[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] Hi, and welcome to Real Pink. Joining me on the show today is a bit unusual for me. I’ve got Sunny Vedrine joining me and I’ve known Sunny and her husband, Dan, for years, and we’re kind of like neighbor ish, friends ish, swimming team parents ish, I think, like maybe that’s the best description. And and I was reaching out to, you know, find some people to interview for this podcast.
[00:00:42] I was kind enough to reach out and say, Hey I would like to talk about my experience and Sunny. So Sunny welcome to the show.
[00:00:49] Sunny Vidrine: Thank you. I’m happy to be here.
[00:00:51] Adam Walker: So, alright, so I wanna start off with I had no idea that, I mean, we’ve known each other for years and I had no idea. This was your lived experience.
[00:01:00] So first I wanna start with saying thank you for being willing to share your experience. And then second, like, tell me about it. Like, like where, like when were you diagnosed? What’s the diagnosis like? Gimme the whole spiel here.
[00:01:13] Sunny Vidrine: Sure. So it’s not something that I have been. Publicizing because I’m still kind of going through it.
[00:01:20] I mean, I’m in the middle of treatment. So
[00:01:22] Adam Walker: okay
[00:01:23] Sunny Vidrine: fairly new diagnosis in fact, I think the last time I saw you I had no idea.
[00:01:27] Adam Walker: Oh, okay. Okay.
[00:01:28] Sunny Vidrine: Yeah, so So I was diagnosed in august. I
[00:01:32] was
[00:01:33] Through I have I have fibrocystic breasts. So I am kind of on that, that train of Mammogram, ultrasound, biopsy, follow up, you know, I’ve had several biopsies, countless mammograms, ultrasounds, and so this was just one of those, the next round of mammogram, ultrasound, biopsy.
[00:01:57] And on August 12th, I was driving home from work on my way to pick up Harrison from daycare, from aftercare. And an email popped up, you know, you’re not supposed to be looking at your phone while you’re driving. But you know, hello. I saw an email pop up that said you have a new lab result from LabCorp.
[00:02:18] And I was like, Oh, okay, cool. Fine. Let me open this up so I can move on with my day.
[00:02:24] Adam Walker: Yeah.
[00:02:24] Sunny Vidrine: And out of red light, Memorial College was where and when I found out that I had breast cancer. And so I had to drive to daycare. With that information in the back of my head and, or in the front of my head, because it was just all I could think about.
[00:02:40] And I got home and I picked up Harrison and I just tried to be as normal, as calm as possible. And then I got home and Dan got home and I was like, Hey listen, I got crazy, I gotta tell you something. And so, and I didn’t have a doctor’s appointment a week. several days after that because it was a Friday or Thursday and the doctor’s office was closed on Friday.
[00:03:07] And so I spent the whole weekend just Googling every number on the page, every single thing I could think, you know, every bit of information I could find just to kind of console, pacify. I don’t know. I joined Facebook groups. I just kind of immersed myself in And, you know, between bouts of like laughing, like what, how’s this my life?
[00:03:33] Please, Lord, let this not be, you know, the end of my life. And I don’t know, it was just really crazy chaotic time for about five days. And then I went in to see my doctor. Who’s wonderful. His name is Dr. Michael champion’s indicator. And, you know, he was so wonderful and he presented the
plan. And once I had the plan, and I’ve heard this from a lot of women, you know, like once I had the plan, I felt so much better.
[00:04:05] And that was surely the case for me because it was starting, you know, talking to him, it started to seem like I was in a, you know, a. In a not best case scenario, but better case scenarios and a lot of women go through and I was so grateful for that. And I mean, I can thank early detection for that. And I think that’s 1 of the reasons why I wanted to come on today is because.
[00:04:25] You know, I was, I complained all the time about having to get all the mammograms biopsies and I’m here to tell you that I’m now so grateful that I had to do that as often and as much as I did because when they found the cancer, it was very tiny. So I had a lumpectomy on September 12th. The 12th has turned out to be a really like crazy date for me ’cause everything’s happening like on the 12th.
