Abby Fox (Intro): Welcome to the Still Caring Podcast, presented by Stillwater Medical.

Joe Akin (Intro): Here, community is at the heart of healthcare.

Katon Lunsford (Intro): Through honest conversations and shared experiences

Abby Fox (Intro): we explore what it means to care for our health—

Joe Akin (Intro): and each other.

Katon Lunsford (Intro): Because better health takes a village and you're part of ours.

Katon Lunsford (Host): Hi, everyone. Today, we are joined by Stacey Frazier, who's here to share a little bit about her health journey of what started out as a routine visit and what later, you know, she says saved her life. And so, we're so grateful for her willingness to share this story with us. Could you share a little bit about yourself and just a little bit of your back history with the health journey?

Stacey Frazier, Ed.D.: Of course. I'm Stacey Frazier. I have been a resident of Stillwater since 1994. And I work for Northern Oklahoma College as the Division Chair for the Language Arts Division. I've been with Northern Oklahoma College for 15 years, and I love being able to teach young minds how to think and how to be great members of society.

And so, originally, I go to Dr. Corby Smithton, he is my primary care. And I've been going to him since probably 2003, whenever he began practice in Stillwater. And so, we have a very, very long-standing relationship. He's my doctor, he's my husband's doctor. Colby was my son's doctor. Corby's now my son's doctor. So, we have been a part of the Stillwater community for a long time, and Corby is my go-to with any health question that I have.

Host: Again, thank you for being here and sharing your story, and also being a listener of the podcast and reaching out. We're really grateful for you. So, could you tell us a little bit more about your experience?

Stacey Frazier, Ed.D.: Of course. So, the particular experience that I was referring to whenever I reached out to you guys to tell you the story of how SMC saved my life was my cancer journey. Back in 2021, I used to commute to Tonkawa for work every day, and I was driving to Tonkawa, and I noticed that something was weird with my vision.

I rubbed my left eye, and realized that I couldn't see my steering wheel in my right eye, and I thought, "That's not normal. That's not right." That was in the morning. As soon as I got to work, I called Corby's office and he said, "I want to see you this afternoon because, no, that's not normal."

And so, I taught my classes, left work, went immediately to see Corby. And he did an examination and he said, "I don't know what's going on. I want to send you over to see Dr. Jonathan Drummond, who is the ophthalmologist here in town." And so, the very next day, I went and saw Dr. Drummond, and he saw that there was some—he called it a flare in my eye, and he immediately called for an MRI and sent me to the hospital for an MRI. I don't know that it would be an emergency MRI, but one that he was pushing to get done very quickly. Because as a 46-year-old woman, that's not something that was normal. And so, we did the MRI later that week, and there wasn't really anything that they could tell on the MRI. There wasn't a tumor or anything that would have been affecting my vision.

So, he referred me to Dean McGee in Oklahoma City with a neurologic ophthalmologist. And I saw him. We did many, many tests, many pictures of my eyes. All the while, Dr. Drummond was still in contact with me, seeing how the Dean McGee experience was, and Corby was always checking in to see how I was doing, what process was going on. And, you know, I always made sure to put that Corby Smith then was my primary care, and Dr. Drummond was the one—even though Dean McGee isn't in the SMC community, they still communicated with them.

We did a sleep study because they thought maybe I had sleep apnea, and it would have been something that could have caused me to lose vision. And I did the sleep study here at SMC, and Dr. MG found that I did have sleep apnea. So, I was put on a CPAP, but Dean McGee wasn't convinced, and they determined that I had a stroke in my optic nerve. And they decided to send me to a hematologist in order to determine why I had a stroke in my optic nerve.

And I was referred to Dr. Cole at the Stillwater Cancer Center, and I saw him. It took us a year to determine what was the root cause of the problem. I did many blood tests with him. It was a couple every two months thing. He finally determined that my iron was low.

