Strength in community, Ronald Tomlin's story & so much more

**Discretion advised due to minor language and the level of detail in which Mr. Tomlin shares his story.**

Through three reoccurrences of cancer, multiple rounds of treatment and the heartbreaking loss of his wife, Ronald's story is a testament to personal perseverance and the power of a community of Caregivers standing behind you.

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Transcript

Cami Smith:

Hi, and welcome to & So Much More. I am Cami Smith and I'm your host, and I have the privilege of being here with all of you, but also with Mr. Ronald Tomlin, who has been a cancer patient over at the Pearson Cancer Center. And we have Leah Galatro, who is Radiation Oncology RN, and they have shared such an incredible story together, and I get to hear it today for the first time, and you do as well. And I do want to jump right in. Do you want me to call you Ronald or Mr. Tomlin? What are you most comfortable with?

Ronald Tomlin:

Ron.

Cami Smith:

Okay, Ron, first, thank you so much for being here.

Ronald Tomlin:

You're welcome. Thank you for having me.

Cami Smith:

I'm looking forward to hearing your story and I'm just so appreciative that you're willing to share that with us. You had prostate cancer, but you were telling me your story starts long before that. Why don't you start at the beginning? And you can tell us what your journey looked like.

Ronald Tomlin:

I started with bladder cancer and initially they removed the tumor in my bladder and I was fortunate it wasn't attached, and I had to go back for routine checkups and still nothing redeveloped. And that was in 2014. Then in 2018 when I had my checkup, I had a recurrence of the bladder cancer and he went in and removed that and recommended that I go for the VCG treatments, I believe that's what it's called, where they inject a fluid in my bladder and you maintain it in the bladder for a couple of hours and release it. And I had six weeks of that, and I had did that here at SevenHills Urology, and they were super as well.

He got all that out. And that's still steady as of today. It hasn't returned. But during that, my PSA levels from the prostate kept increasing. The recommended is 0.4 or four and they had reached 11. And in March of 23, the middle of March when I had my checkup, my levels had increased to 21. And my primary care doctor again recommended that I do another biopsy. And at that point, the 31st of March, identified that I did have a low risk prostate cancer, and he discussed the different options of use in radiation treatment, low dose radiation treatment, or implanting radiation seeds into the prostate or actually having the prostate removed.

Cami Smith:

Having already had an experience with cancer at this point, when you went back in and you had that appointment, I think you said you were headed in to see Dr. O'Neill, that is when you and Leah were connected?

Ronald Tomlin:

Right.

Cami Smith:

This was round two for you, almost round three.

Ronald Tomlin:

Basically round three.

Cami Smith:

Basically round three.

Ronald Tomlin:

For cancer itself.

Cami Smith:

What was that like?

Ronald Tomlin:

It was scary and it was intimidating because your prostate has to do with your intimacy and all that. And my wife was there every step of the way at the beginning and we both went in to see Dr. O'Neill. My first visit, I went in alone and that's when I met Leah and we joked about it. And I guess that's why they encouraged me to do this. We go in and I meet with Dr. O'Neill and he goes over some of the information and pretty much my wife and I had already predetermined that we were going to do the radiation versus doing the seeds, but we got the information and at that point, Leah was taking me back to where they make the mold for your body. And she asked me if that was my wife or my girlfriend. I had to say, "It's both, she's my wife and she's my girlfriend."

Speaker 3:

And girlfriend.

Ronald Tomlin:

Then I go back, she takes me back, and shows me where I'll be checking in and changing if I needed to change clothes and stuff. They have a separate room for that. And then Lori and Dylan that were in the mold room, I guess you call it.

Speaker 3:

It's called, sorry, a CT simulation where they come and get all the information they need to do the planning for the radiation.

Ronald Tomlin:

And when you go in there, they take this bean bag, plastic beanbag, and you lay on the table and they get you positioned and they make Xs on your thighs to get you lined up for the laser so that you can be in the same position for each treatment. They want you exactly as you were when they line you up. Once they get you lined up and the laser makes their points, then they inject an under the skin tattoo so that each time you go in, they'll position you just right, so that the laser in the radiation chamber hits you where they want it to.

