“If it wasn’t for the swelling, I’d feel like a million dollars,” Beth Quinn announces. She sits on the edge of an exam table in Zimmer Cancer Center. Beth, 56, was diagnosed with stage IV ovarian cancer in December 2013. Abdominal pain, a nagging cough and fatigue plagued her for months. After a battery of tests, she visited Dr. Ellis Tinsley Jr., her doctor and friend. “Beth and I have been friends for a long time. Depending on your world view, I think probably the reason we were friends before is because we can be friends now,” Tinsley says. An ultrasound revealed thickening around her gallbladder and abnormalities in the surrounding lymph nodes. Dr. Tinsley removed Beth’s gallbladder laparoscopically and saw irregularities. Pathology results revealed ovarian cancer. Tinsley says, “At that point, my role in her care turned from being her physician to being her advocate.” He found the right doctors and resources for her — everything she was going to need. “It’s a much different role for surgeons,” Tinsley adds. “Surgeons aren’t known for that, but we quietly do it a lot.” Dr. Walter Gajewski, a gynecologic oncologist at Zimmer Cancer Center, removed Beth’s ovaries, fallopian tubes and lymph nodes. Chemotherapy and a clinical trial began in January. Soon, her hair fell out. “I’ll never forget it, it was on a Monday,” Beth says. “I was having lunch at Port City Chop House. I went to the bathroom and was washing my hands when I saw a chunk of hair on my dark sweater.” That evening, she called longtime friend Mary Barto, who offered to cut Beth’s hair despite her lack of experience. Beth says, “I got scissors like I was two years old and cut my hair all off. I got it shaved the next day. Mary was with me and I started tearing up.” Mary whispered encouraging words. Beth began wearing the wig she bought in anticipation of that day. “I may have cancer but I’m not going to look like it,” Beth laughs. Her hair is growing back, darker in color. “It doesn’t matter because I’m going to highlight it anyway” she says. Beth returned to work part-time in March, then full-time in June. “Both Dr. Tinsley and Dr. G. said that I should go back to work so I don’t think about this,” she explains. Due to the removal of her lymph nodes, Beth developed lymphedema, a build-up of lymph fluid in the fatty tissues under the skin. Removing lymph nodes and vessels makes it harder for the fluid in Beth’s legs to flow to the chest where it can get back into the bloodstream. If the remaining lymph ves-sels cannot remove enough of the fluid in the area, the excess fluid builds up and causes swelling. Initially, Beth only had swelling in her left leg. A few weeks later, it shifted to the right one. “I was in the office, looked down and said, ‘Mother of pearls, I’ve got elephant feet!’ You just have to manage it. Just like everything else.” Side effects from the clinical trial drug, an angiogenesis inhibitor, worsened Beth’s swelling so it was removed from 30 WBM september 2014 her treatment plan. The drug, not yet approved by the FDA, may stop can-cerous tumors from receiving nutrients, thus the tumor will starve and die. Physical therapy three times a week and tightly wrapping her legs is helping. “I believe I’m going to wake up one day and I’m going to have skinny legs! I’m gonna get ’em back,” she says. Dr. Gajewski says that treating ovar-ian cancer is a slow process. “We all want that magical remedy and we have to measure She Rocks On By Amy Kilgore Mangus PHOTO COURTESY OF BETH QUINN Dr. Ellis Tinsley Jr., Beth Quinn, Mary Barto and Dr. Walter Gajewski at the 2014 New Hanover Regional Medical Center Foundation Coastal Classic Celebrity Golf Tournament.
2014-9
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