“They bring with them the enthusiasm and they have so much life in them."-Dr. Lea
A Doctor's Perspective
Dr. Jayanthi Lea, a gynecologic oncologist at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, works with many adolescent and college-aged patients with gynecologic cancers.
Dr. Lea enjoys working with college-aged patients because it is "so rewarding." She says that they bring a level of enthusiasm that doesn’t come with older adults, but working with younger patients can also be difficult.
“I find it very entertaining to hear their stories, what they’re doing, but at the same time, it can be a challenge as well because I feel that college-aged patients have so much going on in their day-to-day lives," Dr. Lea said.
Dr. Lea also finds that college-aged patients ask more questions, almost putting her in a role of the teacher.
Dr. Lea enjoys working with college-aged patients because it is "so rewarding." She says that they bring a level of enthusiasm that doesn’t come with older adults, but working with younger patients can also be difficult.
“I find it very entertaining to hear their stories, what they’re doing, but at the same time, it can be a challenge as well because I feel that college-aged patients have so much going on in their day-to-day lives," Dr. Lea said.
Dr. Lea also finds that college-aged patients ask more questions, almost putting her in a role of the teacher.
In addition, younger patients are typically healthier than older patients, she can give it her all as far as treatments.
“You can give it your all as far as surgery, chemotherapy, not to mention the fact that we get to deal with, ‘How are we going to work around school?’ with treatments, as opposed to dealing with work in adults,” Dr. Lea said.
It’s issues like these that Taylor and Molly have faced. Is it better to temporarily drop out of school or is it possible to continue school while being treated for the deadly disease?
“What I tell patients is it’s a matter of weighing what you’re going through versus answering if you can actually take classes and still manage the homework and manage the studying for the exams and so forth,” Dr. Lea said. “If you’re going to be fatigued all the time and wanting to sleep all the time, then you may not have the physical strength to study and take tests and so on so forth.”
For treatment plans, Dr. Lea does many patient-related researches, revealing patient outcomes, which would classify as outcomes related research, to perform clinical trials.
“I am involved in a national collaborative research group called the Gynecological Oncology Group,” Dr. Lea said. “Through this group, we have several clinical trials that are made available to our patients here at UT Southwestern.”
According to Dr. Lea, these trials bring the “latest and greatest research” of the cutting edge to patients. Those interested in participating in the trials are educated on what the trials are about and if they qualify for the trial, they would enroll in them and doctors will see them through the entire duration of treatment.
The most common form of gynecologic cancer Dr. Lea sees in younger patients is a subtype of ovarian cancer called a germ cell tumor.
“Germ cell tumors seem to be most common in your teenagers and young adults, early teens,” Dr. Lea said. “Especially in gynecologic oncology, that’s what we typically see.”
According to Dr. Lea, the hardest part for her as a doctor and dealing with younger patients is how they react to the news and their struggle with acceptance.
“When you get to know your patients and you relate to your patients, there’s a bond that’s formed between your patient and yourself,” Dr. Lea said. “And just knowing what they’re going through, just knowing that they have to accept their diagnosis, like cancer, knowing that they are struggling with the acceptance, is probably the hardest thing for me, because coming to accept the diagnosis is not easy. I think every patient goes through their own timeline, per say.”
However, Dr. Lea finds that the most rewarding part of working with these younger, college-aged patients is the give and the take.
"It just kind of sheds a whole new light on the field," Dr. Lea said. "It’s sort of like your young moment of the day when you have patients coming in. It’s very fun and it’s very rewarding.”