Key points from today’s guests:
Jim Dayton, non-Hodgkin lymphoma survivor
- Two years ago, Jim started experiencing sinus issues so bad he was hospitalized for four days, waiting for the hospital to provide answers on treatment.
- He was sent home, then notified that he had cancer. But they said he’d have to wait several days before he met with an oncologist.
- Frustrated, Jim sought a second opinion at The University of Kansas Cancer Center and he was brought in right away for treatment.
- He was diagnosed with an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that was growing at a rate so fast that it could have cut off his air supply and killed him in a matter of days or weeks.
- Doctors at the University of Kansas Cancer Center started Jim on chemotherapy immediately, an aggressive treatment to match the aggressive cancer. He had a team of doctors meet every morning by Jim's bedside and tweak the chemo as needed.
- Today, he is healthy and thankful for the care. He recommends people seek a second opinion if they don’t feel like they are getting the care they need.
Dr. Joseph McGuirk, hematologist & medical oncologist, The University of Kansas Cancer Center
- In Jim's case, he was in big trouble. I think it was a bit generous for the doctors to be saying he could have died in two to four weeks. When I looked at his imaging studies, he could have gotten in trouble much sooner than that, actually and we could have lost him.
- He had a big tumor impinging on blood vessels and impinging on his airways. Obstructing either of those could be potentially disastrous. He had extensive blood clots because of the impingement on his blood vessels and it was affecting his airway. That's why he was feeling congested.
- Jim was put on six rounds of chemo and he was encouraged to be active and not just stay in bed. It's good to get up and get going and stay active and eat well, even when you don't have an appetite. Nutrition is medicine. And so being out of bed being active is greatly encouraged.
- For advice to other patients, be more like Jim. Educate yourself. Listen to your friends who are giving you good advice about going to an NCI designated cancer center like ours, where we have a state of the art therapies and clinical trials.
- Never be shy about asking for a second opinion. And if you're a physician has an issue with that, your physician has an issue.
Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention & control, The University of Kansas Health System
- COVID numbers this week are at 15 inpatients, which is down from a peak of 22 in the past weeks.
- A recent study done in Europe looked at people’s attitudes toward the COVID pandemic.
- They had questionnaires in 2020 and then later again in 2021 and 2022 and they asked people how they felt about certain things in society related to the pandemic.
- What they were able to find was that some of their societal or political views such as vaccinated versus unvaccinated, how the government handled it, how the scientists and medical community handled it, were determined by their actual political views.
- This could have broad ranging implications moving forward for different things such as mask mandates, vaccine mandates, or other public health recommendations.
Monday, Nov. 13 at 8 a.m. is the next Morning Medical Update. Lung cancer experts have new tests and treatments at their fingertips. But by the time most patients show symptoms, it could be too late for most treatments. Learn more about the best way to catch lung cancer early and the growing options to treat it -- plus the first change in screening guidelines this decade.
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.