Ahsan Basha, MD (Host): Hello, and welcome to another episode of our podcast, The "C" Word, Community, Not Cancer. Today my guest is Ms. Sharon Richie. She's a patient under the care of my partner, Dr. Hamdan, who's going to share her experience with us on being diagnosed with breast cancer, undergoing treatment, and where she is now, and how she found things that helped her get through the process, and that may help you.

Sharon Richie: Well, thank you for having me. I'm super excited to be here. This is quite the honor. And yes, if any of my story can help people, that would be amazing. So my story started out like most people, it was a mammogram that turned out to be kind of poor. So I'm forever thankful that I did go for the mammogram, that I didn't delay it, and you know, I didn't delay it, which is very important, and it wasn't really even a shock because it's in my family.

So it's something that was always on my mind that I thought, okay, one day I just have a feeling this is gonna hit. Now, timing wise, I was a little shocked because it, it happened a little bit earlier than I thought. I thought it was gonna be later in the years. But, it's still a shock no matter what though. You know it still hits you kind of like a ton of bricks.

So for me, what I did immediately was just jump into action. And so I didn't even take time to think about the gravity of it, the heaviness. And, and instead put all my energy into, okay, how am I gonna beat this? What do I need to do? It's go time. And initially I have to be completely honest, and I know when I saw the surgeon, Dr. Lange, and then Dr. Hamdan as well, both initial visits, I was a nervous wreck.

Because I really was worried for whatever reason that they wouldn't really be able to help me. That they were gonna do their best. But that you know at the end of the day, we're gonna see what we can do. I thought that would be the tone of it, but I was wrong. They were very very positive and once we got through that initial, okay, here's the game plan,

and they were very positive. So I fed off that positivity like, okay, I can beat this. I can do this. I think. So I just immediately started putting together I'm a planner by nature. So I put together a plan for myself. So one, was to stay positive. Two, was to do whatever they said. And I know there's some people who had talked to me about going the holistic route, like skip the chemo, and I just knew that was not the right fit for me. That was not a gamble I wanted to take andI'm so thankful I did not go that route.

 So I just did what Hamdan told me to do and stayed positive. But then I also put little things in place to kind of help me because I knew, there were going to be days where I would be really down or not feel well or even be just plain out scared to death, right? Poor use of words, I know, but scared to death. So, I started implementing things that would help me when those moments would come up.

Host: Okay. Let me just stop you for a second here. So, let's go back to when you were first diagnosed, okay, with the screening. Had you ever thought about, ah, let's skip screening this year, or anything like that? Some people do, so I was wondering.

Sharon Richie: Yes, not skip because like I said, I always had a fear I was going to go through this but sometimes through the years I did delay it. So because it was in the family I started the mammograms earlier than normal so sometimes maybe we'd be a year and a couple months or something, but never skip.

Host: Okay, so once you had the abnormal mammogram, who was the first person who actually told you, one, you had an abnormal mammogram, and then what your biopsy meant?

Sharon Richie: Oh yeah, you know what, when they called me, when the clinic, it was probably just Riverside Hospital that called me and said, you know, hey we want you to come back for an ultrasound. And so I went, oh, that doesn't sound good. But when I got there, she said, let's do another mammogram, if that's fine. Then you can go. If it's not, we're already scheduled for the ultrasound. I did the mammogram and in like five minutes later, she came to get me for the ultrasound. So I kind of knew going into that.

But then after the ultrasound was done, the tech went and got the doctor. And when she came in, they both looked sad and you could tell they were trying to figure out how to tell me. And I already knew then, I just knew what she was going to say. What I didn't know was that she was telling me, the tech that I want the nurse or the doctor to tell you about the masses. And I remember telling her,that sounds plural to me. I wasn't planning on that one. I was expecting one issue and that's it. So there were two masses and that kind of hit me for a second, but then I'm like no, okay let's just stay in the moment, hear what she has to say. So I kind of threw them for a loop because I think they were expecting me to break down, which is probably normal, right? And I didn't. I was, she was, you know, do you understand what we're really trying to tell you? And I said, yeah, you're telling me I have breast cancer. And she was like, yes.

Host: So then I know you said you're kind of a planner and go getter and you went into action mode, but when you went home, but when you went home, what happened?

