Episodes

This week on Cancer Covered: Why surgery isn’t always the answer for treating or curing cancer Why our ancient ancestors did not perform radical surgeries to treat cancer The discovery of anesthesia and its impact on treating cancer What inspired Dr. Halsted to explore using surgery as a treatment option for breast cancer Realizing that radical mastectomies are not the ‘end-all-be-all’ cure for treating breast cancer The health and physical impacts of undergoing radical mastectomies The hi...

Karianne and Tom join us today to discuss healthcare worker burnout and its impact on cancer care delivery. We discuss the importance of taking breaks and time off to manage the challenges of working in oncology and its unique stressors. We examine the shortage of healthcare professionals in 2020 that was caused by pandemic working conditions and explore the symptoms of burnout, strategies, coping mechanisms to prevent it, the importance of seeking support and investing in self-care, and the des...

“Communication is a collaborative endeavor. It requires clarification, resetting, and recalibration all the way through the therapeutic relationship, at every level of where you connect with your healthcare team.” – Dr. Mitch Winkler Good healthcare starts with good communication. But despite good intentions, patients often visit their oncologists with a huge knowledge gap and a lot of anxiety. They get a lot of information thrown at them and have to learn very quickly at a time when they may n...

“Cancer is as ancient as we are.” – Dr. Matthew Ryan Dr. Ryan joins us today to discuss cancer in the ancient world and why it often seems more familiar than many people realize. We discuss the origins of cancer, how Darius the Great’s wife, Atossa, was diagnosed with cancer, and how her feelings and emotions about her condition were similar to how many women feel today when diagnosed with cancer. We discuss how the Ancient Greeks studied and described cancer, how it was treated during ancient ...

“With more sophisticated testing we can move away from general estimates to more precise ones, guiding treatment.” – Dr. Brian Burnette Dr. Ryan and Dr. Burnette join us today to discuss what’s on the horizon for cancer research. We discuss the exciting progress that has been made in cancer research, particularly immunotherapy treatments, and how it has revolutionized cancer treatment over the past five years. We discuss its potential in treating early-stage cancers in conjunction with surgery ...

This week on Cancer Covered: The prevalence of anxiety among cancer patients Abe’s experience with testicular cancer Developing strategies for managing stress and anxiety related to a cancer diagnosis and treatment The value of increasing communication with medical professionals to ensure you fully understand your diagnosis and treatment plan Addressing the emotional and psychological impact of follow-up scans Recognizing and prioritizing self-care and seeking support from friends and famil...

David and Caitlin join us today to discuss how cancer invades our lives, moving from our professional life into our personal space. Caitlin shares how her father was diagnosed with three different types of cancer and how she felt about the overnight transition from visiting her husband at work for lunch to regularly visiting the clinic as her father’s caregiver. We discuss how our role as medical oncologists can impact how we handle death in our personal lives and how David and Caitlin talk to t...

This week, we discuss what makes some conversations more difficult than others and why they’re so important to have with our patients. We discuss why oncologists should acknowledge and embrace the ‘uncomfortableness’ of having difficult conversations with their patients and share tips for delivering serious or difficult news. We discuss what ‘Red Level Concerns’ are and share tips to help healthcare professionals handle them more effectively and empathetically. We also discuss why it’s critical ...

This week, we discuss the anatomy of a difficult conversation. We discuss the impact of delaying or avoiding a difficult conversation and explore what makes some conversations more difficult than others. We discuss how our emotions play a role in our interactions with patients and how we can cope with these emotions to improve patient care. We also discuss why healthcare workers must identify the difference between their feelings and their patients’ emotions and the steps we can take to set clea...

This week, Dr. Brian Burnette, Dr. Ruth Warren, and Dr. Matthew Ryan join us to discuss our oncologists’ sacrifices to bring cancer care closer to home for our patients. We discuss the average costs and time investments associated with traveling to outreach clinics to provide cancer care to patients and what they do to plan and prepare for travel. We discuss the common mistakes they’ve made when traveling to outreach clinics, the amount of time they’ve spent away from their family and friends to...

Dr. Tony Jaslowski joins us today to discuss why providing cancer care close to home is important. We discuss the travel expenses often associated with receiving cancer treatments and why they often cause patients to delay their treatment. We discuss how often many cancer patients need to visit the oncologist for cancer treatments and how they typically feel after a round of treatment. We also discuss the psychological benefits of receiving cancer treatment at medical facilities closer to home a...

