Video

Dr. Stephen Ray
More From This Member

Expert Bio

VIDEO: Dr. Ray - Women With Breast Cancer, How Does CTCA Treat The Whole Person?

Dr. Ray explains how CTCA treats the whole woman and not just her breast cancer.

Dr. Ray:
So, as you know, breast cancer is a disease that affects women at multiple levels. It affects on both physically, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, socially in terms of their family and the interactions that they have at work and with others, and one of the things that we take very seriously is addressing all levels of that from the very initial contact with the patient.

So, we have an interdisciplinary team that meets and discusses new cases here. We meet weekly and the team includes surgical oncology, medical oncology, radiation oncology, radiology, pathology, mind-body medicine, nurse navigators, social workers, people from the pastoral care department, nutrition, and we look at all aspects of how the cancer is impacting any given woman that we’re treating so that when we put together a treatment plan, we can address very specific issues.

Sometimes the person is going through emotional trauma that pre-dated the diagnosis, that’s impacting their ability to respond in a way that’s healthy for them. So we try to bring together, whether they need the naturopath, whatever they need to help them move through this. We talk among ourselves a lot so when we get someone who has a difficult problem we’ll get on the phone, I’ll get on the phone and call someone and get appropriate people involved right away and then, if I know who they’re going to see next, I may go talk to that physician or care provider to give them a heads up as to some of the issues.

I find that because we can do the reconstructive effort, that we can often take what most women see initially as one of the most devastating aspects of the cancer and that is altering her body image, her sense of femininity, her acceptability to her spouse, her friends and we’re able to sort of meet that head on. So we’re able to take them at a time where they are try and to sort of sort through a lot of stuff and insert a lot of hope and positiveness about what’s been viewed as just a god-awful, dreadful experience, and then do everything we can to sort of guide them through the process and make it as smooth and easy and comfortable and predictable as possible.

So, on the average, I would say that I spend about an hour and a half with a new breast patient just discussing where we’re going. My office staff spends a lot of time so that when they come they really know what to expect and, it takes a lot of the mystery out of it, makes it more comfortable. We try to sort of draw them in. I think they feel a connection with multiple people so that whether it’s my staff seeing them or my seeing them or the pastoral care people who are there the day of surgery praying with them, we try to just sort of all lift them up and move them through the process.

For More Information On Cancer And CTCA Visit:
www.cancercenter.com

CONNECT with Women Interested inBreast Cancer

Pat Elliott

Breast Cancer Guide