Sharon Richie: That day, oh no, no, that, that was a heavy day. Yeah I went home and then the gravity of it startedto kick in as they call it and the realization of this is not a joke. And so, I just thought okay, well you know what, let's just see what they can do for me. And I've had friends who were able to have like a lumpectomy and maybe some radiation and they were done. So that's what I thought my journey was going to be and within a couple months it was all done for them. So I kind of went into these doctor's appointments with that mindset. So that night I spent, just trying to think of what the options could be and what was going to happen.

Host: And did you have a support system at home that?

Sharon Richie: A huge support. Yeah, huge. And my husband, I have two grown, amazing children, and they were absolutely phenomenal. My mom, my in laws, my dad's spirit was with me always, tons of friends. I have an amazing work family that they were just phenomenal throughit because I kept working through the whole thing. So there were days I definitely was sprinting to the bathroomfor example and they just knew to make way. Sherry's coming, you know and I have a church family and just lots of acquaintances and friends so very blessed in that regard. Huge support system.

Host: Wonderful. So let me just explain a little bit to the audience about what you were diagnosed with. So, Ms. Ritchie, once she had her biopsies, was found to have two tumors in her breast, and they were called hormone receptor positive and HER2-neu Positive. So, what that means for us as doctors is that there's very specific treatments that work, especially for that HER2-neu part of things.

So like she said, she met with both Dr. Hamdan and Dr. Lange and the goal was to cure you, so in order to do that, what we do first is we start off with what's called neoadjuvant treatment. What that means is treating the cancer with treatment before surgery. So tell me what that was like once you started. I know you started that like around March.

Sharon Richie: I did start that. Well, first of all, it was a shock because I had never heard of that So first of all, to just hear the word C, the C word meaning chemo was heavy because remember I'm thinking I'm having a lumpectomy and a couple weeks of radiation.

So once I got past that, then, to be honest with you, my first treatment was delayed because I was so nervous. Again, still worried they were gonna, uh, just at any point tell me, we're going to do the best we can, but that's all we can hope for. So my blood pressure, which I never had blood pressure issues, but I do now.

And so it was just nerves. It was 100 percent nerves. So they had to delay it. They almost sent me to ER. It was like at stroke level. So I was delayed a week. But then once I started, the day of was fine, to be honest with you. Everything would start slowly with that very next day.

And so I would, have the strangest, some strange, many different side effects or symptoms and I can be specific if you want me to or it's up to you.

Host: If you want to.

Sharon Richie: Okay. Yeah, I've had some wierd ones like my face would turn really red and burn and I had to stop wearing makeup because it felt like my skin was gonna fall off. Like it was getting real paper thin. I mean I'm fair to begin with, but I looked like an albino. I was very white and I was very sick. I had, would you know, throw up a little bit, but lots of, sorry, but diarrhea is a true case. I did wind up losing 33 pounds through this process. Happy I kept it off, I will say that.

Host: And just let me reassure other patients. Not everybody gets every symptom, just everybody's very individual.

Sharon Richie: Amen to that. That's so true. Yes. My nails would hurt. I had neuropathy and so I would literally all through chemo wake up every morning and for a few minutes I would feel normal. Like you'd almost forget. And then, because I lost my hair so quickly, that was probably the most devastating, was losing the hair.

And I tried to prepare for it, based on what I read online and what people had told me. But everything I had read, they said, well, after your second treatment, give it two days, you're going to start losing clumps of hair. So I was prepared as best you can. However, mine started a couple days after my first treatment, and it just started falling out. And that was heart wrenching. So I went to my beautician and had her shave my head. I found out I have a petite head, which is the only part of me that's petite.

I do have a petite head. And then I tried to create some fun with it. So I went and had a wig fitting, because I thought I was gonna love wigs. I have this beautiful support group I'm in. And they have tons of wigs. And so I thought, oh, that's going to be me. And so I brought my mom and my mother in law, my best friend, my daughter, we went out to dinner and I went for this wig fitting. You know how when brides get married, they will hold up the sign when they try on their dress that says, I said yes to the dress or something like. Well, I made a sign that said, I said yes to the wig. And I really wanted to make it a fun thing.

But that day I was not feeling well. So it didn't quite land like I wanted. I did find a couple wigs, and I did wear them for a couple months, but they just itched, and it was very uncomfortable. So I wound up just going to hats and scarves and stuff like that until I get a little bit of a spike going.

And then I just ditched everything and thought, this is what it is. My hair's growing. So, that's what I did. It was one of the things I tried to do to you know kind of take ownership of what you're experiencing. Because it really does own you. You really do wake up everyday, okay, what are my symptoms today?