When you’ve been diagnosed with cancer, the last thing you want to think about is, ‘How will I get to my treatment appointments.’ Yet, this is something many cancer patients nationwide often struggle with – especially those who live in smaller, more rural towns. While most cancer treatment clinics require patients to come to their facility for treatment, some clinics – like Green Bay Oncology – go above and beyond to ensure patients receive the care they need. And we do this by (literally) drivi...

Matt Malcore is a 5th generation funeral director and Malcore Funeral Home & Crematory owner. Since he was a young boy, Matt hoped that he could serve the Green Bay community the way his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather have for over 100 years. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from UW-Stevens Point and Associates’s degree in Applied Sciences from Worsham College. He has coached for the Green Bay Strikers as well as Notre Dame Academy and is a proud member of the Green Bay and ...

Dr. Burnette and Erika join us today to discuss the power dynamics between doctors and patients and why some people are often surprised when conflicts arise between doctors and patients. We discuss the letter Erika sent to Green Bay Oncology that expressed deep concerns about a comment Dr. Burnette made during one of her appointments, how we addressed her concerns, and how we perceived it as an opportunity to learn and improve our patient care. We discuss why some patients avoid expressing their...

Dr. Burnette and Dr. Ryan join us today to discuss one of the most common questions we receive from our patients at Green Bay Oncology: “Which one of you is my doctor?” We discuss the difference between visiting your primary care doctor and your oncologist and why it may be impossible to see the same oncology doctor at each visit. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of seeing multiple oncology providers versus maintaining the ‘one doctor, one patient’ approach to cancer care. We share id...

Kylie and Brittany join us again to discuss the emotional hazards we face as oncology doctors and nurses. We discuss the challenge of being self-aware of our emotional state as oncology doctors and why it’s okay for nurses to ‘check in’ with physicians when the physician is experiencing symptoms of compassion fatigue. We discuss how opening communication pathways between physicians and nurses can help reduce and mitigate frustration and aggravation in the workplace. We also discuss the least hel...

Brittany and Kylie join us again today to discuss how oncology doctors and nurses sometimes annoy each other, We discuss how doctors and nurses teaching and working styles vary, how they approach a patient case differently, and how these differences in patient care approaches can sometimes lead to tension in the workplace. We discuss the balancing act between providing quantity of life and quality of life for our patients and why it’s critical for oncology doctors and nurses to stay focused on p...

Kylie and Brittany join us today to share their journey into oncology nurses’ roles and explain their responsibilities as a Care Manager and Infusion Nurse. We discuss some of the common challenges many oncology nurses face in their day-to-day careers and what they believe should be an oncology nurse’s primary focus and responsibility. We discuss the common causes of patient-doctor misunderstandings, how each patient responds to a cancer diagnosis and treatment plan differently, and how oncology...

In this episode, we sat down with Green Bay Oncology’s founders – Dr. Paul Koch, Dr. Skip McGovern, Dr. Jules Blank, and Dr. Gerald Bayer again as well as Dr. Tony Jaslowski, a practicing oncologist and hematologist at Green Bay Oncology. We discuss how a service and ethics team approach was established from the very beginning of our practice. We discuss how we continue to work toward keeping that ethos and culture alive and thriving at GBO today. We discuss how they promoted teamwork, camarader...

Dr. Paul Koch, Dr. Skip McGovern, Dr. Jules Blank, Dr. Gerald Bayer, and Dr. Tony Jaslowski join us again today to discuss the evolution of cancer care, what cancer treatment plans were like when Green Bay Oncology first began, and the treatment options that are currently available to oncologists and patients. We discuss how cancer research has improved the life expectancy of many patients with various types of cancer over the last several decades. They share the most memorable cancer treatment ...

Cancer has been around for over 20,000 years, but we’ve only been able to treat it for about the last century, and treating cancer had a bumpy start. From the radical mastectomies and crude radiation treatments of the late 1800s to a chemotherapy treatment achieving the first cancer remission in 1948, the research has inspired the oncology community to continue to improve cancer treatment options. By the 1970s, it turned the public’s opinion of the oncology field from being a ‘fringe science’ i...

The practice of cancer medicine is complex and demanding. And like anything that takes practice, we’ll spend our whole lives trying to get it right. In each episode, the white coats come off as the dedicated men and women who take on cancer every day unpack the complexities of their work and share stories of how it’s done—and why they keep at it