Routine hysterectomy turns into much, much more

Pictured from left to right: Dr. Ryan Bisel, Adele Bisel, Phoebe Bisel, Dee Bisel, Moses Bisel, Grant Burgess, Kristi Burgess, Evelyn Burgess, Tom Burgess

If you’ve ever seen a Granny Basketball game around Lawrence, you’ve likely run into Dee Bisel. At age 74, she’s a staple in this sport that provides competition for women over age 50.

“I’ve played Granny Basketball for five years and I love it,” she said. “I think it brings out the youth in us. I also played senior softball until three years ago when I got a concussion and had to quit.”

Dee, who owned Minuteman Press for 25 years, learned during an appointment with Dr. Jean Schrader, her primary care provider, that she needed to have a hysterectomy. She scheduled the routine surgery for January 21 – seven days after her birthday – and couldn’t have imagined the long road ahead.

Kristi Burgess, Dee’s daughter, traveled to Lawrence from Leawood to wait at LMH Health during the surgery. She hadn’t expected anything out of the ordinary, but she was proven wrong when she received some ominous news from urogynecologist Dr. Cathy Dahl.

“They’d taken a biopsy during the procedure and run it to pathology,” she said. “I didn’t quite understand the terms they were using, but Dr. Dahl told me that it was cancer. I just thought I was here to take my mom home after a simple procedure.”

Prior to the procedure, Dee didn’t know that anything was wrong. She didn’t have any pain or symptoms. When she woke up, all of that changed.

“When I woke, my daughter was standing over me crying and gripping one hand and Dr. Dahl had my other. I didn’t know what was wrong,” Dee said. “I wasn’t sure who had cancer because I was still so out of it. They wheeled me down for a CT scan and there went my basketball season.”

Sharing the news

Kristi’s younger brother, Ryan, lives in Norman, OK, and wasn’t on hand for Dee’s surgery. She called him right away to tell him the news.

“It’s kind of an unfolding realization as to what was happening throughout the day – three phone calls across three to five hours. I was scared, crying and praying,” he said.

The family had three days to process what had occurred and prepare for the next step – an appointment with Dee’s care team, consisting of Dr. Sherri Soule, an oncologist with the LMH Health Cancer Center; Dr. Ralph Park, a surgeon with Lawrence General Surgery; and radiation oncologist Dr. Darren Klish. The team told Dee that she had stage 4 colon cancer.

“There were a couple of options to start treatment. We made a plan to go ahead and start with surgery to remove a section of my colon,” she said. “Dr. Park said I needed that first, so that’s what I did. He’s a great surgeon.”

Two weeks after her hysterectomy, Dee was wheeled into an operating suite to have 12 inches of her colon removed. Three weeks later in March 2022, she began chemotherapy.

Treatment begins

Dee turned to the team at the LMH Health Cancer Center to get world-class treatment close to home. The Center holds official accreditation from the Commission on Cancer, a testament to the high-quality care LMH Health offers patients.

“Dee received high-quality, evidence-based cancer care at LMH Health,” Dr. Soule said. “We performed genomic profiling of her tumor to determine the best possible way to treat her specific cancer and incorporated the appropriate immunotherapy into her treatment.”

The plan was for her to receive 12 rounds of chemotherapy, with each round taking three days to complete. With the number of treatments involved, it was important to her to stay close to home. It was so easy to get to the hospital and back.

“Friends or family would drop me off and I’d have someone come to pick me up,” she said. “I was here three times each week. If I had to travel for treatment, I can’t imagine how hard it would be."

Dee was able to complete her treatment close to home. She’d go to the Cancer Center on Tuesday morning for a chemo infusion, which took a few hours. At the end of the infusion, she would have a pump attached to her port that would deliver the chemo and would return to the Cancer Center on Thursday to remove it. She’d follow up with a Friday visit to have a white blood cell shot.

Dee felt fortunate that though Kristi wasn’t able to attend her training in person, she was allowed to join via Zoom. Kristi also received permission to record what was going on during Dee’s treatment.

“The doctors were very receptive to us doing that. We’d send the recordings to Ryan so he was up to date with everything that was going on,” Kristi said.

