Survivor Spotlight: JOANNE D'ALTON : Breast Cancer Survivor
Summer, 2007

Survivor Spotlight: FRANK YINKO : Colon Cancer Survivor
April, 2007

Survivor Spotlight: NANCY LAARMAN : Ovarian Cancer Survivor
January, 2007

Survivor Spotlight on MIKE LEMAHIEU : Colon Cancer Survivor (with liver metastisis)
December, 2006

Survivor Spotlight on MARY LICHTERMAN : Breast Cancer Survivor
September, 2006

Survivor Spotlight: JIM HAMMERLING : Multiple Myeloma Survivor
July, 2006

Survivor Spotlight: LORI SCHULTZ : Breast Cancer Survivor
May, 2006

Survivor Spotlight Update: BOB SHAROT : Head & Neck Cancer Survivor
May, 2006

Survivor Spotlight on MATT RILEY : Medullablastoma Cancer Survivor
December, 2005

Survivor Spotlight on MARTY TEN PAS : Breast Cancer Survivor
September, 2005

Survivor Spotlight Update on RALPH LEMP : Prostate Cancer Survivor
September, 2005

Survivor Spotlight Update on SANDY AMWEG : Breast Cancer Survivor
June, 2005

Survivor Spotlight on STEVE PHILIPPS : Prostate Cancer Survivor
June, 2005

Survivor Spotlight on IONE HEINEN : Breast Cancer & Colo-Rectal Cancer Survivor
April, 2005

Survivor Spotlight Update: DON FICKETT : As Told By Caregiving Champion: LINDA FICKETT
March, 2005

Survivor Spotlight Update on AUDREY SWITA : Breast Cancer Survivor
January, 2005

Survivor Spotlight on BOB SHAROT : Head & Neck Cancer Survivor
January, 2005

Survivor Spotlights on DIANA BRAY & MARY SCHMEISER : Diana - Lung Cancer, Mary - Breast Cancer
October, 2004

Survivor Spotlight Update on GENE TE WINKLE : Melanoma Survivor
October, 2004

Survivor Spotlight Update on MARY ANN HAMMES : Breast Cancer Survivor
August, 2004

Survivor Spotlight on ART WESENER (Colon Cancer) : with Caregiving Champion JOANNE WESENER
August, 2004

Survivor Spotlight on JUDY FRIEDERICHS : Breast Cancer Survivor
June, 2004

Survivor Spotlight Update on PAT JENKINS : Breast Cancer & Hodgkin's Disease Survivor
June, 2004

Survivor Spotlight on: DR. PHIL WALKER : Prostate Cancer Survivor
March, 2004
Note from Tim: I was so excited when Dr. Walker agreed to be our Survivor Spotlight! On several occasions we have spotlighted survivors with nursing backgrounds… I was intrigued to hear the perspective of a physician. For some reason it would seem that a cancer diagnosis may not be as overwhelming for a physician, with all their medical knowledge and understanding. But, as Dr. Walker points out, “Doctor’s surely don’t know everything! Just like all of you we have to ask ourselves, ‘Am I going to take this chance or that chance.’ And as doctors we have to admit to ourselves that we don’t know everything.” When it comes to cancer we all have to find our own way through the journey. Thank you Dr. Walker, for sharing your way with us!

The Initial Diagnosis:

In October of 2000 I had a PSA that was just a little bit above normal and a free PSA that was low which was not a good sign. I saw Dr. Greg Grose for a sonogram and biopsies and the sonogram of both lobes of the prostate was abnormal and the biopsies were positive.

Initially, you feel like you’ve been hit across the head with a 4x4 when you’re first diagnosed and then each of us has to go through these things and learn on our own how to manage it… both the physical side of it and the emotional side of it.

I got a little depressed, initially. But that sort of improved with time and I think it was just a valley that I had to go through. I’ve seen other people who have gone through this and handled it well. I’ve also seen other friends die of cancer or heart disease. But in the end I think you just have to realize that it really doesn’t do any good to mope around or worry about it but you have to enjoy whatever time you have left!

