health & wellness
Feeling Supported
Pancreatic cancer patient gains
emotional, spiritual guidance
through community, Karmanos.
AIL
Howard and Cynthia Katz
St. Joe Center Offers Help and
Hope for People with Chronic Wounds
By Jack Weiner,
President and CEO
St. Joseph Mercy
Oakland
I
Elizabeth A. Katz
Special to the Jewish News
A
s a sales and marketing execu-
tive with Chrysler Group LLC
and later with Spartan Motors'
Utilimaster Corp., Howard Katz, 52, of
West Bloomfield was used to a packed
schedule, working 60-hour weeks and
traveling three weeks out of each month.
He was accustomed to eating his meals
on the road and not paying much atten-
tion to his diet.
So when he visited his primary care
physician for a persistent stomachache,
he thought he was facing an ulcer.
The "ulcer" turned out to be Stage 4
pancreatic cancer, caught by an endos-
copy. Katz received the cancer diagnosis
in July 2012. Even then, he said the
gravity of the matter didn't set in imme-
diately.
"I was probably more oblivious to
the serious nature of the diagnosis," he
said "My wife and kids all thought I was
going to die."
Katz underwent surgery for the
Whipple procedure, which involves
removal of the "head" (wide part) of
the pancreas, next to the first part of
the small intestine, also known as the
duodenum. The procedure also involves
removal of the duodenum, a portion
of the common bile duct, gallbladder
and sometimes part of the stomach.
Afterwards, surgeons reconnect the
remaining intestine, bile duct and pan-
creas. Surgery is performed to extend a
patient's life and as a potential cure.
Surgeons found that Katz's cancer had
spread and were not able to complete
the surgery. Katz and his wife, Cynthia,
researched cancer treatment centers
and decided to begin a new treatment
method at the Barbara Ann Karmanos
Cancer Center.
Because of his relatively young age,
Katz's oncologist Philip A. Philip,
M.D., Ph.D., F.R.C.P., leader of the
Gastrointestinal and Neuroendocrine
Multidisciplinary Team at Karmanos,
put him on Folfirinox, a potent chemo-
therapy cocktail for nine weeks. He lost
about 70 pounds in the process.
Therapies And Support
Undergoing such a rigorous treatment
path, which left him feeling like he
had been "hit by a truck:' Katz sought
complementary therapies to lessen the
effects of his treatment.
"I decided that I would try anything
that might help:' he said. That included
massage and Reiki, offered at Karmanos
through the Leah A. Davidson Healing
Arts Fund. He also had acupuncture and
craniosacral massage treatments.
"These treatments helped me relax,
reduced my anxiety and provided some
relief from the side effects:' he said. "As
a result, I was better able to focus my
energy and mindset on the positives of
the situation!'
Katz also has become heavily
involved in the Men's Support Group
at Karmanos, which is open to all men
going through cancer, not just those
being treated at Karmanos. The group
meets the first and third Tuesday of
Feeling Supported on page 38
Since its opening in 2012, St. Joseph Mercy
Oakland's (SJMO) Center for Wound Care and
Hyperbaric Medicine has improved the quality
of life for hundreds of patients with non-
healing wounds.
And it has added more services and products
to encourage healing, such as artificial skin substitutes and total contact casting for diabetic
foot ulcers.
Located in the Alice Gustafson Center on campus, the state-of-the-
art facility treats patients with chronic wounds using advanced equipment,
including two hyperbaric chambers, making St. Joe's wound care center one of
the most convenient, comprehensive and sophisticated wound treatment facilities in
Southeastern Michigan.
We opened the Center for Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine to provide our patients
with the safest, highest quality and comprehensive care possible in the area of wound
treatment. With state-of-the-art, specialized, technologically advanced and evidence-
based therapies utilizing the latest techniques and procedures, SJMO can restore a
patient's quality of life by reducing healing time and fostering full recovery
We are privileged to have Firas Karmo,
MD, plastic surgeon from the SJMO Medical
Staff, as medical director of the facility, which
employs physicians specialty-trained in wound
management and hyperbaric medicine, certified
or specialty-trained wound care nurses and highly
trained clinical hyperbaric managers and staff.
The center takes a whole body approach to wound healing, including
• Nutritional assessment and counseling
• Diabetic education
• Patient and caregiver counseling
• Referrals for special needs pressure relief, including beds, seat cushions and footwear.
Among the conditions treated at the center are:
• Diabetic wounds
• Any non-healing wound
• Surgical wounds that have opened
• Skin grafts or surgical flaps that are not healing post-surgery
• Open wounds caused by radiation therapy
• Bond infections
• Pressure ulcers
• Venous wounds
• Internal injuries where no open wound exists, such as select acute traumatic and crush
injuries, radiation cystitis or proctitis and reconstruction of the jaw or bone.
The hyperbaric chambers provide a more advanced treatment option for those who
qualify. Hyperbaric treatments work in combination with traditional wound care treatments.
Oftentimes, the hyperbaric treatment is the only one available for a particular condition.
Please ask your physician for a referral if your condition can benefit from our Center for
Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine.
DiscoverRemarkable
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December 26 • 2013
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