by Gina Kruml
September 23, 2023
Gina noticed something was off in October 2020 and was able to get treatment in early 2021. Now, she's doing well and performed in our HIPEC awareness talent show in Baltimore. Here is Gina's story.
Full Transcript (edited):
I'm Gina Kruml and I'm from Fairfax, Virginia, originally from Nebraska. I was diagnosed with a LAMN appendiceal tumor and I started having problems in October of 2020. Started noticing my clothes were a little tight. And then in November, things just got a little bit worse.
So I had my first surgery with my GYN oncologist, Doctor Steren, on January 6th of 2021, and then I had my HIPEC nine weeks later on March 11th, 2021. But then it was a perfect result. Eight days in the hospital, and, what was it, eleven weeks off of work after my second surgery? And now I'm just completely fine.
The first time I heard about HIPEC was a long time ago living in Nebraska. My mom shared with me an article about a specialist there in Nebraska who had just started a HIPEC program there. So that's the first time I heard about HIPEC and it sounded very interesting, but I never in a million years would have thought that it would apply to me in the future.
I found out about Doctor Sardi just because he has such a great reputation and I contacted five different specialists here in the local area. I think I would have been well served anywhere, but I think Doctor Sardi was the best choice. I would like to thank Doctor Sardi and his team, everybody, the CNAs, the nurses, all the therapists, all the assistants during the surgery, his physician colleagues, everyone is like a well-oiled machine. And that's part of why I chose his team. Not only him, but also his team because they work as such a finely tuned instrument to do what we need.
I am playing the flute and I'm going to play a selection called Minuet and Spirit Dance by Gluck. And it is a piece about Orpheus going down into the underworld to retrieve somebody who is in the underworld. I've played the flute since fifth grade. Hopefully, it'll be a nice piece for people to hear.
