[00:00:00] Adam Walker: From Susan G Komen, this is Real Pink, a podcast exploring real stories, struggles, and triumphs related to breast cancer. We’re taking the conversation from the doctor’s office to your living room.
[00:00:17] This is Real Talk a podcast conversation where we’re digging deep into breast cancer and the realities patients and survivors face every day. We’re talking openly and honestly about just how difficult breast cancer can be. From being diagnosed to selecting the right treatment plan, to living day-to-day with metastatic breast cancer and after treatment ends.
[00:00:37] Today’s episode is about one’s risk of breast cancer and the choices two survivors made to lower their risk of recurrence. Your personal risk of breast cancer is influenced by lifestyle choices and genetics. Some of these factors are within your control and others are not. Brett Hines went through breast cancer in her late thirties.
[00:00:57] Kristin Goodman was in her forties when she was diagnosed. Both women are well below the average at diagnosis, 62, leading them to wonder what caused their cancer to develop. A growing body of research shows lifestyle choices, everything from drinking alcohol to following a healthy diet. Influences one’s risk of breast cancer.
[00:01:17] Brett and Kristin have made decisions about their life choices and are here today to talk about what led them to make the changes that are best for them. So, Brett, let’s start with you. Uh, tell, tell us your story and then Kristin, we’d love to hear your story, and then I’ll let you two talk from there.
[00:01:32] Brett Heins: Sounds good. Thanks. Okay, so in May of 2023, um, I was breastfeeding my youngest son, he was three months old at the time, and I felt a lump. And two weeks later I was diagnosed with stage two, grade three triple negative, uh, invasive breast cancer. Um. By the end of June, I had put an, had an intravenous port put in, um, and had started, um, my chemotherapy.
[00:02:04] Uh, I started KEYNOTE-522 regimen. It’s, uh, a really aggressive form of chemotherapy. My oncologist likes to joke that it’s the, we throw everything but the kitchen sink at the cancer. Um, and it sure felt like it. Um, I work cold cap through my treatment, which, um, comfortable but I have three young boys who at the time were, uh, six, three, and brand new baby.
[00:02:30] Um, and I was hoping that by wearing a cold cap and preserving some hair, that I would look less sick to them. And, um, it would make having those conversations with them a little bit easier. Um, we went through, uh, the first, uh, 12 weeks of chemotherapy. Um, after those 12 weeks, I actually had an ultrasound and MRI done and we couldn’t find the tumor and so we made the decision, um, to forego the second part of chemotherapy, which would’ve been ac the red devil, which I have to admit, I was quite intimidated by.
[00:03:09] Um, and we made the decision to go into surgery. Um, I had a lumpectomy done and thankfully coming out of that, um, had a complete response. We had no residual
[00:03:21] cancer, uh, checked three lymph nodes and nothing in the lymph nodes. Um, and so started radiation shortly after that. Um, yeah, that year I think I went through every emotion possible. Um, I was still postpartum when I was diagnosed and um, I think, you know, of course there’s the fear of just like not holding your husband and your babies ever again.
[00:03:48] But even the smaller things, I think felt more than they maybe would have under different circumstances. Like the idea of not being able to breastfeed this son and I had the previous two, I felt like I wasn’t setting him up for the healthiest life. And, and, and that was tremendously hard to, to work through.
[00:04:07] Um, but fortunately we came out with a complete response and, you know, I think right away through the process, like I trusted that the team was giving me the medicine I needed to, um to rid me of this cancer. But I also felt this tremendous responsibility to educate myself on any other possible things that might help me to come out with a better outcome out of this situation.
[00:04:31] And so, um, even during chemotherapy, I, I started to initiate some of those lifestyle changes. And so, um, it really just rolled into that continuing post treatment. Uh. I sustain from alcohol. Um, I work out every single day. Um, I take supplements that I think help support my immune and cellular systems to, uh, make sure that that’s firing on all cylinders at all times.
