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Living with Cancer as a Chronic Disease

Joan Frey taught health and physical education classes for 36 years at a small high school in the Santa Cruz Mountains before retiring in June 2009 due to budget cuts. Cancer prevention and early detection were among the topics she covered in her health education class, so she was more informed about cancer than most people.

Since celebrating her 50th birthday nine years ago, Joan has played soccer on a team for women over 50. After an April 2007 soccer tournament, her groin muscles were sore from the exertion, but then she discovered something else.

"When I touched the sore muscles in my groin, I felt a lump," she said. "It wasn't really painful, but I knew I should get it checked." Joan's doctor initially prescribed antibiotics for a swollen lymph node, but the lump did not get smaller or go away.

A month later, Joan returned to Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF) Santa Cruz for a biopsy, and Dr. Michael Johnson, her primary-care physician, confirmed a diagnosis of ovarian cancer. "I had lost two friends to ovarian cancer over the previous five years," Joan said, "so this was terrible news for me to hear."

Joan had surgery at Stanford University Hospital in July 2007, where it was confirmed she had stage IV cancer, the most advanced form of ovarian cancer. In the majority of cases, stage IV ovarian cancer has spread to the liver, lungs or other organs, but Joan was relieved to hear that hers was confined to her lymph nodes.

After surgery, Joan went through chemotherapy and later was prescribed a maintenance regimen of Taxol, which she completed in January 2009. Joan greatly appreciated the comfort and support she received at the PAMF Santa Cruz Cancer Care Center.

"It's such a beautiful, personalized environment and offers such a comfortable level of care," she said. "The people in our community whose gifts made this possible should be very proud."

Since her surgery nearly two years ago, Joan has seen her PAMF oncologist, Michael Wu, for a monthly CA-125 test to measure the antigen marker for ovarian cancer. "I feel great now, but I realize the chance of recurrence is very high," Joan said. "My hope is to prevent a recurrence by managing my cancer as a chronic disease. Dr. Wu has reassured me that, with proper care and treatment, I have every chance of living out a normal life span."