Latest / The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast / A Check in with Katie Thurston

Transcript

A Check in with Katie Thurston · The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: This is the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcast
0:03
Speaker 1: with iHeartRadio everybody.
0:06
Speaker 2: It's almost Famous podcast.
0:08
Speaker 3: We're here today with somebody who you've definitely heard of recently,
0:14
Speaker 3: you definitely know of, and we want to do an
0:17
Speaker 3: interview today with Katie Thurston to get her story. And
0:22
Speaker 3: I mean, I think the hope from all of us
0:24
Speaker 3: is to share your story, Katie, not only in support
0:26
Speaker 3: of you, but also to highlight what's going on in
0:30
Speaker 3: your life for anybody listening so they can also be aware.
0:34
Speaker 3: So thanks for joining us.
0:35
Speaker 4: Thanks for having me you guys, I appreciate it.
0:37
Speaker 5: Well, we're so sorry to have you here under these circumstances.
0:41
Speaker 5: You know, you recently found out a month ago that
0:44
Speaker 5: you have breast cancer. Can you start kind of at
0:49
Speaker 5: the beginning of your story. I know that a lot
0:52
Speaker 5: of people out there have already heard your timeline, but
0:55
Speaker 5: for those of for those who haven't.
0:57
Speaker 4: Yeah, So I actually last summer was the first time
1:00
Speaker 4: I felt a lump in my breast, but I had
1:03
Speaker 4: had a benign cyst before that was removed and non cancerous.
1:07
Speaker 4: And I'm only yeah, and I'm only thirty four, so
1:10
Speaker 4: I'm not thinking breast cancer at all. It doesn't run
1:13
Speaker 4: in my family. I am overall pretty healthy. There was
1:17
Speaker 4: never an urgency to get it checked out. And I
1:20
Speaker 4: kind of put it off, thinking maybe it's PMS, maybe
1:22
Speaker 4: it's from working out, you know, it's the summertime. And
1:25
Speaker 4: then finally in January, you know, I was getting ready
1:29
Speaker 4: to move to New York to be with my fiance Jeff,
1:31
Speaker 4: and was like, well, I should do some kind of
1:32
Speaker 4: like medical checks before we leave, and we're going to
1:35
Speaker 4: be traveling for six weeks. And so I kind of
1:37
Speaker 4: went into the office almost thinking it was going to
1:40
Speaker 4: be like a like a checkup, like a Yep, it's
1:42
Speaker 4: just another benign cyst and you can just move on
1:45
Speaker 4: with your life. And very very quickly the appointment energy
1:51
Speaker 4: was shifting. I could feel it. No one was saying anything,
1:53
Speaker 4: but you know, you can just feel the vibe of
1:55
Speaker 4: the room change. And I remember first it was a
1:59
Speaker 4: manual feel by doctor, then it was an ultrasound and
2:02
Speaker 4: then can you stay and do a mammogram? And I
2:04
Speaker 4: was like yeah, and I could just I could just
2:07
Speaker 4: feel the way of whatever was happening.
2:09
Speaker 5: Yeah.
2:10
Speaker 4: So then at that time they couldn't get me in
2:13
Speaker 4: for a biopsy, but they wanted to, and they're like, look,
2:17
Speaker 4: we're pretty sure it's cancer, but we can't confirm until
2:20
Speaker 4: we do the biopsy at the end of the day.
2:22
Speaker 4: That's that's the only way to confirm. So you know,
2:26
Speaker 4: what do you want to do? And we were literally
2:29
Speaker 4: like a daze away from leaving for so much international
2:33
Speaker 4: travel with Jeff because he was on the road for
2:35
Speaker 4: his shows. And I was like, well, if I was
2:37
Speaker 4: your friend, if I was your daughter, what would you
2:39
Speaker 4: tell me? And they're like, we would tell you to
2:41
Speaker 4: stay and figure it out. So I get the biopsy
2:45
Speaker 4: on February fifth, and then a day before Valentine's Day
2:48
Speaker 4: they confirmed officially that it was in fact breast cancer.
2:52
Speaker 5: So I have a fibro atonoma. I had a biopsy.
2:55
Speaker 5: Our producer, who you can't see right now, Jess recently
2:59
Speaker 5: twenty two, also has a fibroe atanoma. Feels like a marble,
3:04
Speaker 5: is very round and it moves. And you had assist,
3:09
Speaker 5: how did what you have now feel different, if it
3:13
Speaker 5: or at all, than what you had previously.
3:16
Speaker 4: I don't think they felt different, like I thought they
3:18
Speaker 4: were gonna be the same thing. The first one I
3:20
Speaker 4: felt was like a piece size, like you said, marble,
3:24
Speaker 4: just like this little hard spot much smaller that I
3:29
Speaker 4: could just easily feel. I didn't. I wasn't even I
3:31
Speaker 4: wasn't even doing self exams. I just like, am just
3:35
Speaker 4: this sounds crazy, but like I just I just feel
3:37
Speaker 4: what my boobs feel like. I don't know. I love
3:38
Speaker 4: you know, so you notice something is off. And that
3:42
Speaker 4: was the benin sist and it wasn't a big deal.