[00:05:02] I try and, you know, remove stress. Not always easy with three young kids, but we do our best to find healthy outlets to remove that, you know. No ultra processed foods and we’re really just mindful in general about like how I’m eating. But I think, you know, it really was, um, it really opened my mind to just how I’m thinking about what healthy really is and what I’m feeding my kids and how am I making sure that they’re getting started on the right foot with diet and exercise and seeing, uh, me do that was hopefully being a good role model for them to want to
[00:05:41] Do the same thing throughout their life, and so hopefully it will lower their risk as a result. Um, yeah, I, I think for me that the biggest thing really is like the exercise just gives me a sense of confidence and I feel proud that I’m doing it and I’m proud of my body for being able to do it. And I feel grateful that I’m able to move.
[00:06:05] Sometimes people will say like, you’re, you know, you’re a mom of three and you have a full-time job. Like, how do you prioritize and find the time for it? And, um, for me it is now just, it’s a part of my life and it’s the one thing that makes me feel like I am doing something to make sure that I will be there for my kids in the future.
[00:06:22] And not just there, but like they’re actively and a big, you know, being able to be a big part of their life. So that’s my story.
[00:06:32] Kristin Goodman: Wow. Yeah, that’s intense. Let’s see. Well, I, uh, was diagnosed in August, 2021 and I was about to turn 50 and I, um, it was triple positive. Um, and it was a tiny, tiny, um, like half of a centimeter or less. Um, it was through a mammogram that it was detected. Um, I get my mammograms every year and although the year before I had skipped it on the advice of a nurse during the pandemic, she’s like, ah, don’t worry about it.
[00:07:11] Which honestly, I think it probably wouldn’t have even been detectable if it had been there, but there was a lot of like, hmm, that moment, why did I skip it? Um, so yeah, it was triple positive. So estrogen, progesterone, and, um, HER2 positive. Um, so, uh, the oncologist that I worked with, she wanted to do chemotherapy and then do surgery, um, to see if, because it was such a small tumor, if it would even work because in her words she said chemotherapy loves big tumors.
[00:07:48] So, um, we did, uh, six rounds of chemo. Um, it was Herceptin and honestly, it’s two awful, horrible chemotherapies. Like it was, um, I believe one of them was that Red Devil one. So I did that, and that was six months, uh, about six months. And, um, it was brutal, as you know. And, uh, I did lose my hair. I, you know, I’d asked the oncologist, I said, does, is there a cold cap like here, or should I get.
[00:08:26] And her response was not supportive. And I was like..
[00:08:30] Brett Heins: They’re very uncomfortable and you still lose a lot of hair.
[00:08:33] I
[00:08:33] Kristin Goodman: know. Yeah. She was like, most people are just worried about living. And I was like, um, well, have you seen my hair? Like obviously I wanna keep it. So, um, anyway, uh, you know, it’s those moments where you’re like, am I being vain or am I, but I think like what you said, about the cold cap, so important for those little boys and you.
[00:08:55] Just like those are the things that go through your mind when you’re a mom. Yeah. You’re, you know, you really wanna like protect your child from what you’re going through to a certain extent. Um, anyway, so I did the six months or six rounds. It was about six months. And then, um, I had a bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction, um, because I just didn’t want it to recur because
[00:09:23] HER2 protein is so aggressive. I just thought, I don’t wanna ever deal with this again. So, um, and I, you know, I was 50 and like, they’re pretty much used for what they were used for. Um, so I, uh, I had that done in February of 2022. Then, uh, I finished the chemotherapy in January except for the Herceptin, which had to go for a year.
