A few months after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Sandy Mayhew told her grandchildren she was going to the senior center in Fond du Lac, Wisc., to play dress up. She would come back with blue hair and rosy cheeks, she teased.
Instead, she returned with morale-boosting tips on looking good during cancer treatment from an American Cancer Society workshop. In early June 2004, cleaning a computer lab at the Oakfield Middle School, where she is a librarian, Sandy got dust in her eyes. Washing it out, she was alarmed to see her eyes looked yellow and scheduled time with her doctor. Suspecting gallstones, he performed an ultrasound; it revealed a tumor in her pancreas.
A CT scan at St. Agnes Hospital showed a pancreatic tumor was obstructing a bile duct. Sandy was referred to Jerry Evans, MD, a board-certified gastroenterologist at Agnesian HealthCare's Fond du Lac Regional Clinic, who performed an endoscopic procedure to open the duct with a stent, eliminating the yellow from her eyes. Realizing the delicate nature of surgery Sandy required, Dr. Evans referred her to Stuart Wilson, MD, a Medical College of Wisconsin surgeon with experience treating pancreatobiliary and endocrine cancers at Froedtert & Medical College of Wisconsin.
Sandy says Dr. Wilson patiently explained everything to her. "Everyone took time to sit and talk with me, no matter what my question was."
After reviewing tests with his team, Dr. Wilson recommended an operation as Sandy's best option. He surgically removed the tumor, but it had invaded the walls of adjacent veins, which prevented him from performing a standard pancreaticoduodenectomy, (Whipple procedure) to remove a tumor in the head of the pancreas. Instead, he performed a palliative biliary bypass.
After surgery, Sandy needed radiation and chemotherapy to help control the tumor's growth. She returned home to see Hematologist/ Medical Oncologist Eugene Lambert, MD and Radiation Oncologist Michael Vander Kooy, MD. Both are board-certified physicians at Agnesian HealthCare's Central Wisconsin Cancer Program, a collaborative effort of Agnesian HealthCare and Central Wisconsin Radiation Oncology, SC. Dr. Lambert prescribed chemotherapy drugs to shrink Sandy's tumor. Three weeks later, she began radiation therapy at the Central Wisconsin Cancer Program.
This collaborative treatment was possible via a referral relationship between Froedtert & Medical College of Wisconsin and Agnesian HealthCare (St. Agnes Hospital and the Fond du Lac Regional Clinic). Part of the Central Wisconsin Cancer Program treating patients from 11 counties, Agnesian HealthCare provides advanced cancer services, including radiation and chemotherapy, surgery and supportive services. Doctors there can consult with Medical College of Wisconsin physicians on complex cases and refer patients for treatment. Patients can then return to Fond du Lac for follow-up or completion of treatment in familiar surroundings — as did Sandy.
"I owe it to all my doctors," Sandy says, "for finding the growth and treating it right away." She finished radiation treatment in mid-October, and is waiting to see how the tumor responds.