3:44
Speaker 4: This other one was a similar spot, maybe closer to
3:47
Speaker 4: like the armpit. So again, like I'm lifting weights, it's summertime.
3:51
Speaker 4: I'm thinking it's like muscle, you know, because it's like
3:55
Speaker 4: same size, maybe like marble, maybe bigger, rubbery or hard.
4:00
Speaker 4: It doesn't feel like fat. Everyone else what you know,
4:02
Speaker 4: you're a boove should feel like overall, and it felt
4:05
Speaker 4: just like different and it wasn't. On the other side.
4:08
Speaker 4: That was the other thing. It is like you start
4:09
Speaker 4: going on both sides and you're like, it's only on
4:11
Speaker 4: one side. And so after you know, months of it
4:15
Speaker 4: never going away, I was like, Okay, maybe this is something.
4:18
Speaker 4: It was painful, and so the biggest thing that I
4:21
Speaker 4: regret is using Google for medical advice. You know, breast
4:25
Speaker 4: cancer hurt, and Google said generally no, and so I
4:28
Speaker 4: kind of just took that from a phrase value it's.
4:30
Speaker 5: Sore, they usually say that's a good sign exactly.
4:34
Speaker 4: So I had this like confirmation bias of like, all right,
4:38
Speaker 4: I guess I'm good, and so I just didn't go
4:40
Speaker 4: in for months, and you know, obviously I have my
4:43
Speaker 4: own regrets with that, But all I can do now
4:45
Speaker 4: is educate other women because had I heard someone my
4:48
Speaker 4: age with their story last summer when I felt the lump,
4:52
Speaker 4: I think I would have been more proactive on getting
4:54
Speaker 4: it checked. Because the biggest thing I'm learning now is
4:59
Speaker 4: it's actually like an at right now and women in
5:01
Speaker 4: their twenties and thirties and forties who are getting breast cancer,
5:04
Speaker 4: and multiple doctors that I've seen in different departments are like,
5:08
Speaker 4: we don't know what's going on, and it's crazy that
5:11
Speaker 4: only until I was diagnosed am I learning that. But
5:14
Speaker 4: now that I'm like searching for answers, I'm seeing just
5:17
Speaker 4: how many women are being impacted.
5:19
Speaker 3: Let's this is a weird question for me to ask,
5:21
Speaker 3: but we kind of mentioned it when I think we
5:25
Speaker 3: talked about your story initially when the news came out.
5:28
Speaker 3: But for those out there, that are listening and they
5:32
Speaker 3: you know, they're familiar with breast cancer, but they don't
5:34
Speaker 3: exactly know how to do a self check. That kind
5:37
Speaker 3: of confuses them. Let's maybe try to make it as
5:41
Speaker 3: elementary as possible with the information you now know, Katie,
5:44
Speaker 3: how do you do these kind of checks?
5:46
Speaker 2: Uh? And then you know once you do do these checks,
5:50
Speaker 2: is any.
5:51
Speaker 3: Lump, any bump, something that you would now recommend somebody
5:55
Speaker 3: go in for, or or is there things that you'd say, now,
5:57
Speaker 3: don't worry about that.
6:00
Speaker 4: The only thing any lump you should get checked out
6:02
Speaker 4: the way that I recommend doing a self breast exam,
6:05
Speaker 4: or I mean even just watching a video. There's so
6:08
Speaker 4: much resources and it's so easy you can do in
6:11
Speaker 4: the shower, but typically you'll take two or three fingers
6:14
Speaker 4: and you just kind of like literally just rub over
6:17
Speaker 4: your breast, you know, down like top to bottom diagonally.
6:21
Speaker 4: Is there discharge out of your your nipples? Is there dimpling?
6:26
Speaker 3: Time out? Timeout? Stop there? Because if there is discharge,
6:29
Speaker 3: what does that mean?
6:30
Speaker 4: It just means you should ask your doctor, you know,
6:32
Speaker 4: sometimes depending you know, if you're a new mom or
6:35
Speaker 4: again your period. I don't I'm not a professional but
6:40
Speaker 4: you got to be familiar with what's normal for your
6:42
Speaker 4: breasts and if anything feels off, even if it is nothing,
6:46
Speaker 4: I'd rather have the peace of mind hearing from a
6:48
Speaker 4: professional that it's nothing, then do what I did, which
6:51
Speaker 4: was wait several months and find out that it was
6:53
Speaker 4: actually breast cancer.
6:54
Speaker 5: But you didn't have discharge or dimpling or anything like that, right, No,
6:58
Speaker 5: Mine was.