 What do I have to do? How can I get to work safely? Because I do have a 40 minute drive to work, so sometimes I was late to work because knew I wasn't safe to drive immediately. I'd have to like buy a half hour or something then drive.

Ahsan Basha, MD (Host): Yeah, that's great to know. So anything else for this first part of the chemotherapy that you would just like to mention in terms of your support, your nutrition, those kind things?

Sharon Richie: Okay, so number one, definitely know that while it does feel like it owns you, because it really does, your whole world, I thought chemo was going to be just one of those things where, okay, I'm gonna go to work today. You know, I'm gonna get some groceries after work. Oh, yeah, I've got chemo tomorrow. I'm gonna do some laundry.

Like you just add it to your to do list. But that's not true. For me anyway, it really does own you. However, or did own me, but it doesn't define you. So if you could just remind yourself that this is just what you're going through now to make it through to beat this and that there are different days ahead.

I'm not even gonna say better days because I immediately changed my mindset that I'm not gonna wait to be happy. And coincidentally for the first time, in I can't even remember how long, I literally chose a word for that year, for 2024, before I knew I was diagnosed, before I had anything, and my word was joy.

So my thought was, okay, well you know what, I'm still gonna find joy in every day. Because God forbid if he is calling me home, I'm not gonna ruin it by being depressed or sad. So I never went through the why me like people do and I know that's very normal, but I didn't because I felt like I was no different than anybody else. So try to find the joy, try to be positive and then eat healthy as best you can. Aside from the wig andlosing the hair, the food was my second biggest struggle because of the lovely nutritionist that Riverside had there.

She's amazing and she told me, think about it like in an 80-20 rule, so eat healthy 80 percent of the time. So for me, I immediately want to put a system in place, like this is what I'm going to do. So what does 20 percent of unhealthy food look like? When you know it includes your mayonnaise and your salad dressing and it's not just the cakes and the cookies that I love dearly. I gave up my Coke Zero, because I loved Coke Zero. But I gave it up, and the minute I found out I was diagnosed, I've not had one sip of it since. And I pretty much have given up my M& M's. In fact, I gave up M& M's completely for about seven months. I was petrified of them because I really thought those little suckers were what gaveme the cancer. Because I was kind of eating them a lot. I don't smoke, I don't drink, I love my M& M's! And so, Dr. Hamdan said they're too cute to cause cancer. So I said, allright, I'll take that. So, every once in a while I'll have an M& M. But you know what's weird is I don't love them like I used to anymore it represents my past, you know what I mean?

And going through all that and knowing that, you know, it wasn't healthy the amount I was eating of them anyway. So, I really am okay, like, giving those up. I just don't bother. So eat healthy, I have an app called Yucca that a wonderful lady in my support group told me about and with this app you scan your food labels and it'll tell you if it's an excellent choice, a good choice or a poor or bad. And that really helped me. So I kept spinning. I was getting kind of depressed about food and what to eat. And it's a lot of traditional healthy foods like salmon and guacamole and avocado. I don't like that stuff. So I'm like, what am I going to eat? I'm just going to eat for nutrition, I guess, and just not enjoy what I'm eating. And then this app came up and it just saved me. So definitely get the app.

Host: I've actually never heard of that app. It's called Yucca, Y U C C A?

Sharon Richie: Y-U-K-A.

Ahsan Basha, MD (Host): YUKA.

Sharon Richie: Yep, you can download it for free, and you just zap your food. I started zapping stuff like crazy, and found out a lot of itis not good. So now I'm excited,and I'm actually working on creating a cookbook for myself of recipes that are very, very healthy, that I actually like.

So I've got some go to things. So in a weird way,try to put a positive spin on what you're experiencing, to fit into a new norm, youknow like you're creating a new norm for you. So you're not waiting to be happy, you're creating it as you go along.

Host: That's a terrific thought. So Ms. Ritchie went through this neoadjuvant chemotherapy, I believe you completed that around June of this year. Um, and so finished that on June 17th um, and then after that, about a month later, on July 12th, she had her surgery. What was it like going through surgery after all that?

Sharon Richie: Okay so funny story, obviously that's an emotional experience. And I knew from the moment I found out I had breast cancer, I wanted a double mastectomy and I did not want any fake ones put on. For me personally, and I know I'm not the norm, I own it.

But for me, that is fake and that's not who I am. So I told Dr. Lange, I told Dr. Hamdan, and I still have no regrets. I don't want the fake ones. But you still have a tremendous amount of emotions you go through right? So to prepare for the surgery, I started mentally preparing a list of all the positive things that are going to happen because I don't have those twins anymore.

