Brian FitzGerald of South Carolina spent the summer of 2024 looking for answers.
From May until September, his hands tingled and his fingers weren’t working normally. He saw neurologists and orthopedists for nerve testing and MRIs without answers. A scan of his brain showed a tumor.
Melanoma had spread to FitzGerald’s brain and he needed to see an oncologist. FitzGerald wanted a second opinion from Duke.
Navigating Care
At the Duke Center for Brain and Spine Metastasis (DCBSM), New Patient Coordinator Eris Worlds, and DCBSM nurse navigators Donie Magee, RN, and Scott Pollard, MSW, RN work every day to make receiving care from the multidisciplinary DCBSM team as seamless as possible.
“We do this all the time,” Magee said. “You make a phone call and you don’t have to worry about it.”
Worlds works to quickly have scans and other medical information sent from a new patient’s current providers to Duke to take the pressure from patients who are already in a scary situation. Magee and Pollard then coordinate care. They review the patient’s medical history and help to manage everything related to getting them to Duke. From setting up patients with lodging in the area to scheduling appointments to see their entire team on the same day, DCBSM nurse navigators take on the mental load.
Wednesday. September 18, 2024
FitzGerald’s daughter sent an email to friends from her time studying at Duke looking for direction. Her email was forwarded to the inbox of Peter Fecci, MD, PhD.
“[Fecci] asked me, ‘What are you doing Monday?’” FitzGerald said. “I said, ‘I guess I’m coming to see you.’”
Thursday, September 19, 2024
Worlds and Magee went straight to work. “Donie coordinated everything,” said Hannah Roberts, FNP-C, Fecci’s nurse practitioner. “We got him into surgery first and then she quickly coordinated follow-up appointments from there.”
“Everything had to be done in a nanosecond,” Magee said.
“Our whole goal here in the DCBSM is to get patients in quickly and get them access to care that may not be available elsewhere,” Fecci said. “Brian is a great example of this and I’m so glad for him and his family that we were able to get him the care he and everyone deserves.”
Sunday, September 22, 2024
After being discharged from the hospital in South Carolina, FitzGerald and his wife traveled to Durham where he was admitted for additional imaging prior to surgery. New X-rays and MRIs were completed and Fecci met with FitzGerald, his wife, and their four daughters.
Monday, September 23, 2024
FitzGerald underwent surgery at Duke University Hospital. Fecci and his team performed a craniotomy with motor mapping to remove a nearly 3-centimeter by 3-centimeter lesion.
Wednesday, September 25, 2024
After spending the night in the intensive care unit, FitzGerald was given the option to go home, but he opted to stay a second day. He was discharged on Wednesday after having surgery Monday.
Continuing Care
After about two weeks of recovery, FitzGerald returned to Duke to meet with Zach Reitman, MD, PhD, to undergo radiation treatment and to see April Salama, MD, about his primary melanoma. He continues to receive interval restaging scans and immunotherapy.
“I’m like a new person,” FitzGerald said. His scans since have been clear and he hasn’t had any pain.
“Everybody there at Duke was fabulous,” FitzGerald said. “From the front door all the way to the operating room, the whole team, I can’t say enough great things about them. We never waited for appointments and they set us up with all of the appointments and the hotel. They’re unbelievable. It’s a five-hour drive for us, but it wouldn’t have mattered if they were 10 hours away. I know when I get up there I’m going to be taken care of.”