Calgary cancer doctor receives award for helping patients recover faster after surgery – Calgary

At 75 years old, Linda Sheik is still going strong.

The Calgary philanthropist has been immersed in research and writing her Ph.D., but in the spring of 2023, she felt a little weak and worried she had a blood clot, so she went to the emergency room. went to.

“He (the emergency room doctor) said it could be a blood clot that hasn’t shown up yet, or it could be cancer,” he whispered. Then he did an ultrasound and found that my entire stomach was filled with ultrasound. The cancer was spreading explosively,” Shaikh recalled of her ovarian cancer diagnosis.

“It was a surprise because I had just gone to the doctor a week ago. The doctor gave me a medical certificate and congratulated me on my health,” Shaikh said.

Shaikh was told she would first need chemotherapy, then a hysterectomy and more chemotherapy.

“I followed T’s instructions, which can be difficult at times. I had chemotherapy. I had six sessions, and in every session, there were days when I thought I couldn’t do it anymore. I had a few days, but they encouraged me to move. No matter how bad it was, it was just amazing,” Shaikh said.

Per her doctor’s instructions, she took nutritional supplements before the surgery and moved as much as possible afterward.

“I was able to get up and move quickly. It’s been a really quick recovery,” Shaikh said.

Her cancer surgeon was Dr. Greg Nelson, physician director of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) Alberta and professor and chair of gynecologic oncology at the University of Calgary.

ERAS is an evidence-based surgical practice that helps patients get back on their feet faster.

These include providing adequate nutrition to the patient, avoiding the use of long-acting sedatives, using non-opioid pain medications, and encouraging patients to ambulate as soon as possible after surgery.

Nelson won an international award this year for his research examining the barriers patients encounter when receiving ERAS benefits.

He says that despite best efforts, many of the recommendations are still not being followed.

“It goes back to what people are used to. In some cases, it might be easier that way and that’s the way they’ve been doing it for a long time,” Nelson said.

Historically, opioids have been used as one of the main ways to deal with pain, but doctors are now using alternative methods to manage pain.

“Before, people were hooked up to opioid pain pumps and left in hospital wards for days. Why were people unable to eat, nauseous, unable to get up and walk around? Is it because of the opioids? “It was,” Nelson said.

“By providing people with evidence that there are other ways to manage post-surgical pain, patients often require less opioids and are seeing the benefits,” Nelson said. .

He says the solution to making ERAS more widely available is to educate medical professionals about its benefits.

“Change can take 12 to 15 years or more to occur. Resistance to change is a major barrier in health care overall,” Nelson said.

Nelson said the ERAS movement began in the early 2000s with a group of European surgeons who were questioning historical surgical dogma at the time, such as no eating or drinking after midnight.

“What they found was that the outcomes they were seeing in these patients were not what they thought was optimal. That’s why the ERAS movement aims to improve historical outcomes through evidence-based treatments. “It was based on challenging traditional surgical practices,” Nelson said.

“Currently, we are allowing people to eat and drink for a certain amount of time before surgery so that they can go into surgery in a well-nourished state, and after surgery we are giving nutrition early, removing catheters, and avoiding opioids. “We find that implementing ERAS not only significantly improves health system outcomes by reducing length of stay, but also, importantly, increases patient satisfaction with ERAS,” Nelson said.

Months after her last round of chemotherapy and surgery, Linda Sheik is grateful for the changes in her post-surgery care that have been beneficial.

“The doctors’ positive attitude was great for me, and I immediately relaxed and thought, ‘Oh my God, I’m incompetent,'” Shaikh said. “These doctors are very well-trained, quiet and work very hard.”

She believes following her doctor’s advice was the key to her early recovery and feels lucky to have received treatment.

“I’m very lucky that I don’t have many dangerous illnesses, but it certainly helps to sit and listen,” Shaikh said.

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