I'm going to sidebar on that, but every time I went and saw Dr. Cole, I could tell that he was processing everything, and he was thinking about all aspects of my blood work and my test results. And he was working through those while I was watching him do it, which is amazing to me to see someone think like that. And he gave me some iron pills. He said, "I want to try these for a few months." Every time he would tell me, "I want to do what is least invasive to you and least painful for you." And he said, you know, "I could do a spinal tap, but I don't want to do that right now. I want to see what the root cause of it is."

And the iron pills didn't really improve my iron. So, he gave me two IV iron infusions, and it really didn't do anything. And that was the point where he said, "Okay, we can do two things. We can do a endoscopy and a colonoscopy or a spinal tap. I would rather do the endoscopy and colonoscopy first, because it's least invasive and least painful." and so, I said, "Certainly, let's do that." That was basically a year after the optic nerve stroke. And so in May, I did the colonoscopy and the endoscopy, and that is when the gastroenterologist found a mass in my colon. And he took biopsies of everything. And then, that was a Thursday when I had my colonoscopy. I got the call the following Monday from Dr. Patel, and they said that it was cancer. And then, that was a Monday.

Two days later, I got a call from Dr. Cara Pence's office to tell me, you know, "Come in so we can schedule your surgery." And so, I came in on that Wednesday. You know, she saw me. She did her initial exam, told me what she saw from the results, that it was cancer in the cecum of my colon, which—she's a light too. Whenever you walk in knowing that you have cancer and she sees you and hugs you, it just makes you think, "Okay, iit's bad, but it might not be so terrible." And it happened so fast for me that seeing her that quickly I think helped me deal with it better. And she said, "You know, this isn't normal. 46-year-old women don't necessarily have colon cancer if they don't have, you know, a long line of colon cancer in their family." And she said, "I want to do a genetic test to see were these genetic markers," because she wanted to know why I had it that, that early as well.

And so, she had me do the blood test for the genetic markers for cancer. And then, we scheduled the surgery for the following week. And I went into the medical center, and Dr. Pence removed a third of my colon and so many lymph nodes that I didn't even know were inside of a body to make sure that she got everything and to see how advanced the cancer was.

And then, a few days, you know, a few—I don't know however long it was, she called me back and said that they got the results and that I was going to go see Dr. Cole again for those. And Dr. Cole told me that it was stage I T2, was my cancer diagnosis, which meant that the cancer was stage I. The T2 meant that it had just begun to encroach on the lining of my colon. So, it had not penetrated the lining of my colon, so I did not have to have chemotherapy or radiation because it was maintained in that one area.

So, we did not have to do any of that. We just continued on with our treatment as far as rehabilitation and everything. And I forgot to say that when I got the call from Dr. Patel telling me that I had cancer, Corby called me the following day, that morning, to say, "I just got your results." And in Corby words, "What the heck?" is what he said. So, I'm cancer-free. I actually just had a colonoscopy on Friday. And everything is normal, and I don't have to have another one for five years, which is a celebratory time for me, because having the cancer in '22, then having to have another colonoscopy the following year, and then another, so it's just been a process.

Host: So, it's almost like whiplash because it was a whole year of, I mean, all these tests and trying to figure it out. And then, I mean, you said, what—what was it? One week, you had the answers and then the results and then the surgery. It's a quick turnaround, and that's a lot to process, I feel like, in that was short of a time.

Stacey Frazier, Ed.D.: It was. And, you know, I'm not positive as to why it happened so quickly, but I think because knowing who I am, I am a researcher, I am someone who goes and tries to find answers to everything, and reasons why, and what have you. And I think that had I not had that quick turnaround time, I probably would have gotten caught in the Google—

Host: The spiraling.

Stacey Frazier, Ed.D.: Yeah, and I would have spiraled, and I would have had a lot of terrible thoughts, honestly. And so, knowing that everything went so quickly, I think that was the ultimate plan anyway for me because I don't know how I would have handled it had I have had so much time to process.