And, I'm really benefiting from them now, even. So when I exercise, cause they'll tell you, make sure you exercise, walk, do something 30 minutes, multiple days a week, to help cause you don't want like blood clots and stuff like that. Right. Okay. Well, I don't need to worry about wearing anything.

Like, I can just put a t-shirt on and exercise. Nothing's jumping around, nothing. You lay in bed, you can lay nicely. I mean, there's a lot of positives. So I had a huge list in my head. And I remember when I woke up from surgery after everybody left because I had a huge support system there. So everybody goes home, and I had this really young nurse.

She had only been a nurse for three months. She was like 23, really young. Very sweet. And I sat there and I went to, you know, you've got the gown on. So you get up to go to use the washroom for the first time, you're kind of wobbly. And I went, Oh God, I don't want my, and I stopped. And I, cause I was going to fix my gown to cover my chest.

And then I'm like, oh, wait a minute. I don't have anything. But because I was all bandaged up, it felt like I still did. It didn't feel like it. So I sat at the edge of the bed and I kind of teared up a little bit. And I told her, she's like, are you okay? And I said, you know what? yeah, I'm fine because I had a list and I went right back to my list and I started rattling off the list of all these positive reasons to nothave boobs ever again. So that helped me.

I did have some moments. Especially because you can buy different prostheses, that suction. I didn't want any of that stuff. And again through my wonderful support group they mentioned website called Busted Tank and so it's a funny name it's a bra system but instead of it having these prostheses it's actually more like a form so I just got like an A form and it fits right into their bra system and then it just gives you a little something I mean obviously you could look like Dolly Parton if you wanted but I just want something very subtle and it's very comfortable, I wear it all the time, and until I found that, I was feeling a little bad.

It just, nothing felt right. And I can remember going into a Kohl's one day, why I don't know and looking in the bra section, and I'm seeing these womenwho are shopping with what I think to be normal healthy ones and two of them must have been friends or something and they're laughing and they're looking, and I just started bawling. And so I'm like okay Kohls is not going to help me with this so I left Kohls and then that's when I foundout about Busted Tank and as soon as I got it I knew it was the right fit. So that, helped. So creating a listof all the positives of not having them really does helpor at least it helped for me.

Host: Yeah. So, tell me so Ms. Richie had her neoadjuvant chemotherapy, she had her surgery, and wonderful news was on the pathology from the surgery, there was no cancer remaining at all in the tissue that was removed. So that is what we call a complete response from the neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

So just as from an oncologist point of view, what that tends to suggest is that that patient will have a very good outcome in the long run. That's what we hope for. And that's what the data would suggest. So, when they told you they couldn't find any more cancer, did you remember that moment?  

Sharon Richie: O yeah, I'll never forget it. I, we were on the phone, and I had just, my mom and I actually had just left the doctor's office, Dr. Lange's to have the tubes removed, right and the bandages so that's when I got to see everything for the first time. So we're coming home and the nurse called and she said, Sherry, we had to call you right away.

We didn't have the pathology report when you got here, but we have it now and we're so excited. You're cancer free. And I said, Oh, that's wonderful. So you mean when Dr. Lange went in and did the surgery, he took the cancer because it had spread to a lymph node. So I said, so he got it all. I know he took two lymph nodes out and she's like, no, what I'm saying is you were cancer free going in to the surgery. That was huge. That was just amazing. Because I wasn't expecting that. I was just expecting the surgery took everything. Which is still a success story too, right? So, that's what I was leaning on but for her to say no, it was the best outcome. The chemo did exactly what it was supposed to do. Well I couldn't stop crying. In fact when I got home that night and I didnt call my husband because I wanted to tell him in person, he's not a runner, but he ran so fast towards me because I was bawling, he thought Igot poor news. So he came just running and I'm like no, it's good news. It's good news. So yea, I will never forget that day.

Host: Yeah, that's wonderful. And you know, again, as oncologists, as doctors, as surgeons, we love to give that news to you. So anyway, so she got a complete response, and so that was wonderful news. Suggests a good long term outcome, but we're not finished there yet.

So, because of HER2-neu positivity, we actually give further treatment after the surgery, and that's called adjuvant chemotherapy, which is literally after surgery to support the response. So, that's, right now, you're on that part of the treatment. Which, just for the people listening, we don't do chemotherapy, but we do continue the immunotherapy that was part of the initial treatment. So can you tell us anything about how you're feeling right now going through that?

