Same-day Appointment Helps Catch Surgery Resident's Tumor

Thirty-two year old Jennifer Gerres, a podiatric surgery resident, learned the hard way that physicians are not immune from the diseases and conditions they try to fight every day.

Gerres woke up one morning with symptoms of pain and nausea, which then gradually progressed into passing clotting blood and experiencing severe cramps.

Her husband, David, urged her to call Cleveland Clinic's same-day appointment line.

She spoke with Jamika Chappell, an appointment scheduler and the nurse-on-call, Doloris Lenchewski, who convinced her to come in as soon as possible to Cleveland Clinic's Independence Family Health Center.

When she arrived she met with Dr. Ursula Szmulowicz, a colorectal surgeon from Cleveland Clinic's Digestive Disease & Surgery Institute.

"I saw Jennifer at my office in Independence. We had a discussion and with everything going on a colonoscopy was definitely something she needed. We were able to arrange that very quickly actually. The colonoscopy showed a cancer in the sigmuoid colon, a rather large one which was the source of all her symptoms," recalls Dr. Szmulowicz.

Jennifer was then referred to Dr. Jon Vogel, a colorectal specialist at Cleveland Clinic's main campus.

Dr. Vogel's assessment was that Jennifer needed to have surgery as soon as possible, based on her CT scan.

"Any fear that I had was really dissipated, because I knew at that point that we had a plan in place, and that plan was to have resection of the sigmoid colon," says Jennifer.

Two weeks after her same-day appointment, Jennifer arrived for surgery.

"What her surgery involved, was a laparoscopic sigmoid colectomy. It's a minimally invasive technique, that leaves her with a smaller incision, with a shortened recovery time. It was a large tumor, but most importantly for her the tumor did not penetrate the surface of the colon," Dr. Vogel says.

Jennifer and David, were relieved to hear that her entire pathology report after surgery was all clear.

"I just went from having a diagnosis of cancer on Monday and then two weeks later, just not having any cancer anymore. I mean that's just remarkable to have that kind of efficiency."

"The seamlessness with regional practices and multiple points of entry for the patient into the Cleveland Clinic system, that increased access makes it easier for people to be seen [sic]," says Dr. Vogel.

Jennifer and David recognize how the integrated procedures and efficient practices from Cleveland Clinic teams made the whole process seamless for her.

"Everything just operated like a well-oiled machine," says David.

"I just went from having a diagnosis of cancer on Monday and then two weeks later, just not having any cancer anymore. I mean that's just remarkable to have that kind of efficiency [sic]," Jennifer says.