Kansas City, Kan- The University of Kansas Health System is treating a total of 5 COVID patients today, 6 Friday.
Key points from today’s guests:
Pam Wilson, graft versus host disease patient
• After getting a stem cell transplant from her sister, Pam struggled with the aftermath – skin rash, inflammation, nausea, severe fatigue, and depression.
• With The University of Kansas Cancer Center’s graft versus host disease clinic, Pam is able to manage her physical symptoms with steroid injections and medication, while her mental issues are addressed with a trained therapist.
• Pam attended a class for her and her family talking about graft versus host disease. The hardest part for her has been the psychological aspect.
• Pam thanks Dr. Muenks for helping her realize this is a process and guiding her through it, including going to a survivorship clinic and a palliative clinic.
Dr. Sunil Abhyankar, hematologist, medical oncologist, The University of Kansas Cancer Center
• Myeloid leukemia is a rare cancer, but it is deadly one. With the donor transplant, we're replacing a patient's immune system with the donor’s immune system. So, by replacing the immunity, we build up the immunity against the cancer coming back.
• Graft versus host disease occurs when the donor’s immune system wants to fight the recipient or the patient's body because that's what the donor’s immune cells are designed to do – they're designed to attack something that looks foreign to them. And even though the donor and the recipient are well matched, there are still multiple differences in the DNA that the immune system recognizes.
• We are really lucky at The University of Kansas Cancer Center that there's an onco-psychology team available to all patients and families and caregivers. This is an important part of the healing process.
Dr. Elizabeth Muenks, PhD., onco-psychologist, The University of Kansas Cancer Center
• A big part of what we do is normalizing the mental challenge of going through this process – you've worked so hard to go through a stem cell transplant, you go through induction chemotherapy, and then you go through the transplant, you've got 100 days of 24/7 caregiving, you're in the hospital, you do this marathon to beat your cancer.
• And then in survivorship, you deal with something like chronic graft versus host disease, which almost feels like a setback. It feels very psychologically like you crossed the finish line, you beat my cancer and now you have this other major thing to deal with. It can really put patients in a mental hole.
• Patients are experts on themselves. There are great approaches to treating things like depression and anxiety and a lot of that has to do with changing how you change what you do to have an impact on how you feel.
• It’s about figuring out how you can obtain a quality of life that makes it feel worth being here for.
Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director, infection prevention & control, The University of Kansas Health System
• Starting this week, the Health System is stopping its internal COVID tracking dashboard that we have used to share these numbers for the over the last three years. And that means that we're changing how we deliver the numbers.
• We also do have to remember there are those patients in those populations of patients out there who remain at high risk. And so, we really want to do everything we can to continue to educate and provide that information to help protect those patients and their families.
• We can continue to track those numbers. And then we will present it to you if the situation arises.
Wednesday, Aug. 9 at 8 a.m. CT is the next Open Mics with Dr. Stites. When there was no pulse in one patient’s foot, amputation was on the table – until the option of artificial arteries sewn into the body became a better solution.
ATTENTION MEDIA: Please note access is with Microsoft Teams:
Join on your computer or mobile app
Click here to join the meeting
Meeting ID: 235 659 792 451
Passcode: 6CSfGE
Download Teams | Join on the web
Or call in (audio only)
+1 913-318-8863,566341546# United States, Kansas City
TVU Grid link: UoK_Health_SDI
Restream links: Facebook.com/kuhospital
YouTube.com/kuhospital
Send advance questions to medicalnewsnetwork@kumc.edu.
Key points from today’s guests:
Pam Wilson, graft versus host disease patient
• After getting a stem cell transplant from her sister, Pam struggled with the aftermath – skin rash, inflammation, nausea, severe fatigue, and depression.
• With The University of Kansas Cancer Center’s graft versus host disease clinic, Pam is able to manage her physical symptoms with steroid injections and medication, while her mental issues are addressed with a trained therapist.
• Pam attended a class for her and her family talking about graft versus host disease. The hardest part for her has been the psychological aspect.
• Pam thanks Dr. Muenks for helping her realize this is a process and guiding her through it, including going to a survivorship clinic and a palliative clinic.
Dr. Sunil Abhyankar, hematologist, medical oncologist, The University of Kansas Cancer Center
• Myeloid leukemia is a rare cancer, but it is deadly one. With the donor transplant, we're replacing a patient's immune system with the donor’s immune system. So, by replacing the immunity, we build up the immunity against the cancer coming back.
• Graft versus host disease occurs when the donor’s immune system wants to fight the recipient or the patient's body because that's what the donor’s immune cells are designed to do – they're designed to attack something that looks foreign to them. And even though the donor and the recipient are well matched, there are still multiple differences in the DNA that the immune system recognizes.
• We are really lucky at The University of Kansas Cancer Center that there's an onco-psychology team available to all patients and families and caregivers. This is an important part of the healing process.
Dr. Elizabeth Muenks, PhD., onco-psychologist, The University of Kansas Cancer Center
• A big part of what we do is normalizing the mental challenge of going through this process – you've worked so hard to go through a stem cell transplant, you go through induction chemotherapy, and then you go through the transplant, you've got 100 days of 24/7 caregiving, you're in the hospital, you do this marathon to beat your cancer.
• And then in survivorship, you deal with something like chronic graft versus host disease, which almost feels like a setback. It feels very psychologically like you crossed the finish line, you beat my cancer and now you have this other major thing to deal with. It can really put patients in a mental hole.
• Patients are experts on themselves. There are great approaches to treating things like depression and anxiety and a lot of that has to do with changing how you change what you do to have an impact on how you feel.
• It’s about figuring out how you can obtain a quality of life that makes it feel worth being here for.
Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director, infection prevention & control, The University of Kansas Health System
• Starting this week, the Health System is stopping its internal COVID tracking dashboard that we have used to share these numbers for the over the last three years. And that means that we're changing how we deliver the numbers.
• We also do have to remember there are those patients in those populations of patients out there who remain at high risk. And so, we really want to do everything we can to continue to educate and provide that information to help protect those patients and their families.
• We can continue to track those numbers. And then we will present it to you if the situation arises.
Wednesday, Aug. 9 at 8 a.m. CT is the next Open Mics with Dr. Stites. When there was no pulse in one patient’s foot, amputation was on the table – until the option of artificial arteries sewn into the body became a better solution.
ATTENTION MEDIA: Please note access is with Microsoft Teams:
Join on your computer or mobile app
Click here to join the meeting
Meeting ID: 235 659 792 451
Passcode: 6CSfGE
Download Teams | Join on the web
Or call in (audio only)
+1 913-318-8863,566341546# United States, Kansas City
TVU Grid link: UoK_Health_SDI
Restream links: Facebook.com/kuhospital
YouTube.com/kuhospital
Send advance questions to medicalnewsnetwork@kumc.edu.