6:59
Speaker 4: Just a rubbery, hard, painful lump in the side of
7:04
Speaker 4: my breast in a spot that felt like maybe like
7:08
Speaker 4: a muscle.
7:09
Speaker 5: So let's talk about how your initial feeling was. They're
7:14
Speaker 5: telling you in your first appointment that they think it
7:16
Speaker 5: would be cancer. You have to wait for the biopsy,
7:19
Speaker 5: and then after the biopsy comes back and they say
7:21
Speaker 5: that it is cancer, then you have to have that
7:24
Speaker 5: weight period when you find out.
7:25
Speaker 4: What stage it is.
7:27
Speaker 5: What's your feelings? I mean, besides, I know it sounds obvious,
7:31
Speaker 5: but just kind of describe life for that week or so.
7:34
Speaker 4: I won't deny that I am. I know right now
7:36
Speaker 4: I seem okay, but I am emotionally not okay, like truly.
7:42
Speaker 4: But in the first I guess the four weeks that
7:44
Speaker 4: I've been pursuing treatment and moving and changing doctors and insurance.
7:49
Speaker 4: You almost don't have time to like sit in it
7:52
Speaker 4: and reflect. And I think even leading up to the
7:55
Speaker 4: confirmation with the biopsy results, I think I was even
7:58
Speaker 4: in denial because there's I was like, there's no way,
8:01
Speaker 4: there's no way, and you know, I started to discredit
8:03
Speaker 4: like the doctor and discredit their their level of education,
8:07
Speaker 4: like it's probably a mistake, And to be honest, I
8:11
Speaker 4: think even now there's still a level of denial, and
8:14
Speaker 4: I don't know if that's like a coping mechanism. My
8:17
Speaker 4: first treatment day as of now will be next Friday,
8:21
Speaker 4: and maybe then that's when it fully hits and I
8:23
Speaker 4: get to process emotions better. That's also then when all
8:27
Speaker 4: these appointments that I've had leading up to next Friday
8:31
Speaker 4: kind of slow down and I simply have a new
8:34
Speaker 4: schedule of like you show up, you do the treatment,
8:37
Speaker 4: you go home, and you live your normal life again
8:39
Speaker 4: until you're back. Whether it's every week, are wey two weeks,
8:42
Speaker 4: I'm not sure what my plan is quite yet. I'm
8:45
Speaker 4: doing a clinical trial, which means I'm basically randomly selected
8:49
Speaker 4: to go into Block A, which is treatment once a week,
8:52
Speaker 4: or Block B, which is treatment twice a week or
8:55
Speaker 4: I'm sorry, once every two weeks with different again to
8:59
Speaker 4: kind of like down different formulas of treatment. So we'll
9:05
Speaker 4: find out, I think next Thursday what I'm picked for randomly,
9:08
Speaker 4: and then I start Friday.
9:11
Speaker 2: Why did you choose a clinical trial?
9:15
Speaker 4: So with breast cancer, right now, there's what's called standard
9:18
Speaker 4: of care, which is like this one size fits all
9:21
Speaker 4: of here's six rounds of chemo, and then we'll figure
9:25
Speaker 4: it out from there. We'll see what happens. And chemo's very,
9:28
Speaker 4: very intense on your body. And so when I found
9:31
Speaker 4: I qualified for the clinical trial, what they're trying to
9:34
Speaker 4: accomplish now, and I think, especially as breast cancers on
9:36
Speaker 4: the rise, is kind of custom tailor a treatment for
9:41
Speaker 4: women so that you're not overexposed to chemo or whatever
9:47
Speaker 4: the situation is. So the way I've kind of explained
9:49
Speaker 4: it to some of my family, I'm like, it's like
9:51
Speaker 4: having a cut on your finger and everyone's just chopping
9:54
Speaker 4: off your finger when you can just put nia sporn
9:57
Speaker 4: on it. And so if there's a a way to
10:01
Speaker 4: cure my cancer without doing excessive amount of chemo or treatment,
10:07
Speaker 4: then that's going to be best for my body, and
10:09
Speaker 4: I'm I'm willing to give that a try.
10:21
Speaker 3: My dad had cancer at thirty stage four and got chemo,
10:26
Speaker 3: and I think it's a great choice.
10:28
Speaker 2: I mean a great choice by you.
10:29
Speaker 3: It's your personal choice, but it's a great choice because
10:31
Speaker 3: it has caused you.
10:33
Speaker 2: Know, long term effects on his body.
10:36
Speaker 3: Katie, you kind of glossed over this, And I think
10:39
Speaker 3: for the listener it's really important because breast cancer is
10:45
Speaker 3: on the rise, especially in people younger. The percentage chance
10:50
Speaker 3: that somebody listening to this is probably in a very
10:53
Speaker 3: similar place to you or will be at some point.
