A publication of the Halvorson Cancer Center, a collaboration of the SCCA and EvergreenHealth

elcome to the Halvorson Cancer Center NAVIGATORThis quarterly newsletter is intended to help

Halvorson Cancer Center patients with news and information in support of your care and to help you and your family and friends access all the services this center offers.

Oral cancer no match for avid bicyclist and his care teamDespite an incision that ran the length of his neck to his sternum Ned Penitsch was determined not to miss the Seattle-to-Portland (STP) bike ride that he had completed many times over the last 25 years.

After the surgery in January 2009 to remove the marble-sized tumor and 34 lymph nodes he underwent 22 radiation treatments over five weeks to ensure that the oral cancer was eradicated and would not come back. The radiation therapy was delivered with state-of-the-art intensity modulated radiation technique with daily image guidance before each treatment to confirm accuracy. During the treatments, Penitsch says the pain of swallowing was so bad he was reduced to drinking nutritional shakes through a straw and even then it would take him as long as an hour and a half to down eight ounces.

He lost 22 pounds during treatment and, in the final weeks, had to be placed on an IV to insure adequate hydration. He was so weak that he could not engage in his favorite exercise and had to be driven back and forth to the radiation treatments.

His last radiation treatment was on March 20, 2009. And just as his radiation oncologist EvergreenHealth’s Dr. Eric Taylor told him, the pain got a little worse at first, but right on schedule, each week thereafter he felt a little better.

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www.HalvorsonCancerCenter.com • 425.899.6000 • Nurse Navigator & Healthline: 425.899.3000

Halvorson Cancer Center NAVIGATOR

SPRING 2013

May 18 & 19 Relay for Life - Juanita

June 1 & 2 Relay for Life - Northshore

June 1 & 2 Relay for Life - Kirkland/Redmond

June 2Race for the Cure

July 21Lymphomathon Puget Sound Walk

Upcoming Activities

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Photo courtesy of Marathonfoto.com

www.HalvorsonCancerCenter.com • 425.899.6000 • Nurse Navigator & Healthline: 425.899.3000

Five weeks later on April 27, the 63-year-old claims supervisor resumed work at Crowley Maritime and started training for the STP.

“It was horrible at first because I was so out of shape, and it was very frustrating,” Penitsch says, “but the more I rode, the better I got, and the better I felt. I really think it accelerated my recovery. I successfully rode the Seattle to Portland in July of 2009 and in doing so rode it in my fastest time ever.” Penitsch credits the care he got from his entire team at EvergreenHealth, who are now part of the Halvorson Cancer Center. He said everyone went to extraordinary lengths to make sure he got the best treatment possible.

His oncologist, Dr. Tim Carlos , now of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance at the Halvorson Center, recommended he see Dr. Jennifer Heydt, an ear, nose and throat surgeon. At the time he saw her, Penitsch says she was planning a trip to Thailand with her son, but she rearranged her schedule to fit in the surgery.

Dr. Heydt says that for her, one of the major strengths of the Halvorson Cancer Center is that it offers patients the experience that comes with a high-volume center with the latest treatments and technology but it is still small enough to provide personalized care.

“Typically I am able to get my head and neck cancer patients in for surgery within one to two weeks,” Dr. Heydt says. “They are able to start their treatment at the Halvorson Cancer Center much more quickly than at other locations and with a cancer diagnosis time is of the essence.”

After surgery Penitsch saw Dr. Eric Taylor, a radiation oncologist at EvergreenHealth. “Dr. Taylor was extremely kind. We spent the better part of two hours in his office doing a risk analysis, because that is my background,” Penitsch says. “I wanted to do a risk analysis on myself to see what the chances were of a recurrence of this cancer without some type of treatment, whether it was chemotherapy or radiation or both.”

Penitsch says he was very impressed by his entire treatment team. He says Dr. Heydt’s surgical skill was so good that she not only left him with no cancer, but almost no scar. Dr. Taylor’s radiation regimen has kept him cancer free for four years, and all of the others from the nursing care, nutritional support to the rehab and social service resources helped him through treatment and recovery.

“All the people we sat down with who talked with us about anything from managing side effects to nutritional support were most important to my recovery, those kinds of things were invaluable,” Penitsch says. “And Dr. Taylor is one of the best in the country, we checked him out online and he has an incredible reputation, and EvergreenHealth has an incredible reputation for its cancer center, and that is one of the reasons we decided to go there. Our luck was that it was not only one of the closest, but also one of the very best.”

High touch combines with high-tech Halvorson Cancer Center offers the excellent outcomes of high-volume centers with personal care Gold standard care coupled with leading-edge technology sets apart the Halvorson Cancer Center radiation oncology department. With overall patient satisfaction scores averaging 96 percent over the last two years, patients uniformly cite the care and service they received as the reason they would recommend the Halvorson Center for friends or family members whose cancer treatment is to include radiation therapy.

