A Navy veteran thought she was having a coronary heart assault. A visit to the emergency room discovered one thing else.

While having an uncharacteristically quiet day at house, Navy veteran Mary Jo Burkhard started to really feel unusual signs that she thought might be indicators of a coronary heart assault. 

The 71-year-old knew women and men had different symptoms for sudden cardiac events. Burkhard was decided to not ignore potential warning indicators. The ache in her again and chest have been alarming sufficient to go to an pressing care, and when she threw up the painkiller she was prescribed, she instantly went to the hospital. 

Emergency room medical doctors ran assessments, together with a CAT scan. They discovered she wasn’t having a coronary heart assault — however there was a three-inch cancerous tumor on her pancreas. After two days of anxious ready, she was identified with Stage II pancreatic cancer, one of the crucial lethal types of most cancers. 

“I used to be like, ‘Oh my god, I’m gonna die,'” Burkhard stated. Her first ideas have been of her youngsters and grandchildren. 

Dr. Alexander Itskovich, a medical director of oncology providers on the Statesir Cancer Center in New Jersey, was fast to supply reassurance. Her most cancers was nonetheless treatable, he stated, however it will require surgical procedure to take away the mass, and radiation and chemotherapy to eradicate as many cancerous cells as potential. It could be an extended journey, and even when all went properly, Burkhard must be intently monitored for the remainder of her life. Burkhard stated that the identical dedication that helped her in her army profession helped her get by the grueling therapy schedule.   

“If you will get by boot camp, you will get by something,” Burkhard stated. “It modifications your mindset on the way you do issues, it makes you stronger and makes you right into a fighter. So I used to be a fighter. I used to be preventing.” 

Treating one of the crucial lethal cancers within the U.S.

Pancreatic most cancers is the third main reason for most cancers dying within the United States, in line with the National Cancer Institute. It’s “very troublesome to catch this most cancers early,” stated Dr. Suneel Kamath, a GI oncologist on the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center who was not concerned in Burkhard’s care. Early signs usually embrace obscure abdomen upset, belly ache and acid reflux disorder, which Kamath stated are straightforward to disregard or attribute to extra gentle maladies. 

Often, the most cancers is simply discovered when an individual seeks therapy for a unique difficulty, Itskovich stated. In Burkhard’s case, the ache she was feeling doubtless wasn’t even associated to the pancreatic most cancers, Itskovich stated, however her choice to hunt medical care led to the early analysis. Her most cancers was identified as Stage II. Most folks with pancreatic most cancers aren’t identified till the illness is Stage IV, Kamath stated. At that time, the most cancers has unfold all through the physique and therapy is unlikely to be an choice. 

For sufferers like Burkhard who can nonetheless be handled, velocity is essential. Just days after being identified, Burkhard started chemotherapy. The classes have been each three days for greater than 4 months. The therapy took a toll on her physique: The 71-year-old usually struggled with fatigue and generally needed to name her youngsters to assist her transfer round the home. But it labored: Scans confirmed the chemotherapy had shrunk the tumor to half its measurement. That meant Itskovich might function and take away the remaining mass. 

During surgical procedure, he discovered that the mass was connected to a number of different organs in Burkhard’s physique. It took over 9 hours, almost twice the size of a typical surgical procedure, however he was capable of take away all the tumor. The surgical procedure was adopted by extra chemotherapy, in addition to radiation therapy. Burkhard spent a number of weeks within the hospital, and whereas the restoration from surgical procedure was troublesome, she was really extra bothered by the puree eating regimen she needed to keep.

“It was the one factor I might eat,” she stated, calling the semi-liquid meals “worse than a army eating regimen.” 

Enjoying life with “no proof of illness”  

After finishing therapy, Burkhard underwent one other spherical of testing to verify that the extreme routine had labored. 

“I used to be so scared all up by the CAT scan and ready for them, ready for the reply,” Burkhard stated. “I used to be simply frightened. I knew (Itskovich) caught every thing, minimize every thing out, and I knew the radiation had killed the microscopic cells. I knew all that in my head, however my coronary heart was saying ‘OK, something can occur.’ That was scary.” 

The scans got here again clear, however Burkhard’s ready is not over but. She will get CAT scans each three months for the subsequent three years, after which each six months for the subsequent two years. The illness can recur, Kamath stated, and Stage I and II pancreatic most cancers solely has a five-year survival price of about 44%. Because it is solely been a brief interval, Burkhard cannot be described as cancer-free, however Itskovich stated she at present has “no proof of illness.” 

While the coast is obvious, Burkhard says she plans on having fun with her life. She’s gotten again to her group service and Veterans Affairs actions. She spoke at a particular flag-raising ceremony hosted in honor of Veterans Day on the hospital the place she was handled. Soon, she’ll journey to Indiana for a month for an extended journey to see her grandkids. Whenever she’s again on the hospital for scans, she tries to carry positivity to the workers who she stated helped save her life. 

“I hug the medical doctors, I hug the nurses. I hug all people within the hospital,” she stated. “Everybody will get a hug.”