10:58
Speaker 3: And you said emotionally you're not okay, and so I
11:03
Speaker 3: think the question would be like, really, how are you
11:06
Speaker 3: doing with the hope of somebody listening maybe could feel
11:09
Speaker 3: less alone.
11:12
Speaker 2: After hearing your words.
11:14
Speaker 4: I mean, it's I think it's just part of your
11:16
Speaker 4: new norm. I think like there's days where you cry,
11:19
Speaker 4: there's days where you ask why. I think the two
11:24
Speaker 4: best things that I can offer someone who maybe is
11:27
Speaker 4: newly diagnosed is one, it's not your fault. And I
11:31
Speaker 4: think a lot of women when diagnosed go like, what
11:33
Speaker 4: did I do? It wasn't my birth control? Should I
11:36
Speaker 4: have been vegan? Should I have been vegetarian? Was it
11:38
Speaker 4: my makeup? You know, you start trying to like psychoanalyze
11:41
Speaker 4: everything that you've ever done in your life and blame yourself.
11:44
Speaker 4: Am I am I too fat, my too skinny, that
11:45
Speaker 4: all these different things, and ultimately it's not your fault.
11:50
Speaker 4: So that would be like the first thing I'd say.
11:52
Speaker 4: The second thing I would say is it's and I
11:56
Speaker 4: don't I don't really know how to interpret this. But
11:57
Speaker 4: a lot of people say, like, you're so brave for
11:59
Speaker 4: sharing your story, and I do appreciate that gesture, but
12:04
Speaker 4: for me, it's also it's been such a help for
12:07
Speaker 4: me to share my story and to have people who've
12:09
Speaker 4: been share theirs. And so there's a lot of people who,
12:12
Speaker 4: for their own personal reasons, choose to battle in silence
12:17
Speaker 4: and in private, and you know, that's their own choice.
12:21
Speaker 4: But I do find something so supportive of being part
12:25
Speaker 4: of a group, being part of a chat, anything you
12:29
Speaker 4: can find to talk to other survivors. It's probably been
12:33
Speaker 4: like the biggest medicine for me since officially coming out
12:37
Speaker 4: with the public and sharing my story.
12:40
Speaker 5: You being a thirty four year old woman and having
12:43
Speaker 5: this diagnosis and speaking out about it. There's going to
12:46
Speaker 5: be so many other thirty some things that would never
12:49
Speaker 5: have expected that they have it, that they're going to
12:51
Speaker 5: discover it through you. So know that you are a
12:54
Speaker 5: hero in that sense.
12:56
Speaker 3: And people, I mean and women that now maybe that
13:00
Speaker 3: aren't as familiar with their bodies will hope, you know,
13:03
Speaker 3: hear your story and maybe go into the shower and
13:06
Speaker 3: check themselves. And just because they're you know, they hear it,
13:10
Speaker 3: and now they're aware and they're like, oh, I can
13:12
Speaker 3: do that, or I should be doing that.
13:14
Speaker 2: I know I've always heard about doing I've just never done.
13:17
Speaker 5: It because back in the day they used to say forty.
13:21
Speaker 4: I mean, even now, are a lot of our mammograms
13:23
Speaker 4: aren't even covered by insurance. Another thing I'd want to
13:27
Speaker 4: add is, I think a lot of times doctors, sometimes
13:29
Speaker 4: because of our age, say oh you're fine, you're fine.
13:32
Speaker 4: And so then what I've encouraging people to do is
13:34
Speaker 4: tell your doctor to put that in your notes. Then
13:36
Speaker 4: they're declining to proceed forward in exploration of this lump,
13:41
Speaker 4: whether it be you know, ultrasound mammogram, because very quickly
13:45
Speaker 4: the doctor will be like, okay, fine, we'll get you
13:48
Speaker 4: checked out. Because Ultimately you have to be your biggest advocate,
13:51
Speaker 4: and no longer is it the standard of like, oh,
13:54
Speaker 4: only older people get breast cancer, because I'm proof that
13:57
Speaker 4: that's not true, and there's thousands, I don't know the
14:00
Speaker 4: official number, there's so many women where that's proof that
14:03
Speaker 4: that's not true. And so I hope to see change
14:06
Speaker 4: in the future in terms of the mammogram age dropping
14:09
Speaker 4: or ultra sounds being more accessible for everybody.
14:12
Speaker 5: Yeah, you are going to be undergoing chemo before you
14:17
Speaker 5: have a lump out to me or a misectomy. I
14:20
Speaker 5: know that you were saying that you're not sure whether
14:22
Speaker 5: you're gonna have a full misactimty or not. Can you
14:26
Speaker 5: give us why that order is the way it is.
