Health & Wellness

Boomer Edition | 10th Annual | 2014

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IN THE DTC, A ONE-OF-A-KIND RADIATION TREATMENT CENTER Ellen Muench had a bucket list for post-retirement in 2013, but the former flight attendant had to postpone it while she underwent treatment for breast cancer. Her diagnosis wasn't enough of a blow, though; it came within two days of her husband, David's, diagnosis of prostate cancer. Ellen & David Muench 34 After she underwent a lumpectomy and chemotherapy, the next step was radiation. This time Ellen, 66, chose her provider: Century Cancer Centers, where David was being treated. Century Cancer Centers is the only radiation clinic in the Denver Technology Center and is independently operated. "I liked my medical oncologist for the chemotherapy, but I chose Century for my radiation treatment because I saw how Dave was treated," says Ellen, who finished treatment last July. Ellen had accompanied her husband to his "doc stops" to see Dr. Barry Blyton, the radiation oncologist at Century. "I shopped around," Ellen recalls. "The other radiation oncologist [at a different treatment center] just handed me a business card and a pamphlet, but at Century I felt comfortable. Dr. Blyton was most respectful and explained everything before I started." Explaining things to patients is important to Blyton, a softspoken physician who allows two hours for an initial consult and illustrates how radiation works by incorporating a slide presentation and computerized animations. He'll even draw a cartoon to simplify things. "Some patients who are engineers like to know all about it," he says, "but I understand it's not something everyone will be that interested in. "We want patients to know what's going on inside the machine when they're on the table," Blyton says. "The patients are the ones who are going to benefit, so I just think it's more helpful to involve them in the treatment." Not all radiation treatment is the same because not all cancers are the same. Last June, Century Cancer Centers became the first radiation treatment center in Colorado to acquire Calypso® technology, which enables super-targeted radiation accuracy by

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