The following piece was written in April 2015 for Doctor’s Day. Dr. Patrick Birrer passed away on November 16, 2015 surrounded by his family. He was a compassionate and spiritual physician, friend and community member and will be greatly missed.
Dr. Pat Birrer is an accomplished physician, the medical director of the St. Elizabeth Wound Care Centers in Covington, Ft. Thomas and Grant County. He is also one of only three board-certified physicians in hyperbaric oxygen therapy in the Tri-State.
But when we talked with him at the end of March as part of St. Elizabeth’s recognition of National Doctor’s Day, he wanted to highlight a different facet of his medical experience — being a patient.
After Dr. Birrer was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 2012, he underwent several surgeries, radiation treatments and nearly continuous rounds of chemotherapy.
“Eventually, this is terminal,” said Dr. Birrer, 59. “I’m long past my expiration date already.”
He speaks, not with resignation or self-pity, but with grace and dignity. Dr. Birrer can hope and pray for a miracle; he cannot count on one.
“As cancers go, this is kind of a nasty one,” he said.
The discomfort that Dr. Birrer initially thought was just simple heartburn, ended up instead being indicative of something much worse. Ultimately, testing revealed a tumor was partially obstructing his esophagus.
“There weren’t many treatment options for what I had,” he said. “You can’t pick away at it. You have to do a full-court press.”
Twenty-eight radiation treatments followed, combined with weekly chemotherapy. Birrer underwent a difficult major surgery. Then, a complication “” leakage of lymphatic fluid into his chest “” required another major surgery a few days after the initial procedure. In all, he spent 21 days of December 2012 in the hospital — nine in intensive care.
He was anemic and lost about 35 pounds – getting down to 154 – and the weight was difficult to regain. But after several months on disability, Dr. Birrer returned to work.
Returning to work and facing the possible grim realities
“The hyperbaric chamber – that’s not physically demanding,” he said. “You could roll around in an office chair and do it. There were days where that’s exactly what I did.”
By the summer of 2013, he was back to his normal work routine. Then, last summer, another tumor — this one in his liver — was discovered. He underwent radiofrequency ablation treatment at the Mayo Clinic to destroy it.
But Birrer says he’s a realist. He has progressive cancer in several lymph nodes.
“The odds that I’ll be here next year are low,” he said.
“I’ve been able to dodge most disasters, like pneumonia. But, just a zit could become a life-threatening infection.”
Facing one’s own mortality is “scary, but not as much as you’d think,” he said.
“I’m lucky, in a sense, because I get to plan for my death. I’ve had 2 ½ years to sort things out — my finances, making amends with people.
“If you’re 32 and you’re taken out by a drunk driver, you don’t get that.”
Some of those close to him think his ordeal has made him more spiritual, but the doctor isn’t sure he agrees. Maybe, he says, he just became more open about his spirituality. Maybe he’s warmer. After all, a physician’s “bedside manner” can be affected by being on the other side of the bed.
“I hold hands more,” he said. “I pray with them more. I spend a lot more time talking to the families, because families are the ones carrying the load.”
His own family included. Dr. Birrer has been married to Mary Jo for 23 years. He says she has been amazing through his illness, as have his children ““ 19-year-old twins, Holly and Rachel and 16-year-old twins, Kimberly and Noah.
“I’m not different from any other doctor in that we end up giving more to our practices than to our families,” he said. “I’m so, so appreciative of all the love that’s been given back to me. I don’t deserve all that I’ve gotten.”