Cami Smith:

Was this your first tattoo? First and last.

Ronald Tomlin:

Yes. And the good part of it is the Xs were permanent, but they washed off over time.

Cami Smith:

There you go.

Ronald Tomlin:

But the tattoos are not visible, I never got to see the actual tattoos. But they're under the skin, but they stay there. But anyway, like I say, they get you all lined up and once they mold that beanbag, then each time you go in for your treatment in the radiation room, you lay on the table and you position yourself in the beanbag and then they shift you up or down until the laser hits the exact points.

Cami Smith:

So detailed and so intricate. It's incredible.

Ronald Tomlin:

And it was unreal. And every day, I have to mention Lauren, Robin, Michelle, Alyssa, and Abby, they were the ones that on a rotating basis that would get me lined up on a table and do treatments. We also had a couple of student nurses come in from, I guess they were from the hospitals school of nursing. But anyway, they were all super, and then on occasion, Lori and Dylan would come back if it was between times when they were scheduled off or whatever, but they would come back in and they would actually set me up on the table. And it was an every team member deal.

And then like I say, I would go in and I would get positioned and then they would say, "Okay, we'll be back." They turn the lights down and the machine or the radiation injector or whatever, I guess that's what it's called. But anyway, it starts out and you're laying there and you stay straight and it goes around you and you can't move or anything. You watch it with your eyes, you go around, they have this pretty little design on the ceiling that looks like outside but anyway.

Cami Smith:

That's very cool. It's such an interesting experience.

Ronald Tomlin:

And once it will go around and then it stops and it whirls a little bit and then it takes off again and it goes back around the other way and rotates through. And again, the radiation is hitting the area.

Cami Smith:

Those two.

Ronald Tomlin:

It's actually going all the way around. And in the process to finish getting ready for that, after you get your mold, they recommend and you don't have to do it, they recommend getting what is called a SpaceOAR, and that's put between the lining of your rectum and the prostate, and it helps prevent the radiation from drying your colon area out and the rest of your lining around your rectum. It is supposed to help prevent you having issues with the radiation. And I think it worked really well. The first week I had no side effects at all from the radiation, and I had no pain or anything. The second week I go in and I have a little bit of issues with constipation, and I was able to correct that with just stool softener.

Cami Smith:

Is that pretty common for the experience?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, we do have a lot of patients that have some experiences with diarrhea, constipation.

Ronald Tomlin:

Like I say, I never had the issue with diarrhea. I did have it with the light constipation, and after the second week, that pretty much went away. The worst part of the side effects was into the third week. And every time you have to urinate, it was like, "Lots of needles sticking in you," and saying, "Oh my gosh," but you have to do it and in some cases they said that the side effect was you wouldn't be able to urinate. You feel like you have to go, but you couldn't. They didn't want you forcing it at all. But personally, I didn't have that issue. I always had to go when I could go. It just hurt my crazy to go. But then, like I say, and that lasted throughout the end of the radiation treatments.

Cami Smith:

I want to hear about, you remembered everyone's name. I have so much trouble with names, but you are clearly a details person. But the fact that you remembered everyone's name, what was that like relationally?

Ronald Tomlin:

It was awesome. I haven't mentioned Laura and Sarah up front yet, but at the end of the first week, my wife had been going with me every day and she would say, "We're going on a journey." And then on the way home she'd say, "We completed another one." And she was so happy, but she was everything anyway, but that Friday night, I said, "Love you, I'll see you in the morning and if you need anything, call me." And then I said, "We don't have to get up in the morning, we can sleep in." And I thought I was letting her sleep in, but she didn't wake up. And that was horrible, probably the worst day of my life. When I came in from my treatment on Monday, Leah had just happened to walk by me. She asked me how I was doing, and that was horrible, but it was super nice. And she was just right there, and she was for the whole time, they were just right there for me.

