As an educator, Dr. Senta Goertler puts students’ needs at the forefront of her work. Because of this, there are times where her own health needs may fall to the wayside. That’s where nurse practitioners like Dr. Denise Hershey come in.
Goertler, an associate professor of second language studies and German, and associate chair for undergraduate studies at Michigan State University, spent a year in Germany to direct a year-long education abroad program supporting 30 Big Ten academic alliance students studying in Germany. After returning to East Lansing, she scheduled a checkup with Hershey, her nurse practitioner who is also an associate professor at the College of Nursing.
“When I returned to the states, I described to Dr. Hershey a variety of symptoms like my skin itching, feeling like I was lactating, and then she found a lump as well.” explained Goertler. “For me, all these symptoms seemed disconnected, but to her it created a story.”
The story these symptoms told to Hershey was breast cancer.
The diagnosis
“When Senta came in and shared her symptoms, I really felt like she needed to go for a mammogram,” said Hershey. “While she was reluctant, I encouraged her and eventually persuaded her to get one.”
“I wasn’t particularly worried,” Goertler said. “I thought there wasn’t anyone in my family with breast cancer, and I had suspicious bumps before that turned out to be nothing, but Dr. Hershey was persistent with checking in on me and messaging me, pushing me for three months to get a mammogram.”
It was later discovered, after going through family history, that Senta’s grandmother had breast cancer at one point in her life.
“Once I got the results back of Senta’s biopsy, I called her to discuss what this process would look like,” said Dr. Hershey. “And then I got her referred to Michigan State University Surgery and with MSU’s Cancer Center.”
This is when Goertler learned that it takes a team to work through breast cancer. In addition to MSU Surgery and Cancer Center, other nurse practitioners and physicians at Michigan State University Health Care (MSU Health Care) helped along the way.
“I was really lucky that I didn’t have to have chemotherapy.” said Goertler. “I had surgery with Dr. Harvey Bumpers of MSU Health Care, and he did a wonderful job. He was personable and funny, he really helped ease my worries about the surgery.”
Recovery
While the surgery was successful and done well, it is only the beginning of treatments and care. These treatments can often cause stress on the body for the patient, and it is important for a nurse to be empathetic to these situations.
“Dr. Hershey is such an empathetic nurse — not all medical professionals listen to their patients,” said Goertler.
The medication Tamoxifen can take a toll on one’s body, Goertler said, adding Hershey and the Radiology team taught her how to manage symptoms.
“I don’t think I would have figured out I had breast cancer if it wasn’t for Dr. Hershey,” Goertler said.
“What’s hard about cancer is that is a life-long worry. My mother-in-law had breast cancer early on in her life and later in her life it came back. That experience sits in the back of my mind: Cancer can come back; you’re never truly in the clear.”
Hershey makes a point of following up and reporting her thoughts in Goertler’s chart after every test she goes through.
“Dr. Hershey is instrumental in translating reports to me, and while I can make sense of them on my own with the help of Google, it is nice to have her send reassurance after viewing these reports,” Goertler said.
“The day-to-day people that you interact with are the nurse practitioners. While the doctors see you first, you are often passed to a nurse practitioner,” explained Goertler. “While Dr. Hershey isn’t listed as my primary care physician, I consider her my primary and go to her first for any issues I have.”
Hershey said Goertler is doing well now, and is even working out with a trainer, starting to get back to being more physically active.
Goertler was glad to have an advocate to help her navigate the health care system and to provide the best quality care during a difficult time.
“I think empathy is so important no matter what the patient’s issue is,” Hershey said. “You have to tailor care by a case-by-case basis.”