[00:09:52] But that mm-hmm. I wound up doing, uh, which, uh, was an injection, which was great because then I could get that port out, which was really like, I was trying to explain to a friend recently where I was like, that, that port going in and that pork going out is one of the biggest things with breast cancer because it is such an invasive,
[00:10:15] such a weird, hard to like really process. Like I remember my dad looking at it and him like almost, I was like, really? My dad? Like he’s gagging. It’s so intense in the catheter that goes up to your jug. I mean, just the whole thing. Yeah. So, um. Did that injection for the next six months and then started on Tamoxifen, which is an estrogen, uh, sort of inhibitor, um, blocker really.
[00:10:46] And, um, did that for about six months and then there was some increased, uh. Uh, my, the lining in my uterus was sort of increasing, so that was a red flag. So they took me off of it, and then I took about a six month break, and then I started on an estrogen inhibitor. That, um, has been working fine. So I’m, I’m gonna be on that for some time.
[00:11:13] Um, it, you know, should be three years just for the five year thing, but, um, I’ll probably stay on it longer just to make sure. Um, that it’s doing its job, even though I barely have any estrogen in my body left after chemo, like that was it. That was pretty much gone. But, um, yeah, so, um, that’s really, you know, how that went.
[00:11:39] And afterwards, you know, I, I didn’t start drinking again, but I did have drinks. Yeah. And I did have this, this struggle of like wanting to return to some kind of normalcy, yeah, before. That need to like, I’m myself again. Yep. You know, my hair was growing, I was getting strong Again, my body was just swollen.
[00:12:09] I looked like myself again. So you just kind of like, I just wanna go back to how it was Yeah. But your body really processes it differently, and I don’t know if it’s physical as much as it’s mental. Yeah, yeah. That you’re like really conscious that you’re putting something that’s potentially poison into your body.
[00:12:29] Brett Heins: Yeah, 100%. I totally agree. Like it was the same thing, like my husband and I went out to celebrate, we went on a trip to celebrate after. Yellowstone and, and the Grand Tetons, all these great places, right? And you go to a bar with your husband, you wanna have a drink, you’re like, I, this is the right time.
[00:12:47] Like, I’ve done treatment, we’re in a good place. And then you have a drink and the guilt, and that comes with that is so tremendous that it, you’re like, why am I even doing this? Like, is, you know, it’s such a struggle of like, you’re right, your old self. You wanna have that social aspect, uh, you wanna engage that way with your, your partner.
[00:13:08] And it’s just. There’s just so much that just comes with drinking now.
[00:13:14] Kristin Goodman: Yeah. Yeah. It doesn’t, um, it, it doesn’t feel fun.
[00:13:19] Brett Heins: No, exactly.
[00:13:21] You kind of, granted it wasn’t, with three young kids, it’s probably not fun to have a drink and then wake up the next morning anyway, but True, true. That adds another layer to it.
[00:13:29] Kristin Goodman: Yeah, absolutely. But it’s just, um, it is such a social construct that everybody’s used to, and yeah. You know, I’m fortunately, um, you know, 53 now, I don’t know how old I am.
[00:13:51] Most women that I know in their fifties stop drinking mm-hmm. Because of menopause. And they’re just like, they get migraines or they feel like such crap that they’re like, I don’t even want it. So I, I’m in a different sort of like social group of women who have kind of gone through this hormonal phase where they’re like, you know what, it just, I can’t stand it.
[00:14:16] Mm-hmm. So there is that sort of, you know, my closest three friends don’t drink alcohol. Mm-hmm. And so it’s not something we do, although we did mm-hmm. For years before.
[00:14:29] Brett Heins: For a long time. Yeah.
[00:14:30] Kristin Goodman: Yeah. For a long time. I mean, it was, it was on.
[00:14:33] Brett Heins: Mm-hmm.
[00:14:33] Kristin Goodman: And, um, you know, I was telling, uh, uh, Amanda, who interviewed us for this to do this.
[00:14:41] Um, I was directing, uh, a, um a touring comedy show, a national tour, and two regional show, uh, touring shows that were, um, about these, these two comedians moms. And the whole bent of it was a mom’s night out and the whole thing was about drinking. It was really encouraging that, and, you know, it’s to no fault of their own.
