Rick Salomone: You’re Talking about My Life! I’m Going to Own It!

Rick Salomone is a prostate cancer survivor, and Patient Advisor in our Patient And Family Advisory Program. Rick shares how he had some critical decisions to make concerning his care, and how grateful he was for the support and respect of his Moffitt team that empowered him to choose a treatment path that aligned with his beliefs, priorities, and lifestyle. And ultimately, the level of care and connection he felt from all team members gave him the strength to persevere through many challenging moments in his cancer treatment.

Thank you to our Storyteller:  Rick Salomone

To our Narrator/Host: Terry Payton and Loreen O’Brien

And to our Production Team: Kathi Barden (podcast project leader), Anne Bidelman, Donna DiClementi, Robin Gordon (Patient Advisor), Randy Isaacson (Family Advisor), Loreen O’Brien, Terry Payton, and Cristina Perez

Podcast Transcript

My name is Rick Salomone. I'm 69 years old. I am a father of three grown children and five beautiful grandchildren and a loving husband and my sweetheart, Carole, for the past 28 years.

Uh, if I was to define myself, I guess I would say first and foremost, uh, defined by my faith and my family and my friends and, uh, all three were integral components on how I dealt with the diagnosis of prostate cancer, the treatment, and the aftereffects. And then I'd say look back on the triggers that helped me through my treatments. I really drew on my athletic experience. So as a college athlete in basketball and baseball, uh, things about visualization, about preparation, about taking it one day at a time and one at bat at a time and one inning at a time and one shot at a time. So I kind of went back to my roots and say, stay in the present, stay in the moment, just get through the next day and then get through the next day. Get yourself a routine. Calm your mind, your spirit, your body.

So I had a I have a wonderful, uh, GP, in Sarasota that has been seeing me annually, um, for 12 years. So about two years prior to 2023, he started to see an elevation in my PSA. And in January of 2023, it hit 7.2. And the good doctor said, that's it. I've heard enough excuses. Go see the urologist and get get this thing checked out. He noticed several spots in the MRI, and he suggested we do a biopsy as soon as we could.

And I sit with the doctor, and he says, yep. Eight of the 13 cells that we biopsied were cancerous. And, uh, here's a card called doctor So-and-so, and he can take care of that for radiation. I'm thinking to myself, you just told me I had cancer, and this is a minute conversation. And being Italian, we never like to let somebody get the last word in. So, I said to him, well, why would I go locally when I could go to Moffitt? He's like, well, why would you drive all the way up to Moffitt? I said, well, a decade prior, my wife had two breast cancer surgeries here at Moffitt, chemo, and radiation. And I saw that patient care model, and I believe everything they tell me at Moffitt because I've seen it in action. It's not it's not a nice website and a bunch of words. They put that brand promise to action.

So, I got the diagnosis, um, that I had prostate cancer in, uh, mid-February. And so, I was angry, scared, fearful for the first day until I got into the research. And my first appointment here at Moffitt was March 11th. So, after about 30 minutes and Doctor Pow Sang knew I really wasn't excited about doing surgery. Um, he passed me on to Catherine Tyree and then to, uh, Doctor Yamoah

First of all, the engagement of Doctor Yamoah was amazing. The contact, the conversational tone, the, um, empathetic tone, uh, was amazing to me, having experienced a lot of surgeons for athletic surgeries, and then I see a person who is a radiation oncologist, head of a department, spending so much time with Carol and I, uh, answering all our questions, um, thinking to myself, well, we hit a home run and Moffit hit a home run, and, uh, and it gave me validation to that.

And, um, so we had this, you know, wonderful. Between KT and Doctor Yamoah, almost an hour of going through all the different treatments. And then towards the end, he threw me what I thought was a curveball and said, I don't care. We're going to do, um, 26 radiation treatments. Uh, but we I suggest we do hormone therapy in conjunction with the radiation treatments. And I'm like, wow, that you just hit me with a ton of bricks, doctor, I'm going to have to think about this one. But I said I would spend a week because I was going to come back the following Wednesday and I would, you know, research it

But after about three days of research and talking to some friends I wasn't able to come to the conclusion that hormone therapy for me would, um, be the right way to go. I guess how I learned to take control is kind of my business background. You're talking about my life. Um, I'm going to own it. I'm going to own the decision-making process. And so, we made that decision with our eyes wide open. And we trust in God's plan. So, whatever happens, happens. I'm getting the best treatment.

KT. Catherine Tyree. She's what I call my guardian angel. From the first moment Carol and I set eyes on KT. She just lights up a room. So, no matter how stressed you are, you see that smile, and everything goes away for that, for that meeting. And she puts you at ease prior to meeting with Doctor Yamoah.

And so I, I came back, uh, I kind of gave KT a heads up when I made the decision prior to going into the following Wednesday meeting with Doctor Yamoah that I'm going to opt out of the hormone therapy. I know the I know the risks. She listened empathetically. She didn't give me her opinion. She didn't, you know, say, you're making a big mistake. She allowed me to make my decision. I felt like, wow. First time as a as a patient that I really felt empowered to, to handle my own health care based on my beliefs, my priorities, what my lifestyle is like. And so, I appreciated that.