Speaker 3:

Felt horrible, he still came to treatment after all that.

Ronald Tomlin:

My wife would beat my *** if I didn't, I guess I couldn't say that on the air but anyway. She would be right there, you got to take care of yourself. And she took care of me big time.

Cami Smith:

This team really came around to you.

Ronald Tomlin:

All of them, Laura, Sarah, Chad there, help her in the outer area, but I would see them on Wednesdays. But I always tried to make a point of stopping by and seeing them, especially daily, because they took care of me big time. And then on top of that, right into the second week of my treatment coming into the third week, my mom passed away.

Cami Smith:

Oh my goodness.

Ronald Tomlin:

And that one was expected, so it wasn't as hard, and then a couple of times when I went in for my treatments, Lauren wouldn't be there. She had other appointments. After she got out of her appointment, she actually called me at home and checked up on me at home. Can you imagine? They're just so family.

Cami Smith:

They stepped right in.

Ronald Tomlin:

And it was awesome. And another little incident that happened, I was talking to one of my neighbors and I got bit by a dog in the back of my leg.

Cami Smith:

Oh goodness.

Speaker 3:

I forgot about that.

Cami Smith:

That's awful.

Ronald Tomlin:

When I went in for my treatment that day, I had taped a napkin on the back of my leg to keep from getting blood on my clothes because it would break loose and bleed a little bit. I had taped a napkin on with scotch tape.

Cami Smith:

Oh my goodness.

Speaker 3:

We got him fixed up.

Cami Smith:

Good.

Ronald Tomlin:

And Laura ran in the little room and she got me gauze bandages. She got me zinc to put on the open wound and wound cleaner. It was just like my baby. She took care of me. And everybody, every one of them were so help really. But like I say, I would see Dr. O'Neill on Wednesdays. The first couple of weeks he was on vacation, then I would see Dr. Brady, and it was just like I was her patient as well.

She was right there and always tried to find out if I had any issues that were either common or uncommon. And like I say, the only issue that I really had was the painful urination and all in all. And I had 28 treatments, and that was five days a week. And one of my cousins, it was actually my wife's cousin's husband, but cousin through marriage but anyway.

Cami Smith:

Family.

Ronald Tomlin:

He was going through radiation treatment and I didn't know it until I got on my schedule and I was actually coming in right behind him. He was the one in front of me. And we got to discuss it back and forth, and we keep check on each other that way.

Cami Smith:

That's so good.

Ronald Tomlin:

And after I completed my treatment and I went back to see Dr. Stands, he's my urologist now. And when he told me that my PSA was 0.02, I just couldn't believe it.

Cami Smith:

Bet that felt so good.

Ronald Tomlin:

Wow. That is amazing. And I said, "Are you sure these numbers are right because it was up to 21?" And they said, "No, that's right."

Cami Smith:

Oh my goodness. You've experienced so, so much in a very short amount of time, and to just hear how there were people around you at the right time to just be there. That's incredible. I feel like it's such a gift.

Ronald Tomlin:

Like I say, my kids were actually surprised that I was remembering everybody's names and all, and they're family. They're my family now and again, I couldn't ask for a more outstanding group. Like I say, every one of them.

Cami Smith:

This was very brave of you to come and allow us to step in to this with you. Thank you.

Ronald Tomlin:

I'm happy to do it now that I've done it.

Cami Smith:

And Leah, thank you. I know that you just wanted to come and continue to be a support, which is just a picture of I'm sure both of your relationship and your experience thus far. Thank you for being here as well.

Speaker 3:

Thank you for having me.

Ronald Tomlin:

That actually shocked me when I see her. I said, "Oh wow." That is awesome. I really appreciate it.

Speaker 3:

Very thankful to come and be support for you.

Cami Smith:

That's so good. And thank you all for joining us. I hope this is just a glimpse into the other side of a journey if this is something your experience or someone that you love is experiencing, and it can just bring some hope and some encouragement, and I hope you'll join us next time on & So Much More.