[00:15:11] Sure. They were moms and they wanted to go out and that’s how they started this thing, but it really, I mean, I, I would go to these shows and, you know, these women were really, they needed, they needed to blow off steam. Mm-hmm. So this was an opportunity, but the level of drinking was so massive. Mm-hmm. And it was startling to me to a certain degree because I have like a 12 year.
[00:15:41] So I wasn’t in that, the, in the weeds per se anymore. Mm-hmm. Um, but I remembered it. I remembered that feeling and like having, it became very normal to have like mom, you know, a mom group play date with other moms and kids, and the moms would drink. It’s been, it’s been an interesting journey from, uh like that struggle mm-hmm
[00:16:07] of like trying to identify differently with something that you identified with in a very different way for years before. Yep. Um, I started actually cold plunging. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. That helped me tremendously. Um, I love that. Highly recommend it to anybody going through menopause. Your hot flashes will go away.
[00:16:32] Brett Heins: I love that. I have to try that. I, I, um, coming out of treatment, I was supposed to do immunotherapy Keytruda for a while mm-hmm and unfortunately it started to attack my body. It just did not agree with me. It started to attack healthy muscles. And so I went into Mytosis and um, ended up needing to stop Keytruda.
[00:16:53] In that process, it fried my thyroid. So now my thyroid does not function and I have Hashimoto’s. It’s forever. And I get to take a lovely prescription drug, one of the most common ones taken, um, apparently, um, every day. Um, and to your point, it can cause things like, um, early menopause and it can cause, you know, all of these, like you, I just didn’t even realize how much your thyroid controls.
[00:17:17] Um, and it was off for a while and didn’t I. The cold plunge and things like that. And I just now I’m like a junkie for like, gimme all of the, all of the things that will make me the healthiest I have ever been. And that’s cool. Like, it’s so fun to kind of have that new venue or that new outlet.
[00:17:38] Kristin Goodman: Yeah. Well something that I, because I, I was put on a, an estrogen inhibitor before the one I’m on now, the Tamoxifen, and this.
[00:17:48] It was awful. I was on it for a week and I was like, I can’t do this. My heart was racing. I could feel my bones in my body. I couldn’t sleep. I was inflamed and it was, it was only seven days and I was like, not doing this. So when she was putting me on this other inhibitor, I did some research. Mm-hmm. And I kind of just took it into my own hands and I, um, I saw that the positive side effects
[00:18:18] um, a tirzepatide, like the Mounjaro thing. Mm-hmm. They’re like, uh, diabetic and weight loss drugs. Oh yeah. Uhhuh that the, um, the positive side effects of those were exactly, um, the opposite of the bad side effects of the estrogen inhibitor. And I was like, what if I microdosed the Tirzepatide
[00:18:43] and then started taking estrogen and I asked the oncologist and everybody if there was any problem, and they were like, no, but okay, do it. Yeah. And so I did. I started it two weeks before I started the estrogen inhibitor, the Tirzepatide microdose. And I have not had any side effects from this estrogen inhibitor.
[00:19:06] None whatsoever. I feel great. I, I mean, just based on that other one, it was so brutal and I’ve had so many conversations with women who are supposed to be on these Yes. And they won’t take them. Yes. And I get scared for them. Mm-hmm. Because I know they don’t, I, they don’t wanna recurrence, but they’re also like, of course, refusing to feel as bad as it makes you feel.
[00:19:33] And I, I get it. It’s scary. Yeah.
[00:19:34] Brett Heins: There’s a quality of life factor, right? Like. You know, and yeah, I, I totally relate, like I, the key true to thing, like say, I, I struggled tremendously with the fact that like, initially it was like, great, there’s this, there’s this catch, there’s this safe fall for the next seven months that this is gonna help lower my risk of recurrence in a type of cancer that is highly aggressive and likely to reoccur in the first couple of years.