14:29
Speaker 4: Yes, So, when you have breast cancer, the start of
14:33
Speaker 4: your treatment is either surgery or chemo to put it
14:38
Speaker 4: in a simple form based on the size, so if
14:40
Speaker 4: it's small enough and caught early enough, they can actually
14:44
Speaker 4: remove it completely, check afterwards do chemo to make sure
14:48
Speaker 4: that everything's gone. Unfortunately, for the size of mine, it's
14:52
Speaker 4: too big to safely remove. Even if I try to
14:55
Speaker 4: do a full mistectomy, it's too large. So for my
14:59
Speaker 4: treatment plan, we have to do chemo first to basically
15:02
Speaker 4: shrink it down, and then they'll constantly monitor that and
15:05
Speaker 4: then once it's at a safe enough size, or even
15:08
Speaker 4: if it's gone, then they'll be able to take a
15:11
Speaker 4: portion of it, which would be the lumpectomy, or if
15:14
Speaker 4: I opted at that time, or again, there's no guarantee
15:17
Speaker 4: that it shrinks small enough, then it could end up
15:21
Speaker 4: being a mastectomy.
15:22
Speaker 5: And would you at all do a double mistectomy? Would
15:25
Speaker 5: it be of any benefit because you don't have the
15:28
Speaker 5: brocta gene, which is the gene that makes you more
15:31
Speaker 5: susceptible to breast and ovarying cancer.
15:34
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's actually a great question because I just met
15:37
Speaker 4: with my breast surgeon today and this entire time I
15:40
Speaker 4: was kind of accepting that it was going to be mistectomy.
15:44
Speaker 4: I was weighing the options of maybe a double mastectomy. However,
15:49
Speaker 4: my doctor said, studies show that it does not necessarily
15:52
Speaker 4: increase your survival rate to do it. A lot of
15:55
Speaker 4: people do it for preventative reasons because obviously, I don't
16:00
Speaker 4: ever want to go through this again. So a lot
16:02
Speaker 4: of women will do it, and not all. Obviously, some
16:05
Speaker 4: people do it because they have to, but other women
16:08
Speaker 4: will do because they're like, I don't care, just get
16:11
Speaker 4: them off. And then the thing that people don't realize
16:14
Speaker 4: is when you have breast cancer and you go through that,
16:16
Speaker 4: you also then insurance covers reconstruction. So if you decided
16:21
Speaker 4: you want implants or you want it, and I forget
16:23
Speaker 4: the name of it, I think, so it was like,
16:26
Speaker 4: I don't rememberally official term, but yeah, there's reconstruction that's covered.
16:31
Speaker 4: So you know, some women, I think also then go
16:33
Speaker 4: like yeah, if that, like it decreases the stress of
16:36
Speaker 4: reoccurrence and I get a boob job, like, so be it.
16:39
Speaker 4: You know. So I think at this time, I'm waiting
16:44
Speaker 4: to see what happens. My breast surgeon her preference is
16:50
Speaker 4: lumpect to me, it's the less invasive choice. She did
16:53
Speaker 4: say some women, well then maybe ten years from now
16:57
Speaker 4: decide to do that. But especially and my age and
17:01
Speaker 4: my hopes to have a family and potentially even breastfeed,
17:04
Speaker 4: I think at the bare minimum, the left breast, which
17:08
Speaker 4: is not cancer has cancer right now, it would be
17:11
Speaker 4: something I would hope to hang on to, but again
17:15
Speaker 4: I have to put my health first, so it's kind
17:17
Speaker 4: of case by case. In the coming months, what ends
17:20
Speaker 4: up ultimately being the decision.
17:22
Speaker 5: That's another thing with you is because of your age,
17:25
Speaker 5: you still want to have children. You decided that you
17:29
Speaker 5: wanted to have children when you met Jeff, your fiance,
17:33
Speaker 5: and now you have to go through the egg retrieval
17:38
Speaker 5: part before you go into the chemo, and you just
17:44
Speaker 5: went through that and that's an emotional process itself because
17:48
Speaker 5: of the hormone fluctuations.
17:50
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was. It was crazy. I did my treatment
17:54
Speaker 4: with Army New York and they are so experienced in
17:58
Speaker 4: what's called oncofertil which is just basically IVF for people
18:02
Speaker 4: with cancer because with chemotherapy it does impact your reproductive
18:07
Speaker 4: system in a negative way. So you want to be
18:10
Speaker 4: proactive and at least have options in the event that
18:13
Speaker 4: you can't conceive naturally in the future. Now, some women
18:17
Speaker 4: have told me they were they had cancer, their cancer
18:20
Speaker 4: free and they were able to conceive naturally, but we
18:24
Speaker 4: didn't want to hold on to that, so we did
18:26
Speaker 4: go through the whole IVF process and ended up freezing
18:29
Speaker 4: our embryos. As of right now, we have successfully six
18:34
Speaker 4: fertilized embryos. That's great, Yeah, but this Friday is like
18:39
Speaker 4: and I'm learning terminology, So you're going to forgive me
18:42
Speaker 4: that I'm not speaking on it correctly. But this Friday
18:46
Speaker 4: is when you find out like of those six fertilized embryos,
18:48
Speaker 4: like how many made it to like the I call
18:50
Speaker 4: it like the boss level at the final stage, and
18:52
Speaker 4: are like strong enough, healthy enough, genetically healthy that are
18:57
Speaker 4: like the final ones that then will you know, keep
18:59
Speaker 4: until the time is right.
