Finding the Team You Can Trust

Kathy Wojcik understands the importance of advocacy. As a patient of gynecologic oncologist Kim Levinson, MD, MPH, she came to most of her visits ready with questions about her disease. As a teacher, she proudly supports her students when they speak up about programs they need.

Not that she felt she needed to stick up for herself as a cancer patient. In fact, from their first meeting, Wojcik felt Dr. Levinson was someone she could trust.

“She listened to me,” Wojcik said. “She explained things. She told me she believed I had stage 3 cancer, but she’d confirm that with surgery.”

The meeting began with Dr. Levinson telling Wojcik her surgery had been scheduled and was two weeks away.

“I was shocked, overwhelmed, scared,” Wojcik said. “Yet Dr. Levinson’s demeanor was soothing and certain. She made me feel more comfortable in that first meeting. I have a lot of trust in her.”

As a teacher in the Agricultural Science Academy of Howard County with a background in Animal Science, Wojcik had a bit more facility reading articles about cancer than another patient might. Beyond that, she is naturally curious. So, she read about her disease – about diagnosis, treatment, side effects, everything she could find in an internet search.

“I’d tell Dr. Levinson about something I’d read and ask her, ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’” Wojcik said.

Wojcik was reassured when Dr. Levinson took her questions in stride and offered clear explanations, including admitting there are things oncologists are still learning about cancer. Happily, Wojcik has been able to participate in that work. She proved to be an ideal candidate for one of the many clinical trials in which GBMC participates.

Today, Wojcik thinks of joining the clinical trial as the second-best decision she made. The first was becoming Dr. Levinson’s patient.

“Friends would ask me why I was at GBMC, when there are bigger academic hospitals just as close,” she said. “At GBMC, I’m a person, an individual – not a number. The people treating me – from the OR nurse to Chris (Tapley) who scheduled my infusion appointments – everyone is amazing. They became my friends.”

In the course of her treatment, Wojcik got to know a lot of clinicians at GBMC. She was a patient of both gastroenterologist Niraj D. Jani, MD, and general surgeon Francis S. Rotolo, MD, and got to know their teams, as well. Each experience confirmed for her that GBMC was the right place for treating her cancer.

Except for the six weeks she needed to recover from surgery, Wojcik continued teaching through it all. The Agricultural Science Academy is relatively new to Howard County Schools. Students had advocated for it and won their argument. While she didn’t say it in so many words, it’s clear she was determined not to let them down. And the students came through at every turn.

“Even when I didn’t feel up to it, they did,” she said. As the advisor to the FFA, Wojcik guided her students, often over the phone from home, as they organized an end-of-year banquet – complete with silent auction – and won the right to compete at the national convention, where they placed 6th in the nation. It helped the nurses at GBMC found ways to schedule treatment so she would have her best chance of feeling well when she needed to.

Today, she is in remission. She sees Dr. Levinson every four months and hopes to transition to every six months come January. She sees the world differently as a cancer survivor, with a clearer sense of what matters. Each of her three grown children (the youngest has begun her final year of college), found ways to care for and support her during treatment. They are her primary focus – along with her three grandchildren. And doctor appointments remain “a big part of my life.”

And, as inquisitive as she is, Wojcik is learning to live in the moment.

“You have to believe and trust the team helping you make the best decisions,” she said. "Focus on taking care of yourself and advocating for yourself.”