As her treatment continued on, Dee sometimes struggled to remember things. Kristi stayed every night after treatment, just in case Dee got sick.

“Ryan came up from Norman for my colon surgery and spent three days with me,” Dee said. “As a widow, having children who will be with you through something like this has been marvelous.”

Family time

One of the things that Dee appreciates most about her experience with the Cancer Center was the team’s consideration for her quality of life. Dee’s family has three timeshares at the Lake of the Ozarks. Vacationing there is something that they’ve built their calendars around for the past nine years.

“I told Dr. Soule this was something that I really wanted, so she arranged for me to have a two-week break before we went to the lake so that I’d feel fairly normal,” she explained. “It was really needed in the middle of my treatments. They did five rounds, then a scan and told me that half the cancer was gone. It really felt like halftime.”

Ryan appreciated the consideration the team had for Dee’s quality of life, ensuring she was able to take the trip that was so important to her.

“The team really shaped some of their decision-making around us taking a trip to the lake. They were willing to work the calendar and make an adjustment so we could have that time as a family when mom was feeling good,” he said.

Nearing the finish line

Dee Bisel and Dr. Soule

After undergoing 10 rounds of chemotherapy, Dee was scheduled to have a full body CT scan on Wednesday, August 3. Two days later on August 5, she and Kristi received the news they’d been so hopeful for. The scan was clean.

“When we found out, we both just screamed and then immediately called Ryan,” Dee said.

Dee had begun to develop neuropathy, a condition that typically results in numbness, tingling, muscle weakness and pain, in her hands and feet. It would worsen if she had subsequent chemotherapy, so with the results as clean as they were, Dr. Soule said that there wasn’t a need for the remaining two rounds.

“Patients like Dee are so inspiring to us,” she remarked. “She always had a smile and maintained her positivity. I truly enjoyed our appointments and conversations, which is the rewarding part of what we do. Dee was focused on receiving the best possible treatment so she could get back to her life and has done well through a difficult year.”

As a result of her treatments, Dee was benched for the Granny Basketball season and had to cancel three huge trips - one to the Rose Bowl, a trip to the Florida Keys with her granddaughter, Phoebe, and a trip to the Final Four in New Orleans to see her beloved Jayhawks. Going forward, Dee’s prognosis is bright. Her cancer is treatable, not curable, so her care team has put together a plan for maintenance to allow her to live a full life. She’s already talking with Phoebe about when they’re going to head to Florida.

“I’m so happy not to be living day to day and being able to plan a few months out. I’m looking forward to being here and seeing all of my grandkids graduate.”

If you’ve received a cancer diagnosis, Dee shared some simple advice. Follow the doctor’s instructions. She knows it sounds basic, but don’t add or subtract from the doctor’s recommendations.

“I just did exactly what they told me to do, whether I liked it or not,” she said. “They’re the coaches and my job was to do what they told me to. That’s how we’d win the game.”

Why choose LMH Health?

Though she had the chance to receive treatment elsewhere, Dee chose to have her treatment close to home at the LMH Health Cancer Center. She said that her care team provided an excellent experience. When Dee needed something, no matter the time of day, the team was there for her.

“Josh Nemechek, one of the nurses in the Cancer Center, would call me back within 15 minutes. I called at 3 a.m. one time, they called me back right away and I was at Walgreens by 3:30,” she said.

Dee was also struck by the team dynamic and the focus on patient safety. When she interacted with various doctors in the clinic, they all knew where Dee was at in the process and about any issues that she’d had.

“It made me feel good knowing that if Dr. Soule wasn’t available, any of them could jump in and care for me,” she explained. “Their safety precautions also set me at ease. When they bring the chemo bags in, another nurse comes in with them to double-check the numbers, my wristband and scan them to make sure they’re the right bags for me.”

If you need cancer care, Dee, Kristi and Ryan all recommend turning to the team at the LMH Health Cancer Center. The compassion and personal touch they provide are a testament to the care you’ll receive.

“The team’s expertise has been incredible,” Kristi said. “Every step of the way, they were caring and always wanted what was best for my mom and our family. We couldn’t have asked for anything more.”