Doug Workman - Working for a Cure
By Hannah Gilman
Something just didn’t feel right.
That’s what then-48-year-old husband and father of two Doug Workman, who works as a family physician at Broadlawns Medical Center in Des Moines, said just before discovering he had stage 4 colon cancer.
“The only symptom I had was that I was feeling a little nauseated, and it went on for a couple of weeks,” says Workman, who noted he originally chalked up his “off” feeling to working long days and drinking a lot of coffee. In an effort to quiet the nausea, Workman logged more hours of sleep and changed his diet, but the nausea stayed as the weeks went by. A vacation out of the country prompted Workman to consult a coworker—just in case. “I said to one of my colleagues, ‘Hey, I haven’t been feeling well for a couple weeks—just a little nauseated—maybe we should just check some blood work before I leave the country and make sure I don’t have an ulcer or something along those lines.’”
The blood work showed some minor liver abnormalities, which Workman says didn’t concern him—but it did concern his colleague, who pushed him to get further testing. Workman had an ultrasound of his liver, which confirmed the abnormalities found in his blood work. Next up? A CT scan. “I work in a fairly small hospital, so we all know each other very well here. I had the CT scan and as soon as I completed it, I walked over to the radiologist’s office, sat down, and pulled up the films and looked it, and there was just very obvious liver metastases present there. As soon as we both laid eyes on the CT scan, we knew this was a metastatic cancer of some kind.”
What kind of metastatic cancer was the question. “The radiologist said ‘You know, there’s one thing this could be, and that’s colon cancer. Have you had a colonoscopy before?’ and I said ‘No, I’m only 48 years old and the recommendations are to start at age 50.’” Workman had no family history of colon cancer or any other risk factors, but a colonoscopy confirmed his radiologist’s unfortunate suspicion—Workman had a tumor in his colon and a cancer that had spread to his liver.
Workman, who was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer, said he immediately understood the gravity of the situation, thanks in part to both his occupation and his sisterin- law’s colon cancer diagnosis just a year earlier. “We had a pretty good idea of the resources that were available and we knew that surgery and chemotherapy were going to be in my near future. We knew some of the ups and downs that are involved with living with cancer day to day.” Workman’s colorectal surgeon and oncologist consulted one another to work out the most efficient treatment plan, and decided to first remove the primary cancer and then start chemotherapy.
While Workman wasn’t 50 and had no risk factors for the disease such as a family history, he did have symptoms and credits simply listening to what his body was telling him for catching his cancer before it was too late. “I tell my patients that a colonoscopy is certainly not the highlight of anybody’s day, but it’s critically important they get it done,” says Workman. “Colon cancer is one of those diseases where the outcome is very dependant on the colon cancer—the earlier you catch it, the better prognosis you have.”
“I know it’s one of those procedures where you may lose a little modesty and it’s not a very fun experience to go through—even though it’s not that bad—but it’s important to get it done when it’s time to get it done because if there is a cancer or pre-cancer present, the earlier you get to it, the better the potential outcome,” says Workman.
Nearly two years after his diagnosis, Workman is receiving chemotherapy every other week. That’s not stopping him from living his life,
though. “When I was first diagnosed, I thought I had every reason to sit around and feel sorry for myself … and I came to realize pretty quickly that sitting around and feeling sorry for myself wasn’t solving my problems or anyone else’s,” says Workman. “Every day that I get up now, I feel blessed to have an opportunity to enjoy my family and go to work.” An opportunity he might not have had without a lifesaving colonoscopy.
Something just didn’t feel right.
That’s what then-48-year-old husband and father of two Doug Workman, who works as a family physician at Broadlawns Medical Center in Des Moines, said just before discovering he had stage 4 colon cancer.
“The only symptom I had was that I was feeling a little nauseated, and it went on for a couple of weeks,” says Workman, who noted he originally chalked up his “off” feeling to working long days and drinking a lot of coffee. In an effort to quiet the nausea, Workman logged more hours of sleep and changed his diet, but the nausea stayed as the weeks went by. A vacation out of the country prompted Workman to consult a coworker—just in case. “I said to one of my colleagues, ‘Hey, I haven’t been feeling well for a couple weeks—just a little nauseated—maybe we should just check some blood work before I leave the country and make sure I don’t have an ulcer or something along those lines.’”
The blood work showed some minor liver abnormalities, which Workman says didn’t concern him—but it did concern his colleague, who pushed him to get further testing. Workman had an ultrasound of his liver, which confirmed the abnormalities found in his blood work. Next up? A CT scan. “I work in a fairly small hospital, so we all know each other very well here. I had the CT scan and as soon as I completed it, I walked over to the radiologist’s office, sat down, and pulled up the films and looked it, and there was just very obvious liver metastases present there. As soon as we both laid eyes on the CT scan, we knew this was a metastatic cancer of some kind.”
What kind of metastatic cancer was the question. “The radiologist said ‘You know, there’s one thing this could be, and that’s colon cancer. Have you had a colonoscopy before?’ and I said ‘No, I’m only 48 years old and the recommendations are to start at age 50.’” Workman had no family history of colon cancer or any other risk factors, but a colonoscopy confirmed his radiologist’s unfortunate suspicion—Workman had a tumor in his colon and a cancer that had spread to his liver.
Workman, who was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer, said he immediately understood the gravity of the situation, thanks in part to both his occupation and his sisterin- law’s colon cancer diagnosis just a year earlier. “We had a pretty good idea of the resources that were available and we knew that surgery and chemotherapy were going to be in my near future. We knew some of the ups and downs that are involved with living with cancer day to day.” Workman’s colorectal surgeon and oncologist consulted one another to work out the most efficient treatment plan, and decided to first remove the primary cancer and then start chemotherapy.
While Workman wasn’t 50 and had no risk factors for the disease such as a family history, he did have symptoms and credits simply listening to what his body was telling him for catching his cancer before it was too late. “I tell my patients that a colonoscopy is certainly not the highlight of anybody’s day, but it’s critically important they get it done,” says Workman. “Colon cancer is one of those diseases where the outcome is very dependant on the colon cancer—the earlier you catch it, the better prognosis you have.”
“I know it’s one of those procedures where you may lose a little modesty and it’s not a very fun experience to go through—even though it’s not that bad—but it’s important to get it done when it’s time to get it done because if there is a cancer or pre-cancer present, the earlier you get to it, the better the potential outcome,” says Workman.
Nearly two years after his diagnosis, Workman is receiving chemotherapy every other week. That’s not stopping him from living his life,
though. “When I was first diagnosed, I thought I had every reason to sit around and feel sorry for myself … and I came to realize pretty quickly that sitting around and feeling sorry for myself wasn’t solving my problems or anyone else’s,” says Workman. “Every day that I get up now, I feel blessed to have an opportunity to enjoy my family and go to work.” An opportunity he might not have had without a lifesaving colonoscopy.