WEBVTT

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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So I had gone in for
a routine pap smear,

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and I'd been using this
doctor for over 20 years

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and just never heard back.

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So I thought
everything was fine.

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And just two years later,
everything wasn't fine.

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I was bleeding when I
shouldn't have been.

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And so I went to the
doctor and he told me I

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need to go see a specialist.

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I assumed if
something was wrong,

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they would have let me know.

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It never crossed my
mind that it was cancer.

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My general doctor was
wanting to send me somewhere

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close to home.

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It was at that
point I decided, no.

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My husband had had great
care at Memorial Hermann

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with his motorcycle wreck.

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So I went to a specialist
over in the Woodlands

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and they referred me to Dr. Lee.

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I did a physical exam on her and
noted a large abnormal looking

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area.

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And I knew immediately
that it was cancerous.

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Then I said, it's
cancer, isn't it.

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And she said, yes.

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And I said, OK.

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Because so many doctors
are going to put that off

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and I could deal with
a straight answer.

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I was with her the day
that she was diagnosed.

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She definitely wasn't
rolling over and giving up.

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And the first thing I
think of for my girls.

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What are we going to do?

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What if I die?

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I already knew that she
was having some problems.

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I never would have thought
it would have been cancer.

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I think I was just in
shock just sitting here.

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And you think, how is
she going through this?

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I wanted to let them know
how proud I was of them and

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what great women they
were turning into.

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I didn't know how far
it had spread yet.

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We ordered some
additional studies.

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And we were able to find
that the cancer was localized

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just to the pelvic area.

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So Dr. Sands is the
expert to figure out

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how much radiation is
required for the cancer

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to be removed and not damage
the surrounding organs.

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For what Susan had, the
first part of radiation

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is five weeks, five days a week.

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And she also had
chemotherapy once a week

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during that treatment.

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It's rigorous.

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It can make patients very
nauseated, very sick,

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very dehydrated.

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And she did very, very
well with all those.

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And then you just have to wait.

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So I went to Dr. Lee to
see what was still there.

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I did a physical
exam on her an noted

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an area that was irregular.

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And I knew that
it was cancerous.

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She's taken all the
radiation she can take.

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She's taken all the
chemo she can take.

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She first said to me,
am I'm going to die?

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And I said the best
option for a possible cure

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was to perform a
major operation.

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And I was floored.

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I had never heard
of such a thing.

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A pelvic exenteration
is where they

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remove the cervix and
everything around it that

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might have cancer cells in it.

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And so what that necessitates
is we remove all the parts that

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are associated with the vagina.

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The uterus and cervix,
fallopian tubes and ovaries.

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The urethra and the
rectum and the anus.

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So all those are
taken out together.

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I was stunned.

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I tried to listen
but my mind was

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splitting in two directions.

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I actually had to
decide, do I want

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to have a colostomy and a
urostomy the rest of my life?

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Or do I want to just
not have the surgery

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and knowing that this cancer
would kill me within a year.

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She asked me what I want. And I

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say, well, I want my wife.

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Her response to me was, OK.

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If you're going to take
out all my female parts

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and all my pelvic
parts, but you're

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going to tell me that I have a
chance at watching my kids grow

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old and I can see
grandkids, then

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you need to do the surgery.

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So going into surgery
knowing that I had

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had a second and
third opinion,

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I felt this was the
right thing to do.

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There's a lot of planning that
has to go into the surgery.

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There's a full anesthesia
team, extra surgical nurses,

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and there's a special team
for the plastic surgery.

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And there's two to three doctors
operating at any given time.

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It's a powerful team.

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Dr. Tom Newton is an
expert in pelvic surgery.

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Dr. Gordley's portion
of the procedure

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was to remove the anterior
abdominal wall muscle.

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The very end of that procedure
relies on placing the bags

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and then reconstructed a vagina.

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And by the end of her
treatment, her cancer was gone.

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So she was in remission.

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All of her tests cancer free.

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She's going to make it through.

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It's really a privilege
to be able to be part

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of these people's lives during
this horrible time

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of life.

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And our job is to try to
help them get through it

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and to support them.

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Dr. Lee, I know,
is a good doctor.

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You know that she cares about
what you're going through

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and her job and her work.

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It made a lot of difference
in my recovery, I think.

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You have to have both the
emotional and physical well

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being to fight cancer.

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And at the end of the
day, the grit in yourself

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says that you're
just going to do it.

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You're going to beat this thing.

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And that's what she did.

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Going through this has
made our family stronger.

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We appreciate our time together.

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She's so different today.

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She's happy and she tells
us that she's proud of us.

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I can see her enjoying life
more now than she did before.

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She's come out with a new body
and a new outlook on life.

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Memorial Hermann
saved Susan's life.

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She has an appreciation
for being alive

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and for being cancer free.

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And I think that supersedes any
daily discomforts that she has.

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They say everything will
be all right in the end,

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and if it's not all
right, it's not the end.

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We live life on purpose. [MUSIC PLAYING]