Helen Dandurand (Host): Welcome back to the Well Within Reach podcast. I'm your host, Helen Dandurand, and today I'm joined by Laura Meents, a patient who has a great story to share.

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Host: Today we're sharing Laura's story, a powerful reminder of how paying attention to your body and having a trusted relationship with your provider can truly make a difference.

After experiencing subtle on and off symptoms, Laura started tracking them at her provider's suggestion. A chance conversation with a friend prompted her to follow up for a screening, and that led to early detection that made all the difference. So, Laura, we are so glad to have you here with us today.

Laura Meents: Yeah, thank you.

Host: Yeah. Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Laura Meents: So, I actually work for Riverside, which, you know, makes us all the worst patients, for doing what we're supposed to be doing. But I am the site supervisor for the Bourbonaise primary care office. My husband and I live in Bourbonaise with our two boys. We both grew up in the area, so we're very familiar with the Riverside family, so.

Host: Excellent. So when you first started noticing some of those off symptoms, what was kind of going through your mind?

Laura Meents: That it's probably nothing and I'm probably just not drinking enough water, drinking too much coffee. Not eating the right things and just overall probably should be healthier and those things would go away.

Host: Yeah, I think that's pretty easy. For the first thing, I mean, we don't want to jump to conclusions. I think the first thing we always think is, yeah, I haven't been sleeping right. I haven't been eating right.

All of that. So Definitely. So I know you said you reached out to your primary care provider, kind of just in case. What did that mean to have a primary care provider who didn't necessarily dismiss that and encouraged you to keep tracking and listening to your body?

Laura Meents: Yeah, so, I sat down with Dr. Matthew here at the Frankfurt Clinic and she just said, you know, just kind of keep track of how often it's happening. Let me know if it increases. And you're right, it probably, it could just probably be too much coffee or something. So just let's pay attention to it and see if it continues or worsens.

Host: Okay. And then you had a chance encounter with an acquaintance. Can you tell us what happened when you complimented her haircut and how that moment kind of changed everything for you?

Laura Meents: Yeah, so I ran into somebody I see once, maybe twice a year, and she's always had longer hair and I noticed she had kind of a bob cut. And I commented and I said, I just, I really love your hair. It really suits you. You, cut it. And she goes, well, thanks. It wasn't really by choice. It's actually my chemo hair. I said, oh my goodness. I didn't even have any idea. And she said, yeah, I went for my routine screening colonoscopy, and they found stage three with no symptoms whatsoever.

And so that kind of set me into thinking about myself a little bit and like, huh, I have had some symptoms that are concerning. I should probably say something about that.

Host: So you said that and then you ended up going ahead and getting that colonoscopy done. And then that is when you got a call. Can you describe the moment you got the call, about the stage zero cancer and what did you feel in that instant?

Laura Meents: So working in healthcare, obviously I know, if a doctor calls for a result, not all the time, but quite a bit of time, especially at four o'clock on a Friday afternoon with a pathology result, it's not your, Hey, everything's great.

We'll see you when you're actually of age to do it. And with that phone call, I just kind of said, oh crap, you're calling me. This can't be good. He said, well, it's not really bad, but it's worse than I had kinda initially thought when we took that polyp out during your colonoscopy. The pathology just showed it was a little bit more, and just that realization setting in of, okay, there really was something that had I ignored. I'm only 38. If I would've ignored that until the time of actual screening, not knowing any family history, anything like that was a factor. I would've had full-blown cancer within a matter of months, but certainly by the time I was of the typical screening age.

Host: That is definitely, you know, a hard thing to wrap your mind around with saying just a matter of months. But that's the truth. And I mean that the timing all worked out is just, so great.

Laura Meents: Yeah, it was definitely a blessing because you hear so many times and more and more frequently of people who have, like my friend, zero symptoms. They go in for their screening and it's there, and to just even have a few symptoms and just to get checked, turned out to be just really important.

Host: Yeah. There's a lot fear in the unknown. What would you say was kind of the scariest part of the journey for you, and how did you push through it?