 You know what, that has been, cause I was nervous, right thinking okay am I going to go back to all those other side effects. But to be honest with you, it's really been a piece of cake. I have a little bit of neuropathy sometimes but honestly, that's been about it. I've been pretty darn lucky.

Again, for the patients, most of the neuropathy is from the original chemotherapy.

Sharon Richie: Oh, okay.

Host: Not necessarily part of this treatment you're on.

Sharon Richie: That's fair. That's fair then. Yeah. So yeah, I don't have any, it's crazy, but yeah, I'm so thankful that there's no, no, really there's no side effects.

Host: So come in, get your treatments, you go home.

Sharon Richie: Yeah, I'm there for about three hours and then I come home.

Host: Yeah. So, again, to explain to everybody, normally you do all together, between the pre chemotherapy and the chemotherapy you do afterwards, it's about a year. And, I believe you're coming up to that year this March.

Sharon Richie: Yes. When I, started, I think it was March, fourth that I, actually started the treatment since I was supposed to start the week earlier. So yes, I am coming up to year.

Host: So, as you're coming up to this year, what's in your mind now?

Sharon Richie: Oh my gosh, well, I had a trip in mind and I was supposed to go the week before I was diagnosed, my son had moved to California. He graduated college, he got a job in California, and then my husband and I were supposed to go in February to see him. But when I got the diagnosis a week after he moved, I put all of that on hold because I didn't want to do anything that was going to delay or catch a cold on the plane or anything.

I didn't want nothing to delay this treatment. So, I haven't gone yet. Coincidentally, his birthday's in April and and his golden birthday, it's April 24th. So, we are going and spending several days, the end of April, with him and I cannot wait. So, that's been my, drawing force too. Like, get through cause you've got a trip. You gotta suck it up. And I don't like flying, but I went through chemo and radiation and all that stuff, and losing the twins and the whole thing, I can get on a plane. I'm gonna get there to see him.

Host: That's perfect, yeah.

Sharon Richie: Yeah. So that's been keeping me going for sure.

Host: So among all the people you've talked about all your different support between family, between church, between everything else. You've also mentioned your support group for cancer. Can you tell me a little bit about that?

Sharon Richie: Okay, so I'm in this support group that I found out I live in Ford County, Piper City, Illinois, and most of the ladies in my support group are in Iroquois County. So they had put together a couple of these ladies, a support team, and so we meet at this church in Ashcomb once a month.

And now what we're doing, because most of us are cancer free now, we have one lady who is not yet, but we're praying for her and hoping, please let it just keep going. But we're now doing it's called Living Strong program. The one lady's a leader of it. And some people may have done this, instead of chemo, which that's not what we're doing.

It's not what we did. That's not what we're supporting, but it's being used now for us to keep our cancer at bay. So how can you exercise or some people take supplements, I do not, or, eat healthy, mentally, how do you keep yourself on the positive note? So it's all these things to sort of supplement what we've already doneto help keep us hopefully, knock on wood, what we can control anyway cancer free. So yeah, so wonderful support group, there's usually between five, six of us that come each month and everybody's a little bit at different stages, but we're close. A lot of them have triple threat and so they have similar, treatments and stuff. But there is one other lady that has HER2 positive with me. So I got, I got somebody.

Host: Yeah, and a wonderful story you've shared with us so far. What else would you like to say to like anybody listening?

Sharon Richie: Well, I have one other suggestion to make, if that's okay. One of the other things I did immediately before chemo even started, I went to Staples and I bought a poster board. And it's actually trimmed in black. It has little diamond, fake diamond things around it, got a fancy one. And I went home and in my family room, across from my chair,there's the TV, the wall, I had a picture that I took the picture off the wall and I hung this poster board and then I printed this little clip art that said count your blessings and I put that on there and then my promise to myself was to find the good and so every time something good happened, I wrote it down.

So then at night because you know, everything's worse at night, so if I did because I did have moments where I was

in really bad shape or just really down, and that's when my husband really kicked in.

I would look at my board, and every time I received a card in the mail, for example, I would tape it to the back of our front door, because again, it's by my chair. So I could see, and now there were too many, so then I just took them all down and put them in this box, and I have them still to this day, they're right by my chair.

