Guest Posts on County 10 are provided by contributors and the opinions, thoughts, and comments within are their own and may not necessarily reflect those of County 10.
It’s been a long journey for Sue. The surprise diagnosis back in July was exactly what everyone fears, malignant. But it was only one spot, with one questionable lymph node.
Our daughter Staci, who has a BS in Nursing from Wyoming, an MSN from Carlow University and a PhD in Nursing Research from the University of Pittsburgh, swung into action.
To say Staci’s interaction with providers in the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center was remarkable is a vast understatement. She walked her mom through the process initially, then followed every step of the way of Sue’s treatment.
The treatments were not easy. Sue claims she’s a wimp, since she’d never had surgery or medication of any kind in her life prior to this. But that’s not surprising in a person who swims five miles a week, walks another 15 or so and has lifted weights for many years while eating the healthiest diet you can imagine. A wimp, she is not.
Cancer doesn’t care. She has the BRCA1 Gene, an inherited genetic malfunction that leads to breast cancer. Combined with that she was diagnosed as triple-negative, making her treatment a complex combination of chemotherapy, immunotherapy and ultimately surgery.
Staci broke trail through the complex world of American medicine without breaking stride. She was the perfect person to guide her mother through the process. Staci worked at Ivinson Memorial Hospital in Laramie, at a skin cancer clinic in suburban Pittsburgh, at the bedside in pre- and post-anesthesia care, and as a nurse educator before signing on with the Veteran’s Administration.
The choice to work with Veterans was partially driven by a love of research and her love for her late grandfather, my dad, Luther Tucker. Dad was a Korean War Combat Veteran in the United States Navy, serving on the USS Iowa, “The Last Battleship” in bombarding the North Korean Coast. He later joined the U.S. Air Force and retired after 20 years to farm between Pavillion and Kinnear. Dad suffered from sleep apnea, as many Veterans do.
His experiences were part of the reason why Staci did her doctoral dissertation on sleep apnea. Through her studies, she became acquainted with researchers at the VA who encouraged her to continue her studies in a fellowship focused on patient safety in the Veteran population. She moved to the VA where she works directly with Veterans and their care providers to establish best practices for telehealth care in patients with diabetes on insulin pumps. Approximately 1 in 4 of our military heroes are afflicted with this disease, many of them in rural locations and who rely on telehealth to receive specialty care.
Her employment with the VA is in question. Comrade Trump and Fuhrer Musk have deemed research, one of the VA’s core missions, and the VA itself as unnecessary with a proposed reduction in force of 86,000 positions, one-sixth of the entire VA.
Not a surprise coming from a couple of draft dodgers who consider veterans suckers and losers.
While on the subject of the current political idiocy coming from the Whitehouse, Sue’s cancer could not have come at a better time. She went on Medicare in June, after turning 65 in May. She was diagnosed a month later.
The bills for her treatment were astronomical. She was covered previously by Christian Healthcare Ministries, a wonderful organization, but one that requires upfront payment before reimbursement. I could have handled it, but it would have put a chink in our cash flow.
The putrid duo running the show from the Whitehouse have their sights set on ending Medicare, they’ve already made a beachhead with the elimination of Medicaid passed by the chickenshit U.S. Congress marching in lockstep with Captain Bone Spurs. If you have an aging parent, or a disabled child, make room at home for them, Harriet Hageman voted to eliminate Medicaid with all the rest of the Republicans save one.
At the same time, the anti-immigrant idiocy spewing from Washington would have had a dramatic impact on Sue’s treatment.
Since only white men matter to the MAGA world, her medical team would have been drastically reduced, beginning with her oncology surgeon, Dr. Qurat Ul Ain “Anna” Sabih, MD.
Dr. Anna Sabih is marvelous, with a sense of humor, a caring bedside manner and an infectious optimism that belies the gravity of her medical practice.
Dr. Sabih graduated from Nishtar Medical College in Multan, Pakistan.
The story of a woman raised in the male-dominated, repressive world of militant Islam rising to become one of the preeminent cancer surgeons in the world is incredible. It is something that could soon be shared by women in the United States if the repressive goals of the MAGA Republicans have their way.
Dr. Sabih was assisted by Dr. Sara Ardila, a surgeon from South America, who earned her degree from Florida State Medical School. Dr. Sabih’s Physician’s Assistant, Alexandra Green, is a graduate of the PA School at Slippery Rock University.
Rounding out the surgical team last week at UPMC Shadyside was Dr. Carolyn De La Cruz, an American with an MD from the University of Eastern Virginia but with a sketchy, Hispanic last name. (According to MAGA)
They were ably assisted in surgery by Dr. Ryan Holden, anesthesiologist of Drexel University.
Sue’s other providers would frighten the stalwarts of America First Virtue to death.
Dr. Nikhil Bhagwan Amesur, an Indian immigrant with an MD from Tufts University Medical School, was the general surgeon who set the port for chemotherapy.
Dr. Lei Yang, an anesthesiology fellow who prepped Sue for surgery, is Chinese, with degrees from The First Hospital of Xi’an and the Fourth Military Medical University in China. Her supervisor is also originally Chinese, Dr. Wu Yin who graduated from Vanderbilt Medical School.
Sue’s primary oncologist is Dr. Khanh Tuan Nguyen, a brilliant, diminutive Vietnamese man with an MD from the University of Georgia.
These people, both foreign and domestic, were incredibly skilled, compassionate, and masters of their craft.
Most of them would have never been able to practice medicine if the vindictive racists now in office had their way. I’m glad most Americans realize the idiocy of the situation.
All this Pennsylvania expertise wouldn’t be possible without the care and professionalism of Rocky Mountain Oncology in Lander.
Dr. John Zimmerman and his team of talented, compassionate, skilled nurses and technicians is an oasis of quality care in the desert that is medicine in Fremont County, Wyoming.
Dr. Zimmerman has been masterful in processing Sue through 12 one-week sessions of chemotherapy, and four more at three-week intervals. It wiped her out, weakened her, took her beautiful hair away, but thankfully worked.
To Dr. Zimmerman’s staff of Viva, Teesha, Juli and Gail, we can’t thank you enough. You’ve been there every step of the way, and are prepared if we need to return, which hopefully, we will not.
You gals rock at a level you probably can’t comprehend.
We live in tenuous times, times where idiocy, ignorance and prejudice rule, but it doesn’t have to last forever, and you don’t have to accept it.
Fight for your rights, and the rights of others. Rail against the darkness.