19:11
Speaker 2: This is such a wild time for you, Katie.
19:13
Speaker 3: I don't want to dismiss or undermine just like all
19:16
Speaker 3: the things happening in your life right now. That's I
19:19
Speaker 3: remember we talked to you. I don't know how many
19:20
Speaker 3: months ago now, but I think I remember making the
19:25
Speaker 3: statement like you're just thriving right like things are you
19:29
Speaker 3: like we're talking about Jeff and a lot, Yeah, and
19:32
Speaker 3: like I was just like, you're just like in this
19:35
Speaker 3: season and now it's probably I mean, I'm assuming it's
19:38
Speaker 3: probably pretty difficult to see the good always right now.
19:43
Speaker 3: But something that has been good and I've really loved
19:46
Speaker 3: the follow because I am and I've really enjoyed the
19:51
Speaker 3: humor is your fiance Jeff. And I want to know
19:57
Speaker 3: his response, good or bad, or just what his response
20:01
Speaker 3: has been to this whole thing since really the diagnosis
20:05
Speaker 3: and kind of the changing of his tour and his plans,
20:07
Speaker 3: and then obviously the diagnosis with the stage you're in
20:11
Speaker 3: and kind of all this happening, Like, how has he
20:14
Speaker 3: been to you?
20:15
Speaker 4: He has been just the best life partner, beyond what
20:18
Speaker 4: I ever expected. When we first found out, we were
20:22
Speaker 4: in Hawaii where he had shows, and we were supposed
20:25
Speaker 4: to go from Hawaii to Australia, New Zealand, Japan. All
20:29
Speaker 4: of these were flights were booked, hotels were booked for both,
20:31
Speaker 4: everything was very official. You know, you have shows that
20:34
Speaker 4: are supposed to be next week. So initially because I
20:38
Speaker 4: just I would have never asked him to stay with me,
20:42
Speaker 4: I was initially coordinating to potentially do care in Washington,
20:45
Speaker 4: where my family is, because also then my insurance was
20:50
Speaker 4: accepted there in Washington. And I thought, Okay, well, he'll
20:53
Speaker 4: go on his he'll continue his tour, that's his job,
20:56
Speaker 4: and it's you know, the next six weeks abroad. How
20:59
Speaker 4: do I how would he even change that? But then
21:04
Speaker 4: I think within maybe a day or two, he was like,
21:07
Speaker 4: absolutely not, We're rescheduling things. I don't care. I don't
21:11
Speaker 4: care if there's there's penalties because it's you know, it's
21:14
Speaker 4: international and these are big shows that are sold out,
21:16
Speaker 4: and you know, unfortunately people do plan around these moments
21:20
Speaker 4: with him. But anyway, he rescheduled everything, and him being
21:25
Speaker 4: here for these past four weeks and now the next
21:28
Speaker 4: two have been the best because in the beginning is
21:34
Speaker 4: the worst when it comes to diagnosis. There's so much
21:37
Speaker 4: you're learning, there's so many appointments, and he's been to
21:40
Speaker 4: every single one of my appointments. He did every single
21:43
Speaker 4: shot for me for IVF, and like, I like, I'll
21:47
Speaker 4: just get emotional talking about him. I don't know who
21:50
Speaker 4: or how I would be like without him by my side.
21:54
Speaker 4: And so as much as people want to give me
21:56
Speaker 4: compliments for being brave and strong, and it's like I
22:00
Speaker 4: do owe a lot of that to my partner, and
22:02
Speaker 4: Jeff has just been amazing. He does head back on
22:06
Speaker 4: the road sometime in the first week of April, which
22:10
Speaker 4: is I think perfect timing. He'll be here for my
22:12
Speaker 4: first treatment and then you know, he comes home every
22:16
Speaker 4: once in a while in between the US run anyway,
22:20
Speaker 4: which is the month of April, So I think it'll
22:22
Speaker 4: be something we can manage. But him being there for
22:26
Speaker 4: these beginning moments is something I don't even know how
22:30
Speaker 4: I'd ever repay him with my gratitude.
22:32
Speaker 3: Helpful your love, Yeah, I think your love is enough.
22:36
Speaker 3: I think that's pretty awesome. You know, I was thinking
22:39
Speaker 3: about this talking to you today. We only have a
22:41
Speaker 3: few minutes here, and some you know, a couple of
22:45
Speaker 3: quotes came to mind.
22:46
Speaker 2: I'm not going to share because that just is kind
22:48
Speaker 2: of corny and goofy.