[00:04:55] I start radiation on the 12th. But I have er positive, PR positive and her two negative. Okay. And all of my numbers were in kind of like good to moderate range. So my BRCA gene mutation, they did that test very early on to determine course of treatment and I’m BRCA negative. So the recommendation was lumpectomy versus mastectomy.
[00:05:25] Adam Walker: Right.
[00:05:25] Sunny Vidrine: So I decided to go ahead and go forward with the lumpectomy. Dr. Champhony was my surgeon and he is phenomenal. Like he did such a great job. It was an easy ish recovery from that. He removed two lymph nodes. And they were both negative. So I’m technically stage one, definitely stage one, right on the size.
[00:05:48] All my margins were clear. And so further testing on my on my tissue revealed an OX score of 16, which is I don’t know. Do you know anything about that? With that?
[00:06:01] Adam Walker: Not as much as I should. No.
[00:06:02] Sunny Vidrine: Okay. For any of your listeners who aren’t sure, like they give you a number, like what your cancer is assigned a number, right?
[00:06:10] The lower the number, the better. So if you have an ox score between zero and 15 chemo is not recommended. And of course that also how, where you fall in your age range. Right. 16 to 25 is like a intermediate chance of
recurrence and because of my age, it’s on the much lower end of recurrence. So my number being 16 is borderline.
[00:06:35] So it wasn’t like, yeah, you don’t need chemo. It was like, yeah. Well, you probably don’t need chemo.
[00:06:40] Adam Walker: Right. So I am not going to have chemotherapy, which, you know I know is a life saving treatment for a lot of people and people have to have it. Some people don’t. And I think because my cancer was caught so early, I was, I’m one of the few people who don’t have to have chemotherapy.
[00:07:00] Sunny Vidrine: But I do start a course of radiation soon. And And then I’ll be on Tamoxifen, which is a hormone therapy for The prescribed time frame is five years, but we’re just going to kind of wait and see on that because I’m in that delightful, am I perimenopausal? I don’t know phase. And a lot of the medication treatment depends on your, where you are in menopause.
[00:07:31] So, right, right. I get to be borderline in all kinds of ways. Yeah.
[00:07:34] Adam Walker: It sounds sounds great to be right, right there. Borderline like, yeah. So. Alright, so, wow. So it sounds like you’re doing great. It sounds like you caught it early, which I’m very thankful to hear. Yeah. How’s Dan doing with this?
[00:07:49] And I’m curious like, did you talk to your son Parker? About this, and if so, like how did you talk about it?
[00:07:54] Sunny Vidrine: Yeah, so Harrison, just a little, oh,
[00:07:56] Adam Walker: sorry. Sorry, Harrison. Sorry, Harrison.
[00:07:58] Sunny Vidrine: Yeah. Yeah. So that’s a, those are two really good questions and I’m glad you asked them because you know where Dan’s concerned, he has been the man, so he.
[00:08:08] I don’t know this about us in our relationship, but he’s the one who cooks everything
[00:08:13] Adam Walker: I can see that actually. Yeah, that totally makes sense Every time I ask dan for restaurant recommendations, like he is on it every time so he is So he’s the chef of the house. Okay. I’m the reheater. I’m really good leftovers in the microwave I love
[00:08:29] it.
[00:08:29] I love it. Okay, so that’s
[00:08:31] Sunny Vidrine: me So dan has he’s really assumed the role of dietician and the second that We found out he got, and I guess, you know, people who are caregivers have to find a way to, they have to find a way to do something that makes them feel like they’re doing something. And that was his, that’s been his contribution.
[00:08:50] He’s been wonderful. So he’s been looking up, like, Nutritional guides and food recommendations. He started immediately sort of juicing for me every morning. So any of the things that are good for cancer, like turmeric or what celery. And if you know me, I hate celery. I hate it so much. And he’s found ways to like sneak celery.
[00:09:13] Adam Walker: I can see that. Like I can completely envision him doing that. And yeah,
[00:09:23] Sunny Vidrine: like a toddler, he’s got to sneak all the nutrients into my food. And I’ve also I’ve gone vegetarian again. Yeah. So I was a vegetarian for a long time. And then after I met Dan, I rediscovered the joys of being a carnivore. So but you know I’ve always been again, borderline.
