Ruthri Goodwin, MD, says she’s always aspired to be a caring, compassionate and kind doctor. It’s a large part of why she chose her career path. As medical director for Madonna’s cancer rehabilitation program, she coordinates care plans for patients living with cancer and visits with them daily about their recovery journey. But now, she says she feels an even deeper connection with her patients. Two months into her new role, Dr. Goodwin received her own cancer diagnosis.
“A lump was discovered in my left breast in October 2022,” Goodwin said. “Ultimately, I went through a biopsy, which did confirm it was indeed breast cancer. Within a week of when I found out the diagnosis, I discussed options with my surgeons, and we decided to proceed with a bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction.”
Overwhelming and emotional is how she describes the feelings of hearing she had breast cancer. But she also sees the positives in the situation.
“Having cancer myself definitely taught me a lot of lessons,” Goodwin said. “It taught me not only to be sympathetic, but also empathetic. I know what it’s like to receive that diagnosis. To hear the words, ‘you have cancer.’ I know what it’s like to go through the pain of surgery and recovery. I don’t know exactly what each person is going through, but I feel to a certain degree, perhaps I understand a little bit better than I did before. I feel like it’s made me overall a better doctor because I’m able to treat my patients as a whole, knowing what they’re going through.”
Dr. Goodwin now also has a better understanding of what rehabilitation during cancer treatment looks like. Shortly after her reconstructive surgery, she noticed a thick, rope-like structure forming under her left arm. It limited her range of motion and caused a lot of pain.
“She was having what’s called cording, or axillary webbing syndrome,” Tyler Pribnow, OTD, OTR/L, CBIS, an occupational therapist who worked with Dr. Goodwin, said. “What happens is post-surgery of lymph nodes, we can have scar tissue build up that then increases tightness and decreases range of motion in shoulder flexion.”
On top of the physical pain, Dr. Goodwin remembers the emotional struggle that came with the cording.
“I would say the most difficult thing for me is, I’m a mother,” she said. “I have a beautiful 11-year-old that’s the love of my life. She loves to lay on my left side when we’re watching tv, laying in the bed together, and I always put my arm around her. I wasn’t able to do that. I couldn’t even have her lay on me because it was so painful.”
Consulting with her surgeons, Pribnow did research on therapeutic interventions that could help relieve Dr. Goodwin’s pain and improve her range of motion.
“We just sat down, and I did a couple of stretches, active release technique, and we popped some of those adhesions,” Pribnow said. “She just burst into tears because she had range of motion and decreased pain from that.”
Pribnow also made sure to get Dr. Goodwin’s family involved. Her husband, Jeff, participated in caregiver training, so he could help her do home exercises and interventions.
“Of course I went home, and I was able to hug that little girl of mine and squeeze her and put my arm around her,” Goodwin said. “Now, that wasn’t the end of it though, admittedly. The scar tissue kept trying to come back, and there was still limited range of motion. There was still recovery from surgery. This was all just a few weeks after my mastectomy.”
Dr. Goodwin then began extensive outpatient therapy at Madonna TherapyPlus. Nicole Slusher, Madonna’s outpatient occupational therapy supervisor, worked with her to keep the scar tissue from rebuilding. While working on her physical deficits, this also allowed Dr. Goodwin an in-depth look at what the therapy process looks like.
“I’m a physician, so I have medical knowledge,” she said. “But I am not a therapist so I don’t know all of the therapy pieces. They taught me so much about my own body, so much about what to do, and I was seeking their help. I was learning from them, and I was so grateful for that.”
Slusher said it was special to work with a physician on their plan of care.
“Because of her role as a physician, she understands that rehab is a collaborative process and it’s not just something that happens in the therapy walls, so she was invested,” Slusher said. “She knew she had to go home and do the exercises. She was willing to make activity adaptations and environmental modifications to help her be successful.”
Madonna’s cancer rehabilitation experts can work with a person at any point in their cancer journey.
“If someone is newly diagnosed, we may be working to get them stronger and build up their endurance so that they’re able to tolerate their treatments when those begin,” Slusher said. “During active treatment, we can continue to work on strength and endurance but maybe focusing more on mitigating the side effects of the treatment and helping them gain their independence and function and being able to go home. We may focus on caregiver treatment or equipment needs that we need at that point in time. As they continue and have completed their treatment, then we get to start working on resuming life roles and reentering the community and work and being parents and spouses and friends. Dr. Goodwin was sort of in between those last two tracks, because it was in between surgeries, but we were really working on her ability to get back to her meaningful life roles. But that just shows how we can meet anyone at any point in their journey and care for them.”
Dr. Goodwin continues to receive ongoing massage therapy as part of her rehabilitation so she can stay on top of her symptoms and keep them from returning. Reflecting on her experience, Dr. Goodwin says she couldn’t have done it without her incredible support system.
“My family, friends, work family, health care team and faith have been an important part of my journey and healing,” Goodwin said. “I want to express gratitude. I’m very grateful that the cancer was caught early. I am grateful that it hadn’t spread. I’m grateful to be part of this amazing work family and to be truly in an organization that sees people as not just numbers but as true human beings. I’ve been on the other side of it. I’m not just a physician caring for patients. I’ve been a patient here.”
Moving forward, Dr. Goodwin has an important reminder to everyone.
“Talk to your health care providers about preventative strategies,” she said. “Anything that is age appropriate for cancer prevention, be it colon cancer screening, pap smears, mammograms, talk to your physician because early detection saves lives. It saved mine.”