Michigan man drawn to Cleveland Clinic’s urology expertise
Ross Moody’s health concerns have taken him from Pontiac, Mich., where he lives, to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and then to Cleveland, Ohio. He expresses deep appreciation for Cleveland Clinic, which fixed a problem of his that “other people had no hope for,” he says.
The retired owner of a Chevrolet dealership began his healthcare odyssey in 1998 when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He underwent radiation treatment and was fine until the cancer recurred in January 2006. “There’s limited treatment available when it comes back,” says Mr. Moody, whose daughter, Claire Dietrick, came across an option on the Internet called HIFU, which stands for high intensity focused ultrasound. “HIFU is not approved in the U.S.,” Mr. Moody says. “It is almost everywhere else in the world.”
He traveled to Puerto Vallarta in August of ’06 to have the HIFU. The treatment eradicated the prostate cancer, but another problem occurred almost immediately. “From the pressure of the probe, the tissue that had been radiated before all sort of disintegrated,” he says. “I had two huge fistulas in my lower bowel and urethra,” causing urine to drain rectally. “My doctors in Michigan had never seen that condition.”
Mr. Moody consulted with specialists in Michigan but was told there was nothing they could do about his problem. “I was really a mess,” he says. “I thought, ‘What am I going to do?’” Then he remembered hearing about Cleveland Clinic’s expertise in urology. His wife Dede called to make an appointment for him.
He saw Kenneth Angermeier, MD, a urologist at the Glickman Urological & Kidney Institute, and Ian Lavery, MD, a colorectal surgeon in the Digestive Disease Institute. “Both agreed that there might be something that still could be done,” he says. “I had to first have a colostomy to divert the waste so that the area could heal.”
In October of 2007, Drs. Lavery and Angermeier repaired the fistulas. Six months later, Mr. Moody was able to have the colostomy reversed.
He still has a suprapubic catheter, which has been used to drain his bladder since the damage to his urethra occurred. “It’s no problem once you get used to it.” Mr. Moody says.
Now 72, he recently had a checkup at Cleveland Clinic and was pleased to learn that everything was fine, he says. “I have a full range of activity with no restrictions whatsoever. I do whatever I want. I certainly appreciate the things done for me by the physicians and staff and a whole bunch of people at Cleveland Clinic.”
To make a gift supporting the Glickman Urological & Kidney Institute, the Digestive Disease Institute or any area of Cleveland Clinic, visit iSupport, our secure online giving site, or call Institutional Relations and Development at 216.444.1245 or toll-free at 800.223.2273, ext. 41245.
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