A Patient nt’s ’ Passion Encounters the Center er’s ’ Passion n 8:00 AM was the reading on the computer clock when Dr. Gary Frenette’s call came through for this interview. On the dot, precisely the appointed time for the call. Dr. Frenette laughs at the accuracy of his timeliness. “I take time seriously! I hate to keep people waiting, I always have and now even more so.” His “now” marks his crossover from doctor to patient, post tumor diagnosis and surgery. An annoying bit of nasal stuffiness did not affect Dr. Frenette’s busy medical oncology practice or his life in Charlotte, North Carolina. Its persistence led him to make an appointment with a trusted ENT colleague, who performed a physical examination, uttered “Hmmmmm,” and sent him immediately for a CT scan. Hearing the “hmmmm” from Dr. Don Kamerer, Dr. Frenette’s attitude went from casual to high alert. Dr. Kamerer came back with the scans and with a second physician. The scans showed a tumor larger than a golf ball extending through the sinuses. That same night Dr. Frenette got an MRI. “Being a doctor, I could clearly see a large mass that was not supposed to be there. Bone in my sinuses was destroyed. And I saw what looked like tumor invasion of the brain.” Being a doctor is, perhaps, not the most desirable position to be in when you can see clearly what is going on with your test results and know the potential repercussions. “I was shell-shocked. The first thing I did was make sure my affairs were in order. I believe an important role in my life is taking care of my wife and family, so I visited my attorney and confirmed that our documents were up to date. That was immediately comforting. Once I did that, I could think about my health situation.” “After a few days of thinking about medical options, trying to make decisions, I calmed down and realized I needed to treat this situation intellectually more than emotionally. I realized that I had blessings that many, unfortunately, do not. I have a medical education, I live in the best country; I can go anywhere for healthcare. So I devised a reasonable strategy for myself: In my practice, I defer to surgeons since I’m not a surgeon. I adopted this strategy as a patient. In one consultation, it sounded to me like the plan was too much cookbook and less thinking innovatively about my specific situation. As we physicians are increasingly encouraged to follow very strict guidelines, sometimes medical care seems too formulaic. One option presented to me was to proceed with a repeat biopsy and then consider open surgery that would be followed by chemo- or radiation therapy as necessary.” Frenette, with his medical knowledge, knew this tumor would be difficult to remove. “A tumor like this can’t be removed en bloc (all together as one mass) because of vital structures all around the tumors.” “Dr. Kamerer had mentioned Dr. Carl Snyderman and the procedure of endoscopic endonasal surgery performed at UPMC. Dr. Kamerer trained with Dr. Snyderman in Pittsburgh and I had sent some of my oncology patients to UPMC for minimally invasive procedures. I knew that Dr. Snyderman was an innovator and international leader in skull base surgery. So my second call to discuss options was to Dr. Snyderman’s office at UPMC. I spoke with Mary Jo Tutchko, the Center’s administrative manager, and with his surgical scheduler Susan Ezykowsky. These two ladies were wonderful; you are very vulnerable in this situation; I didn’t realize exactly how vulnerable patients were until this experience. I didn’t realize how important it was to be greeted with kindness and a smile – I felt like a VIP – simple kindness had an enormous impact, all the way from taking your vitals when you walk in to the end when you walk out.”
Gary Frenette MD, in running form, with his daughters.
“Surgery and, therefore, surgical skill is more important in skull base surgery than in almost any other type of cancer,” says Dr. Frenette. “It’s important to emphasize that I’m not a doctor worshipper, probably the opposite, so what I think about Dr. Snyderman and Dr. Paul Gardner is not gratuitous praise. The professionalism of Dr. Snyderman and Dr. Gardner was comforting and they took the time to understand and comment on every aspect of my case. They said they needed to operate on my tumor; I saw them on a Wednesday and had surgery that Friday.”
Online access to links in this issue at ISSUU U: ht U: https://issuu.com/search?q=UPMC+center+for+skull+base+surgery h ttps://issuu.com/search?q UPMC+center+for+skull+base+surgerry