Lori Warchol

<< All Ovarian Cancer Survivors

Speaking as a cancer survivor, Lori Warchol’s image is splashed across television screens across the nation. The De Pere, WI resident is an advocate for taking control of cancer and one’s own treatment as opposed to letting cancer take control.

That is not to say Warchol was always so self-assured.

At age 40, she went in for her annual gynecologic exam, except, she had actually skipped a year for her annual checkup. A program supervisor for Family Services, a private non-profit human service agency in Green Bay, Warchol leads a busy life and regular doctor appointments are something that can typically get pushed out of the way, especially when a person is feeling healthy. Her doctor noticed some changes in the exam results and ordered more tests. And though she had exhibited no outward symptoms except being a little more tired than usual, the news was not good.

“Those tests revealed a mass in my abdomen. They knew I needed surgery to remove the mass” Warchol said, recalling her emotion, “It could have been a number of things, but I didn’t want to believe it could be cancer.”

The mass did turn out to be endometriosis, which is benign, but during surgery, doctors noticed abnormalities with her ovaries and uterus. They performed a complete hysterectomy, then sent cells off for examination and, to be certain, for a second opinion. “The second opinion revealed the cells were not benign. They were cancerous. My life changed dramatically in two weeks,” Warchol said.

She was referred to a local oncologist. Numb from the diagnosis, she went to the appointment. Up until now, her treatment had been as she expected, but the there were nuances in her oncologist appointment that Warchol characterized as “things starting to go downhill.”

Within minutes, he told her the details of the diagnosis. The form of ovarian cancer was not necessarily aggressive but the statistics for outcome were also not very optimistic. Warchol was stunned.

“He did not give me a lot of hope. It was a very cold presentation that did not take into account what I was going through,” Warchol recalled. “He then referred me to a nurse. She told me the side effects to chemotherapy as though my treatment was already a done deal. The entire visit was very technical and lacked optimism and support.”

Even though Warchol had hoped for a little more compassion as well as options, possibly something including a holistic approach, she agreed to chemotherapy as prescribed because she was “scared, terrified” and did not think she had any more options. She was not offered any other choice.

Her first treatment was high dose of chemotherapy delivered over a three-hour period. She was tired and very sick for five days with awful body aches and nausea. She could not go to work. She had five more treatments to look forward to on top of her dissatisfaction with the oncologist.

“He was not able to answer questions about diet, nutrition and how I could become an active participant,” Warchol said, noting she had been reading about how proper nutrition could play a significant role in preventing and battling cancer.

After her oncologist told her it didn’t matter what she ate, she was determined to take control of the course of her treatment. A colleague at work gave her a brochure on a cancer treatment facility she had obtained while researching treatment options for another friend. That person decided to stay in the immediate Green Bay area for treatment, so the colleague still had the brochure.

The brochure, distributed by Cancer Treatment Centers of America at Midwestern Regional Medical Center in Zion, Ill., offered a number of answers to Warchol’s questions, yet she was suspicious because the brochure entailed a treatment practice that sounded too good when compared to her own experience with the healthcare system. She took a chance and made a toll free telephone call.

She spoke to an oncology information specialist who verified her insurance, listed the ways the hospital would help her travel to Zion, and other things Warchol said she did not have the knowledge nor the energy to do herself.

She received an information packet in the mail the next day but that was not the most startling thing. That night, she received a call from Dr. Sybilann Williams, a gynecologic oncologist from CTCA who spent a half hour on the phone asking questions, then answering others. Three days later, Warchol was in her car making the three-hour drive south to Zion. When she arrived, her reticence changed almost immediately. “Because of the people there, my suspicion just melted away. With the layout and design, it does not look or feel like a hospital. It was a compassionate place to be. I was treated with respect,” Warchol said, adding that Dr. Williams spent two hours with her on that initial consult.

The entire experience gave her hope she had not experienced to that point. But though it went well with all the specialists that day, chemotherapy was still on the horizon. That, too, was different at CTCA. The same, high dose of chemotherapy was delivered in fractionated doses over several days and Warchol felt healthier because of the nutrition and supplement support she received. She did have minor side effects but not the wracking body aches and nausea she experienced before.

In fact, she was now able to go to work between chemotherapy treatments. She finished her total of five chemotherapy treatments at CTCA in May of 1998. Every six months since, she has received a clean bill of health. Warchol said she looks forward to coming back each time because of the connection she has with the people who work at the Zion hospital. She has become an avid spokeswoman for seeking out all of one’s options and not giving up hope. This includes her desire to be featured in a television advertisement where she talks of options and hope.

“It is important for everyone to know, no matter how scared or devastated they are, there are a number of options out there. I experienced a combination of medical expertise and good customer service that is hard to come by. This has been the best healthcare experience of my life,” Warchol said.