[00:09:45] Do I like meat? I don’t know. Not really. So when this happened, I was like, you know what? I’m that’s it. I’m done. I’m going to cause meat, especially processed meat. That’s a big avoid. And so I just said, I’m just not going to do it anymore. And I’m not saying I’ll never have meat again for the rest of my life, but it’s just been not a go to.
[00:10:07] So I’m going to soy tofu, tempeh, lentils, beans, edamame, that kind of thing. Edamame. So yes, Dan is a dietician and he’s the other day I was like, can you go get me a scone from Haven Bodega? Oh my gosh, their scones are so good. And he’s like, sugar alert. And I was like, it’s like, I’m never not going to have sugar again.
[00:10:35] And
[00:10:35] Adam Walker: you have to enjoy. We have to. We have to enjoy the finer things as well.
[00:10:39] Sunny Vidrine: You do. And I talked to a professional dietician yesterday and I’m happy to report that she said it’s a myth that sugar feeds cancer. She said that it’s definitely something to think about and consider if you are obese or if you are someone who is, you know, borderline diabetic or diabetic, but as if you are a healthy weight and otherwise eating healthy, that sugar is not it’s not gonna further your cancer, so,
[00:11:08] Adam Walker: well, that’s good news for some of us.
[00:11:10] All right, , that’s good. And how about Harrison? Like how did you talk to him about it?
[00:11:15] Sunny Vidrine: So, Harrison, I mean, he he’s a pretty, pretty smart kid and he picks up on a lot of things. And I know that cancer is one of those words that when kids hear them, there’s a lot of fear surrounding it and they’re not sure.
[00:11:28] and I have, we still haven’t said the word cancer with him yet. So we and for your listeners, he’s seven. So when I had to have my biopsy done I just told him, I said, you know, women over a certain age have to have their breasts examined on a regular basis for bad tissue or anything that, you know, might need to be removed.
[00:11:55] And I said, so I’m just doing this to find out. And then I, when I said, Hey, so yeah, mom ended up having some bad tissue in her breasts. So I have to have her removed. And once it’s removed, I’ll have some further treatment, but don’t worry about it.
[00:12:09] Adam Walker: Right,
[00:12:09] Sunny Vidrine: because I don’t want to upend his life and yeah, I know with thinking about that if I didn’t have to now if things had turned out differently, obviously, I would have there would have been a larger conversation and we would have had to disclose a little bit more details because going through chemotherapy, you know, you see, you know, effects of that are quite we would have had a diff because and I did te and how it’s just a, you of treatment to make sure doesn’t come back.
[00:12:42] And I one day, a couple of year gonna look back on this this time and say, “Mom, Did you have cancer?”
[00:12:51] Adam Walker: Right. Yeah. Yeah, but if you can play a low key until then that’s probably that’s not a bad move, right? Like that’s yeah, that’s not a bit. So, so, all right, so i’m also curious So, so we’re facebook friends and we sort of travel in like, you know similar circles But usually only during the summer So like you mentioned like I haven’t even seen each other physically since all this happened So I guess I’m curious, and I’m not great about checking Facebook.
[00:13:13] So have you sort of publicly announced this on social media and you’re shaking your head, so that’s a no. And if not, then why not? And do you want to moving forward?
[00:13:26] Sunny Vidrine: That is an excellent question. And I have not publicly shared this on Facebook for a couple of reasons. One, I didn’t have all the information,
[00:13:35] so I didn’t want
[00:13:36] to put anything out there without knowing.
[00:13:39] You know what my treatment plan looked like and what my long term plan looked like. I also, I did share with the people who I knew would be upset if they saw it on Facebook.
[00:13:52] Adam Walker: Yeah. Yeah. There’s always, you have to like do the calculus in your head. Like who’s going to be mad at me. Yeah,
[00:13:59] Sunny Vidrine: I can do that.
[00:14:00] I had the obligatory like copy and paste message, which I don’t mean to diminish my relationship with those folks.
