Key points from today’s guests:
Wendy Murphy, breast cancer survivor
- Her breast reconstruction surgery was a long process – 10 surgeries over 5 years.
- Every single procedure was a new step in the right direction.
- She said learning that you have a diagnosis of cancer can be incredibly overwhelming and scary.
- From the minute that she got the folder that had her KU team in it, she knew she was going to be okay.
- She said every nurse and physician she met with was incredible and felt the personalized care.
- She wants women to know there are options to get their bodies back.
Dr. Julie Holding, plastic surgeon, The University of Kansas Health System
- The breast reconstruction process begins immediately after a mastectomy. Once the surgical oncologist steps away from the table, we step up.
- Cellular dermal matrix is really cadaver skin. It is used like a scaffold to help reconstruct the soft tissues to give the reconstruction more support and the body will actually incorporate it as its own tissue.
- There are also artificial implants and there's your own tissue. With your own tissue, there are limitless areas we can take it from depending on the patient.
- For Wendy, we chose one of the most reliable and one of the best areas to take from, which is her abdomen.
- A graft is something that doesn't have blood flow brought to the area so it's placed on top of the tissues or in the tissues hoping to get blood flow from that area.
- A flap is a like a piece of tissue and it's brought to the area with blood flow.
- There is also a suction-based device that can help expand the tissues and stimulates new blood vessels to form within the breast.
- The process is very overwhelming to patients. I help them put the control back in their hands and focus them one step at a time toward recovery.
Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer, The University of Kansas Hospital
- In the past, a breast cancer diagnosis was a worse diagnosis because so many patients didn't survive. And today it's a whole new ballgame.
- We are all grateful to the terrific care provided in the cancer program, whether it's the nursing staff, the front desk staff, the medical oncologists and medical surgical oncologists – everyone who works together to bring the science that has been developed over the last 30 to 40 years to the bedside to improve a patient's life.
- That's the impact of science, changing lives. And having faith in that science makes it gives you the ability to get through the hard times.
Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director, infection prevention & control, The University of Kansas Health System
- COVID hospitalizations this week have increased from 14 patients last week to 20 patients this week.
- We looked at data from January to August 2023 and found that the vast majority of COVID patients were 60 and over – 50 percent of those were 75 and over – so this has really become a disease for those most at risk – the elderly, immune compromised, those with comorbid conditions.
- That's why it is so vitally important to have a plan to get the updated vaccine.
- Despite internet rumors, there's no evidence of the body accumulating spike proteins with the number of vaccines. Again, in these mRNA vaccines, you are creating that spike protein that will then get degraded, but you will develop that antibody and that immune response to that spike protein.
Morning Medical Update is on TV in October! The four-part series Cancer: Choices, Hope and Science will air on Tuesdays in October. In the Kansas City area, it’s on KCTV5 at 9:30 a.m. and in Topeka, it’s on WIBW at 9 a.m.
Friday, Oct. 20 at 8 a.m. CT is the next Morning Medical Update. Cancer patients have options to preserve embryos, eggs, and sperm so they can go through treatment and still have family planning options afterward. Hear the story of one woman who became cancer free and delivered a healthy baby in May.
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