“Dr. Taylor was wonderful. He took a lot of time with both me and my wife,” says Steven Mace, who was treated for oral cancer two years ago. “He walked us through what would happen and why, and what I could expect and how I would feel. There were no surprises.”

Under the caring eye of Dr. Eric Taylor, Halvorson Cancer Center radiologist, the fifty-one year old Mace underwent 33 radiation treatments using state-of-the-art intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT).

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www.HalvorsonCancerCenter.com • 425.899.6000 • Nurse Navigator & Healthline: 425.899.3000

This three-dimensional radiation therapy offers much higher precision with the ability to vary the intensity of the beam to adjust for the depth of the tumor,

minimizing damage to normal tissues surrounding tumors.

IMRT is just one of the leading-edge technologies available to Halvorson Cancer Center patients who need radiation therapy. The center’s two linear accelerators are both equipped with state-of-the-art technology. The Varian Trilogy ® linear accelerator has respiratory gating capability, meaning it can time the radiation dose around a patient’s breathing. This is a breakthrough for treatment of lung and breast cancers, where treatment must take into consideration the movement of the tumor during breathing. And if the tumor is located on the left side of the chest, you want to shield the heart as much as possible from the radiation.

Other treatment technologies include image-guided radiation therapy and stereotactic radiation. These are coupled with the advanced diagnostic imaging capabilities that include, PET scans, a 16-slice wide-bore CT scanner, MRIs, ultrasound and digital imaging and archiving, and nuclear medicine.

If your cancer treatment includes radiation therapy, the Halvorson Cancer Center advantage includes the technology you need coupled with the individual care you want.Dr. Michael Hunter, medical director of the radiation program and chairman of the cancer committee summed it up. “We’ve got the technology that’s second to none, including a state-of-the-art Varian Trilogy linear accelerator,” he says. “And among 600 radiation oncology centers in the country, surveys show we’re number one in patient satisfaction.”

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Continued from P.2 Getting the most benefit from Halvorson’s parking and waiting areasThe Halvorson Cancer Center was designed with your convenience constantly in mind.

•DesignatedparkinglevelP2oftheSilver Building as exclusively for Halvorson Cancer Center patients.

•Theelevatorthatwilltakeyoutothe first floor of the Silver Building where you will find the entrance to the Cancer Center.

While the Halvorson Cancer Center offers more seating than in the former Cascade clinic, we recommend that you arrive just shortly before your appointment. If you arrive early, we invite you to visit the Resource Center and gift shop, or enjoy the comfortable seating in the Central Registration area and near the Whidbey Coffee stand.

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Totem LakeMedical Plaza

EvergreenPlaza

Evergreen Hospital12040 NE 128th Street, Kirkland, WA 98034

The Evergreen Hospital Medical Center campus is conveniently located just off I-405 at Totem Lake Boulevard (north Kirkland).

Northbound on I-405 Take the NE 124th Street/Totem Lake Boulevard Exit (20B); stay to the right and follow the Totem Lake Boulevard Exit, and proceed straight from the light, up the hill on 120th Avenue NE to NE 128th Street. Follow the signs to the appropriate parking garage.

Southbound on I-405 Take the NE 124th Street Exit (20); turn right onto NE 124th Street, turn right onto 116th Avenue NE, turn right on NE 128th Street and proceed straight past Totem Lake Boulevard until you reach 120th Avenue NE. Follow the signs to the appropriate parking garage.

Free parking is available in two parking garages.

Blue Parking Garage If your destination is the Blue Zone (Diagnostic Imaging, Family Maternity Center and Patient Registration), the Tan Zone (Evergreen Surgery and Physicians Center, Evergreen Surgical Center and Education Center) or the

Coral Zone (Evergreen Professional Center, Pharmacy), follow the signs for the Blue Entrance and park in the Blue Parking Garage. From the Blue Parking Garage, use the tan-colored elevatorfor the Evergreen Surgery and Physicians Center, Evergreen Surgical Center and the Education Center. Use the blue-colored elevators for Patient Registration, Diagnostic Imaging, Family Maternity Center, Evergreen Professional Center and the pharmacy.

Silver Parking Garage If your destination is the Silver Zone or the Red Zone (Emergency Department), follow the signs to the main entrance and park in the underground Silver Parking Garage.

www.HalvorsonCancerCenter.com • 425.899.6000 • Nurse Navigator & Healthline: 425.899.3000P.4

Highlights of the March 2013 Halvorson Cancer CenterOpen House Celebration EventsOn March 28-30 our patients, families, caregivers, neighbors and friends got to experience where hope lives by celebrating our new comprehensive cancer center.