Since turning 50, Lonnie Slick received a handful of reminders and prompts to get a colonoscopy, but life can get busy when you’re running your own business.
It wasn’t until the Fredericksburg man was 55 and experiencing unexplainable weakness that he reached out to his primary care provider, Lucas Brinkman, DO. They discovered Slick’s iron was low, and he was losing blood.
Slick was quickly scheduled for a colonoscopy at Community Memorial Hospital in Sumner, and David Henry, MD, a general surgeon, removed approximately 1½ feet of colon. Once analyzed, it revealed Slick was battling Stage 3B colon cancer.
“After that, Dr. Henry would just call me up to ask how I was doing and to talk,” Slick says.
Slick soon began chemotherapy in pill form. The first time he took the medication, he ended up in the emergency department at CMH and stayed there for a week. The same thing happened the second time he tried the pills.
He had the option of transitioning his care to larger hospital, but Slick was comfortable staying in Sumner.
“I couldn’t have gotten better care,” Slick says.
Upon follow-up with Dr. Brinkman, they decided to try a different form of medication that worked much better. He was switched to a pump medication (pump for three days and take a break for two weeks).
“Dr. Brinkman gave me time and answered all my questions,” Slick says.
Since then, Slick’s port was removed, and testing is going well. “Dr. Henry is a trooper,” he says.
“I really couldn’t have gotten better care throughout all of this,” Slick says. “Two thumbs up, all positive, very good staff, and I loved that it was close to home.”