I think we talked about it when I was first diagnosed and I came to some of the TLC Sessions, it’s a real shock when it happens to you! My first thought, probably just like everyone else, was “Oh my God! I’m going to die!” Then I remember one day after I was diagnosed I was driving home and saw a friend who had breast cancer. She was going through adjuvant chemotherapy and was out riding her bicycle! It just reminded me that cancer doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the world!

After I talked about the options with my wife Barbie and with the kids it got better. But it surely was a little scary at first!

Surgery, Chemotherapy, Radiation & Hormonal Therapy:

I’ve undergone surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and hormonal therapy. There were good things and bad things about all of these treatments and they all took their own bit of adjustment.

After I saw Dr. Marshall Matthews I had a radical prostatectomy in December of 2000 just before Christmas. The surgery went well. There was a little bit of bladder incontinence and erectile dysfunction after the surgery but that got better with time. The pathology report indicated it was beyond the capsule of the prostate. I have always had some sense of hope, which is why I decided to do the radical prostatectomy hoping that that would get it all and cure it! When the pathology report said that a cure wasn’t likely I asked, “Okay, what’s the next step?”

We first talked about the options that included adjuvant chemotherapy that they had been doing for breast cancer treatment. They are really just doing studies on this now and Dr. Matthews had talked to some other oncologists at University of Wisconsin who all agreed that this was a reasonable option… but we were on unproven ground. So we decided to try it and see what would happen. As far as chemotherapy is concerned, fatigue was the main side effect and I just felt washed out all of the time. It took several months to start getting back to normal and even now I really don’t tolerate exercise as well as I used to. But that could be a little bit of age too!

That was in the summer of 2001 and it knocked the PSA down for about six months before it started to creep back up. At that point we knew there was a chance that this was a local recurrence and radiation would take care of it. Although there was also the chance that it was somewhere else in the body. So I said, “Okay, let’s try the radiation!” Hindsight may be better than foresight… as the radiation really didn’t do anything and the PSA just kept going up. Radiation therapy was the worst! I developed radiation proctitis, which is a fairly common side effect, particularly after the prostate has been removed. This made the bladder dysfunction and the erectile dysfunction worse. I ended up spending a lot of time in Sitz baths and that was the first time I really had to take some pain pills. But even during this time I knew things would get better. It may be not be for a month or so after I was done… but it would get better! So I was able to tolerate it and it was manageable. On the other hand, if they would tell me they wanted to radiate me again I might say, “Let me think about that a little longer this time!”

At that point we figured it wasn’t just a local recurrence but was evidence of a more diffuse disease. I started hormonal therapy with Lupron and Zometa. Lupron is an anti-testosterone hormone and Zometa strengthens the bones. And I’ve been on that now for a little over a year. That has knocked the PSA down to an undetectable level and, so far, it has stayed down. With the hormone therapy I experienced hot flashes for a while but they went away. Jokingly, Barbie didn’t give me much sympathy there and reminds me that I don’t know what it is really like to have hot flashes!

Cancer as another “Manageable” Disease:

It went from looking at cancer as a death sentence to looking at cancer as another disease to manage. I also have high blood pressure and high cholesterol and I’m on medicine for those so now I have to do treatments for the cancer. I know I’m not going to live forever.

I was in my mid forties when my blood pressure started going up so I’ve been on those medicines for over ten years. Soon thereafter my cholesterol went up. I was surely surprised when both of these occurred and figured I was too young for that but I have a strong family history of heart disease. So I started taking the medication knowing that the sooner I would begin taking the medicine the better. And I started making adjustments. I guess it’s just that the “end result” of heart disease seems to be further down the road. It’s not like I thought I was going to die right away from either my high blood pressure or my high cholesterol and figured I still had 25, 30, or 40 more years! When you’re diagnosed with cancer it just seems like that time becomes much shorter! And yet you just don’t know!