Laura Meents: I would say probably me ignoring things as long as I did before I said something. And then that chance encounter that I really don't believe was a chance encounter. Um, but yeah, just I think the unknown and the, it can't be, so I don't need to do anything about it. That was actually the fear of this could be something and do I really want to deal with it?

And I've got a 12 and a 9-year-old and that's not something I want at 40 years old to have to be dealing with, potentially having a serious stage of cancer that can be caught so early and so easily if we just do what is recommended by our doctors.

Host: Absolutely. So, after you got that result, you kind of started calling family, you learned that colon cancer actually was in your family history after all. What did that kind of teach you about the stories we don't always share?

Laura Meents: I think we think that healthcare is a private thing in those details, and they are. That's why we have the rules that we have, but, it's our responsibility as those family members to share that information. Don't assume that somebody's going to tell somebody else in the family. You have to make it a point, which is why I called each of my first cousins and just said, Hey, by the way, this is what's going on. Make sure that you're getting checked and make sure that it's on your mind. So if you get some symptoms, don't wait. Just go.

Host: Absolutely. So you've shared your story with us and your friends and family, and now you even, have this note in your children's charts which reflects this. What does it mean to you to know that your experience might actually help others and save others?

Laura Meents: Yeah. I've had a couple of friends that, as I've told them what has happened, they've actually gone to their primaries and gotten referrals to go also. And, two out of three that have said, Hmm, I've kind of had some things going on. They've now gone and gotten their colonoscopies and one had nothing. One did have a couple of polyps that were completely fine, but you never know when those are going to turn into more. And each one of those three friends is under 40 also. It's just something that for some reason is getting more and more prevalent in younger people. And I think that's why we've also seen the age pushback.

So just knowing that thankfully the one friend with her polyps could have been something and now those are out and she's good to go for the rest of the time she needs to, is just, rewarding to me for sharing my story.

Host: Absolutely. So if someone is out there watching this and feeling a little off, brushing it off, what would you say to them? Kind of heart to heart.

Laura Meents: I would say the typical thing is, oh, colonoscopies are terrible. The prep is terrible. It's really not as bad as everybody makes. It is not pleasant, but it is not as bad as everybody makes it out to be. And the benefit over the nasty stuff that you have to drink of just knowing that you're fine and that there's not something growing inside of you that is completely preventable, can be taken out, can be easily fixed, easily addressed, it's worth it to get that done, to not have to have that worry and that fear.

So even if you're not having symptoms, my friend is the perfect example. Screening, no symptoms and she had stage three. I had symptoms, wasn't the screening age, and had something that could have easily, quickly turned into something else.

Host: Yeah, and it's definitely important to not only think about it in this context, but in every context of screening, having that relationship with your primary care provider to be able to kinda share whenever something like this comes up that's just so great.

And it sounds like you have a good relationship with your provider and that's so important.

Laura Meents: Yeah, we've gone through just a couple of things. This is the biggest for sure, but she's just very honest and lets me direct my healthcare a little bit, but she also doesn't dismiss the things, whereas I was like, oh, it's probably nothing.

She said, well, it probably is nothing, but let's go check. And I just came for my annual a few weeks ago and she sat down and she said, oh man, this was not what we thought at all would happen with you, and here we are and thank goodness. And now the boys will get checked sooner. And I've told some friends and family members that hopefully even my sister went and they said, I don't think we need to worry about it yet.

But if you start having symptoms come immediately. And my sister was like, yeah, I probably need to be better too, about having a primary. So now she's locked in with a primary care for the first time in, I don't know how many years, probably since our pediatrician before college, but she's locked in and she's getting that stuff taken care of too.

Host: That's wonderful. It's great that from this experience, you're making a difference in the lives of kind of so many, and bringing this to light and even sharing your story today. So thank you so much. Is there anything else you want to add?

Laura Meents: Do what you gotta do. Take the time. We're all busy, but what is a day, two days off of work to make sure that you have the rest of your life to spend with those you love.

Host: Absolutely. Well, thank you again and thank you listeners for tuning into the Well Within Reach podcast brought to you by Riverside Healthcare. For more information, visit riversidehealthcare.org.