[00:14:06] Adam Walker: That’s how you do it. That’s the only way to do it and keep your sanity.
[00:14:09] Sunny Vidrine: Right? Exactly.
[00:14:11] Adam Walker: Yeah.
[00:14:11] Sunny Vidrine: And so but I do plan on saying something at some point in this, just as soon as I have all the information and it’s not that I want to,
you know, You know, not for people to not know because I can’t wait to be able to say everyone go get your mammogram, do not put it off, get it done.
[00:14:31] If you have to follow up. You know, I want to be, you know, an example of someone who can be a positive, you know, just a positive example of how breast cancer is not, you know, it’s not, it’s awful. No one wants to go through it, but it’s not a death sentence, it’s not the end of the world, we, you know, there are so many survivors out there, and you’re not alone, and that’s the other thing I want people to know.
[00:14:57] And also, this is kind of a personal thing, but I kind of really just wanted to keep me as me in as many circles as possible.
[00:15:08] Adam Walker: Yes, right, yes. Yeah, no, that now that makes I think like if I were in your situation I think that like, I would be concerned about people looking at me and always wanting to ask the same question.
[00:15:22] How are you doing? Like, I’d be concerned about that. I think I’d be concerned about like getting too much pity. Like, to your point, like, I just I want people to see me as me. And so like with the things that I personally go through, I tend to keep them on the download because of that. So that makes a lot of sense.
[00:15:37] Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
[00:15:38] Sunny Vidrine: Yeah. And here’s the thing that I also don’t want. And I, you know, people are allowed to have their own reactions and feelings about things, but like and many different people are different. You know, people who have breast cancer are different in this respect, but. What I want people to say when they see me is, Hey, how are you doing?
[00:15:56] Like, how are you surviving? You know, not, Oh, how are you
[00:16:01] doing? Like,
[00:16:02] because I am doing great. Like my life has not stopped, you know, like Harrison and I, we were in Lilburn days, like I sewed a bunch of tote bags and he made a bunch of dog bandanas and Lilburn days, you know, I’m working, I haven’t stopped working.
[00:16:15] We put on a show that opened last week and I’m, you know, I’m just like, I’m still living my life and cancer is fitting into my life. My life is not about
cancer, and I know that I’m lucky in that respect because there are many people who their life has to become about their cancer because treatment is so, you know, is a lot and a lot more than mine has been.
[00:16:37] But I don’t, yeah, that’s been important to me.
[00:16:41] Adam Walker: Well, and I think like, that’s a good lesson, you know, to the rest of us when we’re in or interacting with someone that’s going through something like, I think people want to be seen as themselves first and as someone going through whatever that hardship is second.
[00:16:56] And so like, maybe we should just be like, how are you, how’s your week going? Like, maybe that’s a better question than like, tell me all about your cancer, you know? So yeah, that’s, I think that’s really good advice. Okay.
[00:17:08] Sunny Vidrine: And I do understand that people always have questions and I’m, I am happy to answer them because that was one of the things that I put in my like blast to all of my friends.
[00:17:17] Like, if you have questions, please don’t hesitate to ask because I want to answer them. I want you to, you know, feel like you have. A good sense of what’s going on with me. And I don’t mind answering questions, but I also just exactly what you said. I want to be me first. And it’s like, you know, people with disabilities,
[00:17:37] Adam Walker: right.
[00:17:37] Sunny Vidrine: They don’t want to be, they want to be a person first language. I’ve never understood. And I’ve always understood why person first language is important, but I really understand now, like putting the person first it’s important. Well,
[00:17:51] Adam Walker: I really appreciate that perspective. I don’t know that I’ve heard anyone verbalize it quite that way.
[00:17:56] But I find it really helpful and I appreciate that. So I’m curious, like what’s the response been from the people that did get the copy and paste text? Like how’s that response been from them and then for you?
[00:18:10] Sunny Vidrine: That’s a good question. So my closest friends. Okay, so I’ll tell you the best response.
[00:18:17] Adam Walker: Okay I love that. All right, go. So I have this one friend, her name is sally baker and she and I have been the dearest of friends for many years. And her response was cancer picked the wrong boob. I
[00:18:34] like that. I like that. That’s good. That’s the way. That’s the way.
