pets
WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO THE FIELDOFVETERINARYONCOLOGY ? My father was a human medical oncologist , so I guess it was in my blood . Igrew up in Michigan and went to Michigan State as an undergraduate and for my veterinary training . As a rising junior in veterinary school , I did an externship in New York at the Animal Medical Center in oncology , and fell in love with it . It was the late ’ 80s , and I didn ’ t know these specialties existed . I did my internship and residency there . While at AMC , I met my husband , who is originally from Kansas City and is a veterinary ophthalmologist . We lived in Kansas City for three years , where I was the first veterinary oncologist in the state , and did radiation there as well .
IS IT HARD TO SEE PEOPLEATTHEIR SADDESTMOMENTS , WHENTHEIR BELOVED PETS ARE CRITICALLY ILL ? Alot of people think the job is traumatizing , that patients must die and everyone must be sad . And it can be emotionally draining , but it fills me right back up being able to give a family another Christmas or summer with their dog or cat , or even a few more years with apet . Idon ’ t sit across from families ; Isit next to them and go through everything . The more knowledge someone has , the better . Knowledge is power ! If Ican teach them all about adisease — what wecan do to fight it , what the prognosis can be — they can make the best decisions for their pet and the family . I want to minimize their regret and scars from all of this . We can do surgery or radiation therapy ; your neighbor ’ s dog or cat may have had that , and you see them in the backyard and you don ’ t even know . Quality of life is the goal .
So often there really isn ’ t a wrong decision . There are just differences between those decisions — whether or not to even treat the cancer , to go for the full gusto ofthe most aggressive protocol , something in the
CUDDLING WITH COOPER Dr . Alsarraf relaxes with Cooper , agoldendoodle .
middle , or just palliative care . I want the family to feel heard and loved and understood , and to know they did right by their pet .
WHEN DID YOU LEARN THAT YOU HAD CANCER YOURSELF ? I was 51 . I had actually made a routine gynecology appointment for two months short of a year , and an ultrasound revealed a nodule in the uterus . I had surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York soon after , and the surgeon found a 3-milimeter nodule outside the uterus , too , so it was spreading . I needed radiation and chemotherapy . Thank God I went when I did , because there were no clinical signs . I ’ m the poster child for why everyone should get checked every year . It ’ s scary to face your own mortality .
WHAT CAN DOGS TEACH HUMANS ABOUT FACING ADVERSITY ? Ican ’ t tell you how many lessons I learned that are in my book . One big lesson for me is that dogs are never
COURTESY OF BETSY GROSSMAN
14 FALL 2022 WAYNE MAGAZINE