22:49
Speaker 3: But I was a mentor of mine once told me
22:54
Speaker 3: to pay attention and to learn from those who have
22:57
Speaker 3: been through it, to listen to those people for their
23:01
Speaker 3: insights and advice, And so I want to take this
23:05
Speaker 3: moment to learn from you. You have been diagnosed with
23:09
Speaker 3: stage three cancer. You have a fiance, you are planning
23:15
Speaker 3: a family, You're gonna get to go on the road.
23:17
Speaker 3: You have all these things now that are in pause.
23:19
Speaker 3: I guess you've been through it. You're going to continue,
23:23
Speaker 3: but you've been through it, Katie. Things have changed in
23:26
Speaker 3: your life. And so as you look at life now
23:30
Speaker 3: and moving forward, what is your perspective?
23:32
Speaker 2: What has changed?
23:33
Speaker 3: What insights have you been given just kind of through
23:37
Speaker 3: this process that I could learn from or anybody listening
23:40
Speaker 3: could learn from.
23:41
Speaker 4: I mean, I think my biggest takeaway is I've never
23:47
Speaker 4: been scared about the outcome. I've always known no matter
23:50
Speaker 4: what is going to come, I'm going to get through it.
23:54
Speaker 4: I just have been describing it of a year of
23:56
Speaker 4: inconveniences and that's all it is. It's just like a
24:00
Speaker 4: I think my breast surgeon said, it's like a speed
24:02
Speaker 4: bump in a school zone. You know, you approach fast
24:04
Speaker 4: and you see the speed bumps, you slow down, you
24:06
Speaker 4: get over that hump, and then you just continue on.
24:09
Speaker 4: And obviously I'm not on the other side yet, but
24:12
Speaker 4: a lot of people who have made it to the
24:14
Speaker 4: other side of beating cancer have said your outlook on
24:17
Speaker 4: life and your relationships really change, And I mean I
24:22
Speaker 4: think even now they already have. You just you value
24:26
Speaker 4: family more, you value your friendships more, you value life more.
24:29
Speaker 4: I mean, you really reflect on how we've been treating
24:32
Speaker 4: ourselves as these humans on lane, on Earth, and just
24:37
Speaker 4: things that we could be doing just to be better
24:40
Speaker 4: while while our time is you know limited ultimately. But
24:45
Speaker 4: I know, for me, funny enough, I was dragging my
24:49
Speaker 4: feet on wedding planning. You know, I was more wanting
24:51
Speaker 4: to elope and now given the diagnosis, it feels like
24:57
Speaker 4: there's something really special about being to celebrate the love
25:01
Speaker 4: that Jeff and I have then to be celebrating that
25:04
Speaker 4: with friends and family on a big, grand scale. And
25:07
Speaker 4: so my outlook on just even like wedding planning has
25:10
Speaker 4: shifted because you know, life is so precious and you
25:13
Speaker 4: just never know what kind of surprises are going to
25:16
Speaker 4: come your way.
25:17
Speaker 1: Thanks.
25:18
Speaker 5: You said that you're not scared, and I'm so glad
25:21
Speaker 5: to hear that, And like everybody knows, they're like Katie
25:24
Speaker 5: has got this. She's gonna tackle this like she is
25:26
Speaker 5: the strongest woman. I'm so glad to hear that. You know,
25:30
Speaker 5: you don't consider yourself scared? Are you nervous about chemo?
25:33
Speaker 3: Though?
25:34
Speaker 5: Like that's that would be like what I don't know
25:38
Speaker 5: how that's going to feel to my body. Like I
25:40
Speaker 5: feel like a lot of times we're in our thirties,
25:42
Speaker 5: we feel like we kind of know what things feel like.
25:45
Speaker 5: But that's one thing.
25:46
Speaker 4: It's like, yeah, I mean, it is like a very
25:50
Speaker 4: aggressive form of medication, and there's things people can do
25:53
Speaker 4: to try to manage that. The I don't want to
25:56
Speaker 4: say the nice thing. But you know, I am young,
25:59
Speaker 4: and so younger people do tend to bounce back a
26:02
Speaker 4: little bit better. And there's been a lot of changes
26:05
Speaker 4: just healthwise of what I've done leading up to it,
26:08
Speaker 4: just to prepare and make sure my body's in its
26:10
Speaker 4: best health and shape, you know. And now I live
26:14
Speaker 4: in New York and we don't have a car, so
26:15
Speaker 4: there's bare minimum. Just going on walks is going to
26:18
Speaker 4: be really beneficial, but also just allowing myself the grace
26:21
Speaker 4: of knowing I need to sleep a lot. I might
26:24
Speaker 4: feel nauseous in talking to other people who've gone through
26:27
Speaker 4: chemo obviously, like hair loss could be something, you know,
26:31
Speaker 4: but in the grand scale of things, is like, so
26:34
Speaker 4: be it. You know, I'll value my life over my
26:38
Speaker 4: hair any day. Yeah, so I don't. I know it's
26:42
Speaker 4: not going to be great, you know, but given everything
26:44
Speaker 4: I've gone through the last four weeks, I feel like
26:46
Speaker 4: it can't be much worse. And then what I've already
26:49
Speaker 4: been going through.
