If you or a loved one have recently been diagnosed with cancer, the J. Michael Carroll Cancer Center is here to walk with you through this journey. 

You have likely been through a number of tests and procedures to diagnose your cancer. Your doctor may have you undergo additional radiology and laboratory testing to gather an in-depth understanding of your cancer. This information will help your providers to choose the most effective treatment, predict the risk of recurrence, and avoid possible side effects of a treatment that may not be likely to work.

Grade - Your doctor may use the term “grade” when talking about your cancer. The grade describes how many cancer cells look like healthy cells when viewed under a microscope. In general, a lower tumor grade indicates a less aggressive cancer. Knowing the grade of the cancer may help your doctor predict whether and how quickly your cancer might spread.

Stages - You may have been given a stage along with your diagnosis or a stage will be available when all testing is finished. The stage is a way of describing where the cancer is, if it has spread, and whether it is affecting other parts of the body. Knowing the stage will help your doctor decide which treatment plan will be most effective and help predict your prognosis.

At JMCCC, we offer multidisciplinary care. This means providers with different specialties are working together to create the best treatment plan for you.

The treatment options and recommendations your care team gives you will depend on several factors, including the type of the tumor, whether the cancer has spread, and your age and overall health. Your care plan will also include treatment for symptoms and side effects. Although your care team will create a treatment plan that is best for you and your situation, there are common approaches to treating cancer.

You may begin in the care of our Cancer Care Clinical Provider. This provider is available to consolidate and expedite all the staging, prepping, and testing needed to design the appropriate path of your cancer journey, facilitate communication among the care team, ensure the transition between care steps is seamless, and to support your survivorship needs. The Cancer Care Clinical Provider will review your cancer diagnosis, conduct a physical exam, and create a personalized care plan to provide you with the exact care needed.

Radiation therapy - A radiation oncologist, a doctor who specializes in giving radiation therapy to treat cancer, uses high-energy radiation particles to destroy cancer cells. At JMCCC, we are proud to house a Varian Truebeam linear accelerator, the highest quality, most advanced cancer radiation therapy machine in the industry.

Radiation therapy is sometimes given after cancer surgery to help lower the risk of recurrence. This typically includes several weeks of radiation therapy to the general area followed by a more focused treatment, called a boost, to the area where the tumor was located for the remaining treatments.

Surgery - Surgery to remove the tumor may be one of the first treatments for cancer that has not spread in the body. Typically, the smaller the tumor, the more surgical options you have. A surgeon performs this procedure, removing the tumor along with minimal healthy tissue. Your doctor will let you know if surgery is recommended treatment for your cancer.

Immunotherapy - Immunotherapy refers to cancer treatments that use the individual’s own immune system to prevent or slow the growth of cancer cells. Immunotherapy treatments are typically given in intravenous or pill form and may kick-start or boost the immune system, attach to proteins on cancer cells to attract other immune cells, or stop checkpoints in the immune system to allow increased immune function.

Targeted therapy - Targeted therapy is a type of drug treatment that targets the cancer’s specific genes or proteins, blocking the growth and spread of cancer cells while limiting damage to healthy cells. Not all tumors have the same targets, so your doctor may run specialized tests to identify genes, proteins, and other factors specific to your tumor to find the most effective treatment.

Clinical trials - When making treatment decisions, your doctor may mention participating in a clinical trial. A clinical trial is a research study that tests whether a new approach to treatment is safe, effective, and possibly better than the standard treatment. Before treatment begins, it is important to discuss the goals and possible side effects with your doctor, including the likelihood that the treatment will work and its potential effect on your quality of life.

Patient Navigation - Patient Navigation services support you and your caregivers through your cancer journey, providing guidance to ease the barriers of navigating the complex health care system. We are able to connect you to local and national resources, assist with coordinating appointments, identify financial barriers, support spiritual needs, orient you to the facility and be a liaison between your needs and your health care team. Our goal is to allow you to focus on your healing.

Social Work - A social worker is a professional who helps patients, family and friends cope with everyday tasks and challenges before, during and after treatment. They may provide counseling for patients and their loved ones. They are available to address financial problems, explain insurance benefits, assist with travel, bills, food, childcare and help find solutions for day-to-day challenges that may arise during a stressful time.

Palliative Care - An important part of cancer care is relieving a person’s symptoms and side effects associated with cancer and cancer treatment. This approach is called palliative care. Palliative care describes symptom management and treatment for individuals who have a serious or life-threatening condition, such as cancer, and is focused on reducing symptoms, improving quality of life, and supporting patients and their families.

 If you’re not sure where to start, or just need to talk to someone, call a Patient Navigator: 907-458-6985

A fourth generation Alaskan, Brittany Stepovich, ANP-C, AOCNP is the Cancer Care Clinical Provider at JMCCC. She began her nursing and nurse practitioner career with the late Dr. J. Michael Carroll and Drs. Cox. She completed her bachelor’s in nursing at Loyola University of Chicago in 2008 and, with much support from Dr. Carroll, followed with a master’s in nursing degree at University of California Los Angeles in 2010.  At UCLA, she was able to participate in the Oncology NP track to receive specialized training within the cancer continuum.