[00:20:01] And there was this weird moment when I realized that that’s what was. Doing tremendous amounts of damage to my body of like, what a weird feeling to be sad that I’m gonna have to stop taking something that’s doing this to my body. But also, um, I, I think I had to realize I had to like weigh that of like, I think there are some things I can be doing on my own outside of this drug that are gonna get me the same or hopefully better results than, than having to take that drug.
[00:20:30] So, um, but it is, it’s a struggle of like trying to find that balance.
[00:20:35] Kristin Goodman: But it’s that, you know, if you feel the way you feel based on the drug you have to take, it’s really hard Yeah to exercise every day the level. Exactly. Good. Yep. It’s really hard to, um, feel good and be present with the life and find the joy in it.
[00:20:53] It’s really hard to eat healthy when you don’t have the energy to cook a dinner.
[00:20:58] And then you’re leaning on everybody around you and that feels crappy. Um, after a while. So, yeah, it’s, it’s an interesting balance of trying to figure out how to use these medications that are helpful. They are supposed to help you, but on the other end are kind of killing you different way. You know, when I went through chemotherapy, I don’t know about you, but, you know, the only way I could describe it was like, oh, it, it feels like you’re dying.
[00:21:29] Brett Heins: Just feels like it’s like the worst hangover you’ve ever had for Yes. Months.
[00:21:34] Kristin Goodman: Yeah. And I told, I told a friend, I said, I said one of the reasons it was so easy to stop drinking once I, you know, connected everything in my brain was, I went, oh, this feels like chemotherapy. This feeling that I’m having after having drinks.
[00:21:51] Once the buzz is gone, that feels like chemotherapy. It feels awful. I don’t ever wanna feel like that again. Yep. So it’s, um, yeah. How do you, like, how do you swim through all the medications and all the things that are supposed to be keeping you from a recurrence mm-hmm. But not hurt yourself in a different, like, damage another organ.
[00:22:20] Mm-hmm. You know? And western medicine is fantastic. I mean, it’s fantastic, but on the other. Side of the spectrum. It’s like the more of these studies about women that come out, the more money that’s put into studying women, then we’ll be able to realize like, you know, the one that came out about the alcohol, like we all knew it.
[00:22:40] Mm-hmm. We all asked the oncologist like should I not be drinking? Did this happen? Did I drink? And they can’t say yes. They say, well, it’s anecdotal and we can’t really tell you and blah, blah, blah. Yeah, so you’re, but you know, you
[00:22:57] know.
[00:22:57] Brett Heins: Yeah, you really do. Like, you really do have to be such an advocate for yourself throughout the entire process and following, because you know, at the end of the day there, there’s a plan, right?
[00:23:07] You go into it and there’s a plan. But the plan is kind of the same for everyone based on the type of cancer that you have. Yeah. And um, I think, you know, you have to take a moment to think about like, yes, I know that this chemotherapy is doing what it is supposed to do, but it’s also taking a tremendous toll in my body.
[00:23:26] And I was 37 at the time and I knew I had hopefully a very long life ahead of me, and I wanted to preserve as much of the good in my body as I could. Mm-hmm. And so even throughout the process, same, it was like, can I be taking a, can I take Turkey tail, um, and chemotherapy. I’ve read really great things about it.
[00:23:45] Can I potentially forego AC if the tumor is no longer visible? Like I don’t want to put more of this drug in my body. And, and don’t get me wrong, I’m so thankful those drugs saved my life. Oh. But I also know that there is a balance in how much your body can handle of that type of medicine. So, um, I think it’s just you’ve gotta be such a, an advocate for yourself and ask those questions, um, and really gain some control in the process because that is what makes you
[00:24:16] feel better, you know, the decisions you’ve made for your lifestyle.
