice to be in a place where everyone genuinely wants to help you.
Dr. Reddy and the nutritionists and physical therapists who came to see me each day helped Debbie and I prepare for what we’d need to do after I was discharged. It took me several weeks to build enough strength to do much for myself, but Debbie encouraged me all the way.
Fox Chase also arranged for a home healthcare team to visit once a week. It was reassuring to know they were there if I had questions and to get support staying on track to meet my rehab goals.
Because the cancer had shown up in my lymphatic system and was a type that could be aggressive if it came back, I needed to receive a course of chemotherapy after surgery. Dr. Reddy referred me to Dr. Efrat Dotan, a medical oncologist at Fox Chase who has been seeing me through my chemotherapy treatment. She’s been great at staying on top of all the side effects and monitoring my blood cell counts.
A New Lease on Life
Aside from chemo, life is mostly back to normal. I’m exercising and walking again like I used to. I see my children and grandchildren in the surrounding Philadelphia area as much as I can.
Because part of my pancreas was removed during surgery, I have to take medicine with every meal and snack in order to replace certain enzymes I’m missing, but it’s not too bad.
Now, as long as my CAT scans stay clear and I get through the next few months of chemo, it will be my turn to ring the bell as a cancer survivor. Debbie rang hers earlier this year.
I owe it all to the magnificent team of Fox Chase and Temple Health doctors, each of whom did the right thing and got me into the right hands. This may give me another five years of life, and for that I’m overjoyed. It has been worth the fight.
Learn more about treatment for gastrointestinal cancer at Fox Chase Cancer Center.