CompleteLife supports the needs of the complete patient

You don’t expect patients to look forward to coming to the IU Health Simon Cancer Center on their chemotherapy days. But Stella Tucker calls her infusion days her best days of the week.

Tucker looks forward to those visits in part because of the massage therapy offered at the Simon Cancer Center through the CompleteLife program, an IU Health Foundation donor-funded program. The CompleteLife program supports cancer patients as a whole person through services that address mind, body and spirit. Tucker complements her chemo treatments with oncology massage that not only helps to relieve edema and discomfort but also reduces her stress.

"These are my good days," says Tucker, a longtime Atlanta, GA resident. “It really does help.”

Tucker’s cancer journey started about 18 months ago, when she and some family members were on a very different journey: a trip to Italy. On the day after Easter, when they planned to visit the Vatican, Tucker developed what she thought was indigestion and returned to her hotel.

When her daughter, IU Health VP and Chief Health Impact Officer Dr. Brownsyne Tucker Edmonds, couldn’t reach Tucker, she called the hotel and asked them to check on her. When they found her, she was disoriented. A trip to the hospital revealed that her “indigestion” was a gastrointestinal bleed from a ruptured liver mass. Dr. Tucker Edmonds consulted with colleagues in Indianapolis and, after an emergency surgery and five days in a hospital in Rome, Tucker was able to come to Indianapolis for diagnosis and treatment. She’s been here ever since, living with her daughter while she receives care.

Finding warmth and connection in treatment

About a year ago, after completing an initial phase of chemotherapy treatment, Tucker started receiving oncology massage therapy from Michelle Bailey. Michelle is a board certified, licensed massage therapist who specializes in oncology massage. She provides massage therapy for IU Health Simon Cancer Center and University Hospital patients through CompleteLife. Tucker and Bailey agree that the impact has been considerable.

“When we first started treatment, just touching Miss Stella’s toes was very uncomfortable for her,” Bailey says. “She was very tense due to the sensitivity from neuropathy, so we had to work on getting her to relax.”

In fact, Bailey, who has been with IU Health for eight years, could initially only hold Tucker’s feet due to the severity of her neuropathy. With time and multiple treatments, she can now provide soothing and beneficial massages – which not only address neuropathy discomfort and stress but also supports the lymphatic system in its work – and Tucker is clearly more relaxed. The recent session was full of light conversation and laughs.

Available at Simon Cancer Center and University Hospital, CompleteLife offers the massage therapy Tucker so enjoys, along with yoga, art and music therapies. In addition, it can connect patients with IU Health team members who provide spiritual care, nutrition counseling, social work services, and mental health support.

CompleteLife also offers support groups that surround patients and family members with others who are going through a cancer journey. Some groups address specific cancers while others provide support more generally and for those who are providing care.

Tucker complements her CompleteLife sessions with MOVE (Multidisciplinary Oncology Vitality and Exercise) programming, which has helped her regain mobility and physical function. She finds the two programs – and, in fact, everything at IU Health – to be incredibly supportive.

“There’s a warmth and togetherness you sense being here,” says Tucker, whose daughter is one of four OB/GYNs in the immediate family. “People will come by the door, and they’ll stick their heads in and ask, ‘Can I help you with anything?’ It’s a real warmth that you feel.”

“I really do feel like the CompleteLife piece has been critical,” Dr. Brownsyne Tucker Edmonds says. “It’s really added a lot to her care, from the experience both inside of chemo and outside of chemo.”