[00:24:20] Kristin Goodman: Yeah. And they, the, the doctors can’t advise you away from the data. Right. And that clicks in pretty quickly when you’re like, mm-hmm. Well, should I do this? And they’re like, stop. Say yeah. You know, when I finished chemotherapy, my, uh. My results came back that I was like, right on this line.
[00:24:44] Mm-hmm. Like how it had been a, the efficacy of it, but it was like on the line. And so she recommended that I start another chemotherapy for a year and my husband and I went back and forth, back and forth. We looked at it, we were consulting other people and talk like, and it was just this data because it was on the line.
[00:25:04] She couldn’t say this way or that way. Sure. And then, um. Finally, I, I, we got went back and she said, you can’t kick the can down the road anymore. And I was like, okay. I said, I’m not gonna do it. This is done. I’m not doing it. And she looked at me and she said, that’s the good, that’s the right choice. And I have been torturing myself.
[00:25:30] Brett Heins: Yes.
[00:25:31] Kristin Goodman: And I know she can’t legally, you know, for liability reasons, say, but I was. So this whole time you thought she shouldn’t have to do, do a year of chemotherapy. Mm-hmm. But she couldn’t say it. Yeah. And so, and to your point, you have to advocate for yourself. Like I ask the amount of questions that I asked over and over again.
[00:25:56] That’s how I got to a bilateral mastectomy. Mm-hmm. Because the breast surgeon kept telling me she would get a unilateral mastectomy, and I was like, no. I was like, I, and she said, they’re sisters not twins. And I said that, that, that doesn’t.. Okay. Whatever. To me. Yeah. I was like, I, I said there’s a couple of things.
[00:26:17] One, I want every opportunity for this not to recur. Mm-hmm. So, taking one, I’m taking both. Mm-hmm. Reconstruction. So one’s gonna look weird and different than other one. And then what am I gonna do? Getting surgeries to make them look alike?.
[00:26:35] And, and then, so I, I, I kept going back and asking over and over again, and she kept saying, unilateral, you know, I don’t wanna take a breast that there’s nothing wrong with. And so this conversation, then I finally got on the phone with her, so I wasn’t face to face with her, and I highly recommend this.
[00:26:55] Get on the phone with them it’s sort of like being on a podcast . You kind of forget that somebody’s gonna be listening to this. Mm-hmm. So you’re just letting it go. And she was talking and I asked her these questions again. I asked her about lumpectomy radiation, all the different choices right for me. And she finally, I heard her like shuffling some papers.
[00:27:20] So I knew she was in the office and she’s a great breast surgeon But I said to her, um. I guess it was the last question and somehow it prompted her and she said, you know, all the doctors and nurses that I do surgery on get, they get the bilateral mastectomy. And I kind of was like, wait, what did she just say? And she goes, I guess they just know more than they should.
[00:27:48] And I was like, got it. Like, you don’t even know what you just said to me. You literally contradicted everything you’ve been telling me. And I was like, then I was just like, done. I was like, that’s it. This is what I’m doing. Right. Um, especially because one, I was, you know, I didn’t have little kids. I wasn’t nursing, I wasn’t doing any of that.
[00:28:12] I was long past that. Um, you know, there’s, there’s that whole part of like, you know, I don’t think a lot of women know that when you get a mastectomy, even if you keep your nipples and all that stuff, there’s no feeling. Yeah, there’s no feeling whatsoever. So does affect like sexual pleasure and that kind of thing that you would normally be used to.
[00:28:35] Um, but you know, because I had friends that were like, oh my God, you’re gonna get new boobs. Like it was so, and you’re like, oh my God. Yep. Mm-hmm.
[00:28:54] Brett Heins: Yeah, it’s, it’s, there are so many, like throughout the process, there are so many moments where you are so conflicted with what is the right decision. And at the end of the day, like you’re the one that has to sit with it. And I remember the same thing when I stopped. I didn’t do the second part of chemo.
