Key points from today’s guests:

Jason Spreitzer, oral cancer survivor

• As a firefighter, Jason is used to saving lives.
• But when he was diagnosed with cancer on his tongue, he was in for the fight of his life.
• He first noticed a sore about five years ago when he was brushing his teeth and got it checked out.
• It was diagnosed as cancer on his tongue, but it wasn’t back far enough for radiation or chemotherapy, so he had to have surgery to remove the cancer and reconstruct his tongue.
• He credits his nurse navigator, Ronda Westerheid, for helping him through a very stressful situation.
• He now helps advocate more for firefighter safety and regularly conducts training videos.
• The staff at the health system were wonderful in getting him back on track and able to speak clearly.
• He received his five-year survivorship pin from Dr. Kiran Kakarala.

Ronda Westerheid, R.N., nurse navigator, The University of Kansas Health System

• Our goal as nurse navigators is to set your mind at ease and educate you about what to expect and get you in with the appropriate surgeons, medical radiation oncologists, and just provide that layer of support and identify any barriers.
• We have an entire department dedicated to good folks like Jason and we're here to help guide you through the process and the journey.

Dr. Kiran Kakarala, head and neck surgical oncologist, The University of Kansas Cancer Center

• Oral cancer include the tongue and gums and other parts of your mouth, so Jason’s cancer was considered an oral cancer.
• There is not a lot of awareness about head and neck cancers, so it is important to have more education around this.
• We were able to take some skin from Jason’s arm and graft it onto the tongue after we removed the cancer.
• The reason we use that skin from the arm is it has the exact dimensions and depth that we need to rebuild that part of the tongue. That’s not based on just my experience, but many other surgeons over many thousands of patients.
• This is the kind of the benefit of being treated in comprehensive cancer center -- we have a ton of resources. It's not just a surgeon. It's a whole village of people that contribute to a hopefully a good outcome.

Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control, The University of Kansas Health System

• The hospital COVID count for this week is at eight inpatients, which is a decrease from 12 last week.
• We are officially out of respiratory viral season which typically ends about April 1. We know that influenza and RSV have gone down. We do expect to have some circulation of COVID to in the community throughout the year.
• Long COVID can’t be a forgotten disease. We need proposed research funding to  provide resources to help find out what are the mechanisms behind all these symptoms that people are having.

Tuesday, April 16 at 8 a.m. is the next Morning Medical Update. Half of all Americans will get nodules on their thyroid. Now there's a way to treat the nodules without an incision. Meet a woman who found a specialist close to home that could keep her out of the operating room.

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