So if I ever feel overwhelmed because you get so busy trying to be positive and do what you need to do, sometimes you forget the gravity of what you're experiencing. So then I can pull a card and just read a card, or I look at my board, which I will keep forever, of all the blessings. Dr. Hamdan's on there. Chaplain Denise is on there, you know, my support group, my kids. I'm cancer free. I wrote that down, You know, no more mammograms. Igot that on there. No

Host: There you go.

Sharon Richie: more mammograms. That was on the list of positives that I recalled after my surgery. So, finding ways to, it sounds weird, but to enjoy it because there are so many good things that do come out of it. My hair is thicker than it ever was. It's curly. I always had paper thin, straight, boring hair, so I've got, it's gonna take a while to grow, but, but it's getting there. And like I said, I've been able to keep my weight off.

I definitely eat healthier. I feel more responsible about taking care of myself. Because you put so much into your kids or your spouse and other family members and you just kind of forget about yourself sometimes. So that's kind of grounded me, to think about that and appreciate the smaller things in life.

And I found an inner peace that I didn't have before. So now things or relationships that aren't working, I don't put effort in anymore. If it doesn't bring me joy and bring me peace, I move on.

 Dr. Hamdan, I always tell him every time I see him that he single handedly saved my life. And in fact, I forgot what it was for now. Oh, well, hello, it was after my chemo was done, i wasn't going to ring the bell. Cause I wasn't done. And he was like, wait, wait, wait. This is really a big deal. You should ring the bell. And I said, all right, I'm going to tap it. And then when I'm done in March, March 11th, I'm going to ring it off the wall.

And so I did, I tapped it and he, we got a picture of the two of us. And sometimes I look back at that picture because I was albino looking, right and to see how far I've come. I've got my coloring back and you know, my hair is growing, but, I would always tell him, you know, you saved my life. So I bought him a mug with his initial on it and then I filled it with Lifesavers.

And gave it to him as a thank you. And I'm like, and I'm bawling as I'm giving to him. And he always tells me, no, it's God. And I say, yeah, okay, God gave you a beautiful gift, but that doesn't mean you had to use it. A lot of people don't tap into the gifts that God's given them and you did.

The nurses that are there are amazing. And like I said, I always look forward to seeing Chaplain Denise there. That was just, I would say a prayer and talk. And she just has such a calming way about her. So it really put me at ease becauseit can be nerve wracking, you know, when you sit there and you know what's being pumped through your veins,right. So forever grateful to the team without a doubt. And like I said, to have my work family be supportive and I think back of places I've worked in the past, it could have been really bad and where I'm at now, can I give a shout out to them? Is that okay? That's Gordon Electric Supply, a huge shout out to Gordon because I am forever grateful for their support.

Host: Wonderful. Now you can shout out anybody you want to, um, and, we're thrilled with everything you had going for you in terms of your family support, in terms the support group, and, we really appreciate you giving us this story so other people can get from it. For the people listening, not everybody gets the same side effects. Most people are not going to turn albino and everybody loses hair in different schedule. And everybody has their own story, but really what we're sharing is how you got through this. And for anybody listening, how they can kind of look for that good.

Sharon Richie: Yeah, yes, no, that's very true. You know, one thing I wanted to share with you is, my husband had just started a new job, so I didn't want him missing work to go with me to these treatments. But my mom and my mother in law wanted to come, so I renamed them Laverne and Shirley.

And so, the first day we went, you would have thought we were moving in. They had so much food and, I mean, they just, they both came with stuff. I came with stuff. I think we kind of freaked out the nurses there, it was so much, like we were moving in. And we toned it down as the weeks went on. But, they were with me through every treatment. You know, sit in the waiting room through some biopsies, and I'm just eternally grateful to those two women, those my moms, and knowing that so many people don't even have one mother that's here still, and I have two, so I'm very blessed.

And like I said, my kids are amazing. In fact, the day, of my surgery, I was probably a half hour from being wheeled in and my son surprised me and flew in from California. So I had my daughter and her boyfriend and my sonand my parents like I said, my dad in spirit, my in laws, my pastor came and said a prayer and I've been incredibly blessed.

Very, very lucky. In fact, I even went through a little spell of feeling guilty because not everybody has all that. And then I felt guilty for those who, who maybe didn't make it you know or don't have the support do but turn that around and and turn that into a blessing as well.

Host: We take what we have and make the best of it.

 So again, Ms. Richie, thank you so much for joining us today. And thank you for those of you listening to this podcast, The "C" Word Community, Not Cancer.

Sharon Richie: Love it. Thank you.

Host: Thank you.