So, I come into the following meeting with Doctor Yamoah, I gave him my reasons, and I said, um, you know, I'm pretty adamant. And it's. He looked at me and he said, okay.

And I was expecting an argument. I was expected to be talked down to, quite honestly, from a man as smart and as accomplished as Doctor Yamoah. And I get none of it. It was the opposite. I always thought, like for the first or second weekly meeting with Doctor Yamoah that somehow, he would hold that against me.

With Doctor Yamoah, I felt empowered that Carol and I could make a decision as a couple on what the best treatment was. That he laid out the facts. He gave me the pros and cons, honestly, um, but we were just sitting around a, uh, couch, and it wasn't this doctor patient, normal relationship. And, uh, we were just all in there as a team to get me the best possible outcome that any human being could deliver. And that's what made it special.

So, Sir Jeremy is the concierge in the radiation department. That's the first person you see. the moment you get your wristband, and you walk through the doors, and you see this young guy behind the desk, or kneeling talking to one of the patients, um, you realize it's kind of a special place.

Wait a minute. This is a hospital. How do they have a concierge? How do they have this fine young guy working seamlessly through 28-30 patients in a in a waiting room dealing with all the individual severity of the health issues. Um, I sat there and just kind of. I am an observer of people, and I just watched him work the room and just walk by. Obviously, you know, patients that have been there a couple of weeks, he knows them better, um, knew. So, he immediately came and I explained to him, um, you know, my long journey up and I'm new to this, you know, the prep and the timing of it, and I'm really anxious about that. He had such an empathetic ear. But after I went through the first 2 or 3, um, days with Jeremy, he kind of knew my rhythms. And I liken it to if you're out at a really your favorite restaurant and you've got your favorites, waiter, or waitress, and they just know when to show up, right? They, they kind of disappear and let you enjoy the meal. And then all of a sudden when there's something you need, um, they're there magically. And that's, that's how I kind of looked at Jeremy.

But the young man is a remarkable listener to people, and he really gets a sense and can size up each individual's needs at the right time to deliver the best kind of care and what best first impression for somebody that's anxious, nervous and afraid to spend ten minutes, 15 minutes on the radiation table. Then they get to by Jeremy's care. He's got to have good days and bad days, but you never saw it. And when you're there in the sequence that I was five days a week for five weeks, plus there was no variance in his treatment of a patient. They all got the best treatment. So that's why, you know, he immediately comes to mind when I think of Moffitt, you know, what do you think of Moffitt first? Jeremy's face lights up in my head.

 So, you passed the first hurdle, and you meet the angel Jeremy, who's getting you, you know, mind and body and spirit, ready to go back behind the curtain and sit on the radiation table. And then the gentleman comes out and calls your name. The lesson that I learned with Sean is the, uh, the outward appearance is nothing than the caring soul that's underneath the exterior.

And the more I got to know Sean, uh, he would always tell me a story to relax me. Something he was doing in his personal life. Um, and his, you know, hobbies outside of Moffitt to relax me, to get there. And the other nice thing he did was, if I'm going to run a ten K or I'm gonna do anything, I like milestones. So, I asked them, uh, in the radiation department, and, Sean, could you just call out on the microphone? You know, you got five more minutes left or you got eight in or everything's good with the cameras. We're going to start the radiation treatments. And they were. And they did that for the first ten days, which then got me into a routine. Then I didn't need it anymore, but it was the individual attention and care that I got. Um, it made you feel special. While he's got the pressure of keeping everything on schedule, on time to add the empathy, uh, and the caring nature from him was, was special. It had an impact. And with without him being as understanding, I'm not sure I would have made the 60-mile journey. I might have pulled the record and tried radiation somewhere else, but he gave me like the ammunition to get through it,

You know when you’re on a team that works seamlessly together. It reminds me of a couple times I watch people doing jobs in the course of my radiation treatment that day. It wasn't their job, but they knew somebody needed a hand and they just jumped in and did it. They didn't give it the old. It's not my job. They kind of crossed, crossed over and helped. And, uh, yeah. So that's for sure. And you really appreciate good teamwork. That is seamless. Um, from each touchpoint through the organization.

And that's what I would tell the Moffitt family is your promise is only as good as the first touch point, the last touch point with that patient. And we do realize I certainly realize that you have ups and downs, and you have the routines of your daily work life. But if you come and treat every day as a new beginning at Moffitt, as an employee, as somebody who's fulfilling the Moffitt vision and promise, and you'll take care of that individual the best possible way, each and every moment. just treat each new day as a new beginning and do it the way that you would like to be treated,

So I was always taught I might go early into my business background that events in either positive or negative, it's how you respond to them that makes it positive or negative., I started my prostate cancer journey with hope, hoping that I would have a positive outcome. I left with the belief that I got the best possible patient care.

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