[00:29:11] I said to my oncologist like, what’s your advice? And I, I’m forever grateful for her and she was a young, she a young oncologist, but incredible and just said, I’m not too proud to tell you, get talk to some other people, get some other opinion. She’s like, I can tell you what I think, but I’d love for you to get some other opinions. She referred me to a couple of other oncologists.
[00:29:38] You are the one that’s gonna sit with the decision. We’re not gonna force you to, to do anything. And so you do just have to really be, be confident in, in whatever it is that you decide, whether it’s to your point, like, you know, a double vasectomy or a lumpectomy or you know, like everyone is going to have a different way that they are processing through what the right decision is for them.
[00:29:57] So, but it’s hard no matter what.
[00:30:00] Kristin Goodman: Yeah.
[00:30:06] Adam Walker: Really good to listen to. I mean, I just hearing how you think about caring for yourself, uh, how you think about making these decisions and just sort of understanding your thought process behind it, I think is, is really very powerful. Um, I wonder if, you know, as we’re wrapping up and this big, a great cover, it could go go a lot longer, but, uh, but for the sake of the, the podcast, uh, we gotta, we gotta close it down here.
[00:30:29] Um, but do you have any, any final thoughts that you’d like to share with our listeners related to this conversation, making your own choices, you know, making difficult choices for your own lifestyle, that sort of thing.
[00:30:42] Kristin Goodman: I would say, you know, get your mammogram every year. Do not let anybody direct you to skip it for a year.
[00:30:52] The early detection is a huge deal, like a really big, big deal. And I think that there are some doctors out there or nurse practitioners or. You know, alternate me alternative medicine practitioners who will encourage you for whatever reasons to skip it. It’s a horrible, shitty experience. Nobody wants to do it.
[00:31:17] Um, but man, it is, it is the only thing that will make it, uh, easier in the long run if you can get it detected when it’s as like, as tiny as it can possibly be detected. Hmm. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:31:38] Brett Heins: Um, I would leave with just prioritize yourself. Um, it’s really easy, um, as a mom, as a wife, as a, you know, whatever role you’re playing to dismiss
[00:31:51] what you may personally need. Um, and I think in order for you to really show up as your best self for the, for your loved ones and the ones you’re supporting, like you need to take the time to do what makes you feel good. Um. If that’s taking the time to Right, make the right meal to go to the gym every day, like everyone will be fine.
[00:32:13] They will all be okay. Um, so do what you need to do for you that makes you feel good. I love that.
[00:32:19] Kristin Goodman: And if you’re doing chemotherapy or you’re in some kind of, um, therapy, like that treat, I did acupuncture as much as possible. Like find those alternative ways to help your immune system in your body. Be strong so that when you come to the end of that experience, you will find it a little more, um, you’ll find a little more ease in getting back to you because you’ve been in practice of taking care of those things and having ignored them completely.
[00:32:58] Um, it can really, really help even, even if you go to acupuncture and you’re just laying there for an hour and nobody’s bothering you, that’s a huge, huge, yeah.
[00:33:07] Brett Heins: You’re right. You’re right. Like take advantage of those additional resources that a lot of, um, places will provide. Whether it’s like the yoga, the massage, like all of those things are, are just as important as the chemotherapy.
[00:33:20] Kristin Goodman: Yeah.
[00:33:20] Brett Heins: You need it all.
[00:33:22] Adam Walker: That’s great advice. Well, uh, Brett, Kristin, thank you for. You know, letting us listen into your conversation. Thank you for being vulnerable and, and real and authentic and, and for joining us on the show today.
[00:33:34] Brett Heins: Thank you.
[00:33:43] Adam Walker: Thanks for listening to Real Pink, a weekly podcast by Susan G Komen. For more episodes, visit real pink.Komen.org. And for more on breast cancer, visit Komen.org. Make sure to check out at Susan G Komen on social media. I’m your host, Adam. You can find me on Twitter at AJ Walker or on my blog adam j walker.com.