26:50
Speaker 5: My last thing that I want to ask you is
26:53
Speaker 5: how has Jeff being a comedian helped through this? Because
26:58
Speaker 5: it been like Patch Adams, he.
27:01
Speaker 4: Have you guys heard some of the jokes him and
27:03
Speaker 4: I make it's like a mixture of like being out
27:07
Speaker 4: of pocket and like somewhat dark humor, but like because
27:10
Speaker 4: we're like in a private space, just him and I
27:13
Speaker 4: and we have that permission to do that with each
27:15
Speaker 4: other with my diagnosis, it actually makes it very fun.
27:20
Speaker 4: He's he's just always in such a good mood, you know.
27:23
Speaker 4: I mean, obviously it feels like so cliche. He's like
27:25
Speaker 4: a community he's always funny, but he really is. Like
27:27
Speaker 4: it just it's the true comedic relief in my real
27:31
Speaker 4: life story.
27:32
Speaker 2: Katie.
27:33
Speaker 3: Really the final thing for you, and thank you again
27:36
Speaker 3: for coming on and talking about this. I know you
27:39
Speaker 3: know you've you've done a lot of interviews and you're
27:42
Speaker 3: you're obviously sharing as much information as you can with people,
27:44
Speaker 3: and we greatly appreciate it, and I know our listeners
27:47
Speaker 3: do too. One thing that I just want to make
27:50
Speaker 3: clear so those people out there can be praying for you,
27:52
Speaker 3: thinking about you, supporting you. All the stuff that people
27:56
Speaker 3: do in the midst of somebody else hurting what what
28:00
Speaker 3: is the timeline now from here on now? How long
28:04
Speaker 3: is treatment? Kind of what are the doctors telling you
28:07
Speaker 3: about success rates? Just all the information that people can
28:11
Speaker 3: grab onto for you personally.
28:13
Speaker 4: So right now, treatment to start is twelve weeks with
28:17
Speaker 4: this clinical trial, which is shorter than your standard of care.
28:22
Speaker 4: So the hope is that within those twelve weeks I'm
28:27
Speaker 4: cured or it's at least shrunken in size, that I
28:29
Speaker 4: can then proceed on to surgery. So that is my
28:33
Speaker 4: hope with this clinical trial. My hope is that it's successful.
28:38
Speaker 4: They have obviously this has been years that they've done
28:40
Speaker 4: this clinical trial, but with anything to make it official,
28:43
Speaker 4: you have to have records of success over and over
28:46
Speaker 4: and over. So I'm just being part of that right now,
28:50
Speaker 4: so we'll know literally, I think week by week. Since
28:55
Speaker 4: it is a clinical trial, they do ongoing observations with
28:59
Speaker 4: biopsy and MRIs, Whereas the thing that surprised me the
29:02
Speaker 4: most with standard of care is you just do six
29:05
Speaker 4: rounds of chemo and they just manually check your lump.
29:07
Speaker 4: That's it, and then they'll do the official exam at
29:11
Speaker 4: the end of that six months. And so for me,
29:14
Speaker 4: it's very closely monitored. So in the event the clinical
29:17
Speaker 4: trial is not working for me, they do shift me
29:20
Speaker 4: then to what would be the standard of care and
29:22
Speaker 4: what are.
29:23
Speaker 3: The doctors telling you about success right here, Like, what
29:25
Speaker 3: are their expectations.
29:27
Speaker 4: I don't think they've given me like a number, but
29:29
Speaker 4: they have had success. Like they're very excited that I
29:32
Speaker 4: opted into it. They're very optimistic. They really haven't approached
29:38
Speaker 4: it in a way of me going into back to
29:41
Speaker 4: the standard of care. They're just more approaching it like
29:43
Speaker 4: we're going to see how this impacts you positively, and
29:46
Speaker 4: we're just going to hit the ground running and start
29:48
Speaker 4: treatment as soon as next Friday.
29:51
Speaker 3: Okay, Katie, We'll be thinking about you here. Thank you
29:53
Speaker 3: again for coming on here. We really appreciate it. Wishing
29:57
Speaker 3: the best, and I know this is a wild season,
30:02
Speaker 3: a wild time of inconveniences, but I cannot wait to
30:07
Speaker 3: talk to you in a year and hear all the
30:10
Speaker 3: cool things that have happened after these you know, Rode
30:13
Speaker 3: bumps have been passed over, Katie Thurston, everybody. This has
30:17
Speaker 3: been the Almost Famous podcast and I've been Ben talk
30:21
Speaker 3: to you sooner.
30:23
Speaker 1: Follow the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcasts on
30:26
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.