Host: Yeah. That makes sense. But up until this point, and correct me if I'm wrong, you hadn't had any health issues or health scares? Nothing

Stacey Frazier, Ed.D.: No. Just normal routine. I mean, when I was a teenager, I had HPV. So, that was really the only major issue that I had with my health.

Host: So now, that you've had this time to, like, reflect and process, I mean, what did that feel like going from being healthy to a cancer diagnosis?

Stacey Frazier, Ed.D.: It was a lot to take on, honestly, because having that full year not knowing why I lost my vision. And, you know, I had the process in my brain of, "You've lost your vision. Are you ever going to get that vision back?" And then, "Oh, by the way, you have sleep apnea. Here's a CPAP. By the way, we need to do this. You have these blood issues." And so, my mind was in a spiral on all of the things that I needed to make sure that I covered on my health journey anyway. But having every person in place allowed me to have someone, regardless of what question I had, to contact. The majority of them were here in Stillwater associated with SMC, and that's why I say SMC saved my life, because Ithere was every piece of the puzzle in there.

Host: Yeah. And so, you've kind of already said what I was going to ask, but this was a collaborative process. And so, what does that feel like knowing that you had support from all these various people on your medical team to help you find answers?

Stacey Frazier, Ed.D.: It felt reassuring.

Host: Yeah.

Stacey Frazier, Ed.D.: Like I said, whenever, you know, seeing Dr. Pence, just walking into her office and the light that she brings when you have one of those darkest times because you're thinking you have colon cancer, "Am I going to have to have an ostomy bag? Are they going to have to take...?" All of the questions. And she was so upbeat and so light that it helped me deal with it. And she always reassured me, "Corby is here for you. Dr. Cole is here for you. I'm here for you. It doesn't matter. Whatever question you have, we can answer it to the best of our abilities." So, having that team and knowing that they all talk was so reassuring to me.

Host: Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. And so, kind of another reflection question, but since it's been a few years now since that, what do you think you've learned or taken away from this experience?

Stacey Frazier, Ed.D.: I've learned to take care of myself a little bit more. Yeah, because I had HPV, I was always one who was like, "If something changes, go see the doctor." And my parents were not—my dad was a rancher, a farmer. And so, you only go to the doctor when—

Host: Something's hanging off or—

Stacey Frazier, Ed.D.: Right. When it's detrimental.

Host: Yes.

Stacey Frazier, Ed.D.: But because I had that HPV, it just helped me realize, you know, you are a woman, and you need to have health checks all the time. And so, I was always someone who, when something changed, I would go see the doctor, but I didn't push. Like, I pushed when all of this happened with my vision. And I attribute part of that to the whole team being there and being together, communicating with one another to figure out what was wrong with me and determine what's the best course of action. And having someone in your corner, so many in your corner, just helps me realize that you gott to take care of yourself, because if you don't, you're not going to be there for the future that you have seen. And I'm a teacher. So, you know, I want to be a part of society that helps our world be a better place, and I can't do that if I don't take care of myself.

Host: Yeah. And so, as we end this conversation, we like to have a challenge to care, which is something listeners can do for themselves or for the community to improve all of our health. So, what would your challenge to care be?

Stacey Frazier, Ed.D.: My challenge to care would be to get your checkups. I mean, I've watched people in my family not do that, and lost people in my family because they didn't do it. My father was one of those people. He was not someone who went to the doctor. And when he finally went to the doctor, we only had him for a month, and then he passed away.

So, don't take anything for granted. If something is bothering you, go see someone. And we're lucky enough to be in Stillwater and have the community that we have and the medical support that we have.

Host: I'm sorry I made you cry . Thank you for sharing that, though. I mean, so true, though. You can't know how to help yourself if you don't know what the problem is. So, yeah, I love that. And you're the perfect example of that, of how, you know, something routine can change your life and save your life. And so, it's just important to know so have that power over yourself. I love that.