A Physician’s Perspective:

Being a physician with cancer is both a good thing and a bad thing. It’s a good thing because it is easier to talk to physicians and know the language and the terminology. But sometimes it’s a bad thing because you are more aware of the risks, the side effects, and the real seriousness of all of this. And you realize the chances that you’re taking and the options you’re weighing. The other down side is when I am talking to the doctors with my wife she’ll have to stop us and say, “Hey, you gotta speak English!”

I could tell that there were times that the nurses were sometimes a little hesitant. So I just told them, “Here I am a patient first and a physician second… so you don’t need to call me Dr. Walker, just call me Phil!” and that seemed to help them relax. And that was something I have to remind myself of at times. I have to tell myself that here I am the PATIENT and had to first listen to the doctors and then talk things over.

I think it has also changed me as a physician. I always prided myself on taking the time to listen to my patients… and not just their physical problems but whatever they wanted to talk about. In some ways too I think my patients look at me a little different knowing what I have been through and so they are more willing to talk to me about the everyday stuff.

Doctor’s surely don’t know everything! Just like all of you we have to ask ourselves, “Am I going to take this chance or that chance.” And as doctors we have to admit to ourselves that we don’t know everything.

A lot of medicine is really nothing more than a weighing of options. Is it going to help? Is it not going to help? If it does help is it worth the side effects? And there is certainly a lot of stuff we don’t know yet. As a physician I’ve known this for a long time and I think it helped me be a little more realistic with my assessments. On the other hand I think there were times I may have been more reluctant to do something because, in my mind, the chances of it doing much good weren’t that high. I was very reluctant to try radiation therapy, for example. But Barbie reminded me that if there is any chance that something might help you have to at least try it! Unfortunately, it didn’t really help. But that’s the way it goes! You make your bet and see how the hand plays out!

Support from Others:

When I started chemotherapy Audrey Swita was on some of the same chemotherapy agents and she just had a terrible reaction to one of the drugs and ended up in the hospital. The next time I saw her the first thing she said to me was, “This doesn’t happen to everybody and it doesn’t have to happen to you!” So, many times the other patients were comforting me!

The on-going support from family, friends, acquaintances, and even strangers is amazing! That always makes you feel better. And a lot of my patients were very worried and would remind me, “Take care of yourself now!” And that was very nice to see their concern.

Things of a Spiritual Nature:

I think when something like this happens you do become more spiritual. I’ve done more reading on the history of the church and I have spent more time thinking about God. Prior to the diagnosis I figured I had plenty of time and would think more about those things later. I had so many other things to do in my life to keep me busy. But when something like this happens you have to reassess things of a spiritual nature. In doing so I think I have seen the more spiritual side in other people as well.

Finding a Silver Lining:

I can’t say I believe that everything happens for a reason… some things are surely just chance… genetics and things like that. But I think there are a lot of things that happen for a reason. Or you can at least find a reason or find some good or a silver lining in them. And you can change how you are going to react to something. We’re all going to die of something. I have several things that can kill me. But I’ve surely found some positive things in this and I think that’s the important thing.

I know it’s been hard on my wife Barbie, but I know I have her support. We’ve always been close and she has always been my best friend but we’ve become even closer through all of this. We’ve had a grandchild born since then and we’ve taken a lot of trips to visit our grandchild and that’s been great fun.

Of course, your perspective on life changes. You surely enjoy each day a lot more and you take time out to do things. I think I am a little more mellow and sometimes, surely not always, a little more patient.

And the most positive thing here is love! You really don’t have to get sick to know that but when you get sick you really appreciate it. It’s the love of other people and the love you have for other people. You just get it more.

Survivor Spotlight Update on: Rollie Huibregtse : Leukemia Survivor
March, 2004

Survivor Spotlight on: PEGGY KERR : Colon Cancer Survivor
January, 2004

Survivor Spotlight on EUGENE TEWINKLE : Melonoma Survivor
November, 2003

Survivor Spotlight Update on LINDA BURKART : Thymoma Cancer Survivor
November, 2003