[00:18:38] Sunny Vidrine: And so, yeah, my responses range from that to, you know, you know, upset, crying, and that kind
[00:18:44] of
[00:18:44] thing.
[00:18:44] And you know, at one point, my, one of my best friend from high school, she was just like this blubbery, sobbing mess, and at some point I was like, please stop crying.
[00:18:52] Adam Walker: Yeah, for real. Like, come on. This is my thing. Stop. Yeah. Can’t.
[00:18:55] Don’t make it about you.
[00:18:56] Right? Like, that’s the, yeah. Right. And, you know, and I, but again, I can’t dictate her feelings.
[00:19:04] Sunny Vidrine: You know, I can’t think how she responds to really bad news about someone that she loves. And I’ve also learned who I can laugh about it with and who I can’t laugh about it with now. And I don’t want to, for one second Say that, you know, diminish the seriousness of it because, you know, it has been really one of the most difficult things I’ve ever gone through in my life, but you know, that old saying, if you can’t laugh about something, you know, so like we have found moments of, you know, joy in general, but we’ve also found moments of.
[00:19:38] Adam Walker: Yeah, I love that.
[00:19:40] Sunny Vidrine: One of our, one of Dan and my little inside jokes in that I awkwardly told the doctor and he enjoyed it as well. And it was when I was having my biopsy done, I said, we’ve been calling this Schrodinger’s biopsy.
[00:19:51] Adam Walker: Oh, and you have to be a special kind of nerd to get that joke, but man, I like that a lot.
[00:20:03] Oh, I love that. I love that.
[00:20:05] Sunny Vidrine: The doctor did too.
[00:20:06] Adam Walker: Yeah. I’m curious. Like, related to your friend’s response, so so I had a similar thing where my family and I got some bad news and we had to sort of text several people about it before we sort of mentioned it on social media. And there’s one response that I got that was by far the best of all of them.
[00:20:28] I mean, miles above and it was a two text response. The first text was profanity that sucks. Like, so it was empathy. And the second text was When you know a way we can support you, my family and I want to do that. And it was like, I mean, literally like there’s no comparison between that response and every single other one.
[00:20:50] So I’m curious, like, was that your experience as well? And is that sort of formula like a good way to respond to these sort of situations?
[00:20:58] Sunny Vidrine: Yes, 100 and I didn’t mention the profanity because I didn’t know What to what level But yes, there were several like of my most, you know, my closest friends did the first text was absolutely like profanity, yeah, And I, I really appreciated that a lot.
[00:21:20] Adam Walker: Yes.
[00:21:20] Sunny Vidrine: You know, cause that was my response.
[00:21:23] Adam Walker: Yeah. It’s like it’s the level of like empathize first, you know, like show that like share the emotion first and then deal with all the other stuff. Right. But I really liked that a lot. Okay.
[00:21:34] Sunny Vidrine: I’ve had, I have had a lot of like, please let me know whatever I can do.
[00:21:38] And you know, it’s one of those, that’s one of those weird responses that, You have, like, I feel like as a person who loves other people who are going through difficult times, I have to say like, what can I do? Whatever I can
do, I will do to help. But as a person who’s going through something, I don’t know.
[00:21:53] I don’t know, but I did have a friend one of my, one of my colleagues. When I went in for my lumpectomy, he sent me a DoorDash gift card for like that, the way
[00:22:06] Adam Walker: Yeah.
[00:22:06] Sunny Vidrine: A good bit of money. Yeah. And it really, honestly, it was the best thing I could imagine, because That’s right. I was home alone a couple of days during my recovery and I didn’t have anything to eat, even though, you know, Dan was doing a very good job of taking care of me.
[00:22:21] And that door dash gift card was the most perfect thing that I, you know, that I could imagine.
[00:22:26] There’s those little things that make a difference.
[00:22:30] Adam Walker: Well, and I think like a lot of times as people supporting you, we want to do something that like feels personal to us. Like let me come fold your laundry.
