00:00Good morning. Happy Friday. Thanks for joining us on the Andy Summer Show.
00:05Just wanted to pop in with an update because a couple of weeks ago I announced that I had been
00:10diagnosed with breast cancer.
00:12And it has been a journey since then. I applaud all the women who were like, thank you for talking
00:18about this.
00:20I've been putting off my mammogram and I finally have it scheduled.
00:23I love that people are following up like, hey, had my mammogram yesterday. Uncomfortable, but I'm clear.
00:28Yeah. You know, we've got to celebrate all these wins, but you've got to actually take action because early detection
00:34saves lives.
00:35Yes, it does. So to bring you up to up to date, I had been I have been going regularly
00:40for my mammogram and and yeah, they detected stage one breast cancer, invasive lobular carcinoma.
00:49I know entirely words that are too long now. Right. And like way too much biology than I ever cared
00:56to learn.
00:57But the whole thing is totally fascinating to me. I'm waiting on surgery.
01:01I've got to get some more tests done so that they said, you know, when we go in, we want
01:06to make sure we have everything.
01:08So I've got a PET scan coming. They're going to do a biopsy on my lymph nodes to make sure
01:13that they haven't also been infected.
01:15But right now it looks like no chemo, which is awesome. Huge news.
01:19But I will have a double mastectomy and then radiation and then reconstruction.
01:23So so that's what's been going on. It's like it's a lot. Right.
01:27It's a lot. But I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the support of so many people.
01:32I get letters like I just got a whole stack of letters today and cards from Alice Tootsie Fulton.
01:40Thank you so much. Our good friend Sue sent a note. Kim sent a note today.
01:45I keep them. You know, when I made the announcement, I was getting notes of people saying, oh, my gosh,
01:53I can't believe that you're talking about this so openly.
01:55But I think why wouldn't I when I'm like totally writing on every single prayer that's being offered for me?
02:01I feel those prayers, right? I do. I feel like floating. I really am. Right.
02:05I really am, Jeff. Yeah, it is. It's emotional and but I feel strong and confident and incredibly faithful.
02:13And I'm just ready to knock this out of the park.
02:15You know, it's so crazy because just a couple of months prior to her diagnosis,
02:19I talked about being diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis.
02:22The point of that was I clearly tried to one up you.
02:25Right. I had to have the attention on herself.
02:28It's something people have heard of. I know.
02:31But, you know, when talking about that, I talked about how hard it can be when you can't figure out
02:35what's wrong
02:36and you have to advocate for yourself and go to a million doctor's appointments.
02:39In the last three or four weeks, Andy has been afternoons in the city, inner town, doctor's appointments,
02:47communications on the phone. I mean, taking phone calls in the middle of the show, which, mind you, respectfully,
02:51none of us really do unless it's family. Right.
02:53But we know how important this is. It's a part of your life now.
02:57And we are so impressed with your strength and how quickly you're moving and how strong you are.
03:04And, you know, you have every right to crawl up in a ball and think, I can't deal with this
03:08right now.
03:08I'll get to it later. Right.
03:10Right. And I'll call the doctor later.
03:12Yeah. Right. And they're like, there's no wrong way to do it because it honestly, when you get that diagnosis,
03:18like the C word, right, people don't even want to say it out loud.
03:23And people get uncomfortable when I'll be like, oh, yeah, but since I've been diagnosed with cancer,
03:27because it's just part of my life. Right. Right. Right.
03:31And I don't want to make it a bad word because it's I mean, it's it's in me.
03:36Well, it doesn't define you. Exactly.
03:38Yeah. Yeah. Something that you have and you have to deal with. And this is my cancer season.
03:43Yeah. Yeah. Right. People have different seasons.
03:46In my cancer era. Exactly. Exactly.
03:48I try to put myself in your shoes sometimes. Like, I'm like, how would I deal with this?
03:52And I'm not lying. You wouldn't you guys. I probably wouldn't be here.
03:55Yeah. Because, you know, I just people deal with it. I don't know how you're doing it.
03:59Yeah. Like every day you wake up, you know, we have a big transition coming up with with bosses and
04:04all this stuff.
04:05But, you know, there's layoffs happening every day. There's there's a lot going on.
04:09The world is just a miserable place. You have a daughter prom going.
04:13Mm hmm. I don't really have much going on in my life, but I would be in my closet right
04:17now.
04:18That's no. And that's real talk. Like, I don't.
04:21And again, but that's not even, you know, maybe not the healthiest way to do it is to kind of.
04:25Yeah. But but there's no wrong way to deal with it.
04:27Like my dad was similar to you, Donnie, where he didn't go to the doctor for years because and we
04:33would you know, my mom would be like, I told dad.
04:35And I was like, but, you know, that God forbid dad goes to the doctor, finds out he has something
04:39he's done.
04:40Yeah. Like he he was not the kind of person that was going to stand up to any disease.
04:46Yeah. It would have devastated him. Yeah.
04:49That's just who he was. My dad was a Marine, like strong in everything.
04:53But when it came to that, it just forget it. But my mom, I watched my mom battle breast cancer
04:58when she was in her 60s.
04:59And I kind of feel the same. We have that same sunshiny spirit of, you know what?
05:03I can't change it. So I'm just going to move on with it.
05:06I just live it. Yeah, exactly. I'm going to embrace everything.
05:10I like I I get to meet so many amazing people right now.
05:13Every time I walk into a medical facility, like God bless all the people at Penn, which is where I'm
05:17having all this done.
05:18Again, smiling faces. I mean, even the Starbucks next door. Super kind Starbucks in the world because they know everybody's
05:25going through something.
05:26Right. Like and I just appreciate all that extra effort. Right.
05:31You know, it gives you a whole new appreciation for all the little things.
05:33Well, we appreciate you keeping us updated. I want to let the record show.
05:37Andy, there's a volleyball tournament this weekend, so she'll be off for a day next week.
05:40Yes, she will not be in surgery or doing anything crazy next week.
05:44She's taking some time with family, which is going to be great.
05:47So have a great trip. I did. Thank you.
05:49Thank you. And I have also been like journaling about this whole experience.
05:54So if you visit our website, the Andy Summershow dot com, you can read some of my journal entries so
05:59far.
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