[00:22:39] Right. You don’t need that. Like, but a door dash gift card, like, Oh, that’s legit helpful. But it feels more impersonal. But man, it’s so helpful, right? Yeah,
[00:22:48] Sunny Vidrine: or just like, drop your kid off at my house if you need me to.
[00:22:51] Adam Walker: Yeah exactly.
[00:22:53] Sunny Vidrine: We had a couple of friends who were going through, not cancer, but it was a very significant health issue.
[00:23:01] And it’s one of Harrison’s friends from school. And that was what I said, I was like, bring your kid to my house. you don’t even have to as home because I don’t want off at an empty house. Took us up on that offer glad to do it. We’re stil and I know she would do t that helps a lot.
[00:23:22] Adam Walker: Ye That’s the way.
[00:23:24] Well thoughts you’d like to sh maybe that’s newly diagno going through treatment r
[00:23:32] Sunny Vidrine: I mean, honestly, I hate to sound like a broken record, but so I mean, one in eight and I didn’t even realize that was the member until I started to go through this and One in eight is crazy statistic, and, you know, today I’m the one and, you know, I don’t, and I’m going through it and I’m surviving.
[00:23:59] I’m going to survive. There’s no choice. I have a seven year old, so I have to, you know, that’s right where I’m at. But there are people out there who have stories, listen to people’s stories. So one last thing. Okay. Divine. I don’t know if it’s divine intervention, but it has to be. I can’t imagine that it’s not.
[00:24:18] I had my eyes checked like much of my ophthalmologist at the beginning of the summer and my ophthalmologist had been diagnosed with breast cancer and like not even a year before. And so she and I. Had some time while my eyes were dilating and I was like, Hey, tell me if you don’t, if you’re up for it, I would love to hear about your experience.
[00:24:41] And she told me, you know, how everything was going. She was on the other end of stage two. Now her story is crazy. You might want to talk to her one day because her own lump.
[00:24:50] Adam Walker: Yeah.
[00:24:50] Sunny Vidrine: She had two doctors dismiss her because she was under the age of 40 and she didn’t, they didn’t, she didn’t finally find a doctor who was able to take care of it until six months after she found the lump and she had already, it already spreads or her lymph nodes.
[00:25:03] And today she’s fine. She’s recovering and and doing well, but she told me her story. And the first thing I thought of when I read my diagnosis was her and her story. And I thought I have in the back of my head. The story of a positive outcome, even in a bad scenario, it’s a positive outcome. And so for anyone who is newly diagnosed or going through it, there are so many routes, so many journeys, and so many of them are positive.
[00:25:33] And you’re not alone. Like, find someone to talk to. And I’ve been so grateful to have at least two very good friends who have gone through something similar that I’ve been able to talk to. I could talk to Dan. Dan’s great, but he can’t, you know, I
[00:25:50] Adam Walker: mean, he’s all right. Dan’s all right. You know, he’s fine.
[00:25:52] He’s there. He cooks a lot, you know,
[00:25:56] Sunny Vidrine: having those those comments, those people who have this in common to talk to makes all the difference in the world.
[00:26:03] Adam Walker: That’s right. It does. Yeah, it does. And there, there is. There is a huge support community for people experiencing breast cancer. Not just with Komen, but just, I mean, worldwide, there’s a huge community that you can be a part of if you choose to.
[00:26:18] Yeah, that’s right. Well, Sunny, thank you so much for joining me on the show today. Thank you for sharing Your very private experience that you have not announced on facebook with us And I wish you the best and we’ll see you at swim team this year.
[00:26:32] Sunny Vidrine: I appreciate it Yeah, and if this if this goes live, i’ll maybe this will be how I share it.
[00:26:37] Yeah.
[00:26:37] Adam Walker: Okay, that could work Yeah, like hey, by the way, i’ve got some news. Here’s the link
[00:26:41] Sunny Vidrine: here. Don’t ask questions. Just listen to this
[00:26:43] Adam Walker: It’ll answer all the questions. That’s it.
[00:26:49] Thanks for listening to real pink a weekly podcast by susan g komen for more episodes Visit realpink. com and for more on breast cancer visit 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, adamjwalker.com.