685. Ask Ali, Cancer Edition

Ali on the Run Show

Ali Feller

Fitness, Sports, Running, Health & Fitness

4.9 • 4.2K Ratings

🗓️ 26 December 2023

⏱️ 110 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

"I felt like I was constantly treading water and barely staying afloat. It felt like I was stuck, as everything else just raged on. Time doesn't stop and the world doesn't stop. Everything doesn't stop just because you're having a hard time. There were days where I'd be at the grocery store, standing in line, and I wanted to scream, 'Don't you all know that I have cancer? Don't you know this is the hardest day of my life, and it's a normal day in your life?' It's the ultimate reminder that you never know what someone's going through. So be kind."

At long last: the big, long, TMI-filled cancer episode. After being diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year, I've wanted to do regular check-ins on the podcast, but it's been a little daunting. One day last week, I finally felt up for chatting a bit. So in this episode, I'm talking about what life has looked like on the health front over the past seven months. I walk through my timeline from first lump (April 27) to mammogram and ultrasound (May 12) to biopsy (May 16) to diagnosis (May 19), followed by surgeries (double mastectomy July 3, reconstruction surgery August 30), chemotherapy (September 26, October 17, November 7, and November 27), and "now what?" Plus, answering listener questions and offering thoughts on how to support a loved one going through a cancer diagnosis and treatment.

SPONSOR: New Balance. Click here to shop New Balance's latest releases for the season. (The SuperComp Trainer is my favorite shoe!)

What you'll get on this episode:

"Notecard thoughts" from the past few months, including Annie as my anchor, and ruminations on being called a "fighter" and "warrior" (2:40)
My timeline: from first lump to diagnosis, surgeries, chemotherapy, and beyond (12:10)
On the treatment front: Now what? (1:01:00)
Answering listener questions about all things cancer (1:08:50)

LINKS:

Pre-order To the Gorge, by Emily Halnon

Ali vs. Breast Cancer GoFundMe

Penguin Cold Caps

ChappyWrap

Minky Couture blanket

Oofos slippers

Stanley hand-held water bottle

Nordstrom pajamas

Zip-front bras

Athleta zip-front bra

The one-shoulder bodysuit (on major sale!)

Follow Ali:

SUPPORT the Ali on the Run Show! If you're enjoying the show, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Spread the run love. And if you liked this episode, share it with your friends!

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode of The Alley on the Run show is brought to you by New Balance.
0:04.1	Go to New Balance.com slash running to treat yourself to something that's going to make your life on the run
0:11.2	even better.
0:18.0	Welcome to the Allie on the Run show. I'm your host Ali feller and this is a solo episode.
0:22.0	This is the Cancer Q&A episode.
0:26.0	Here's the thing. I was diagnosed with breast cancer back in May of this year
0:32.0	and after every big thing or before every big thing the
0:36.7	surgeries the chemos I always said I'm going to sit down and record a podcast
0:41.3	episode about this so that I can remember what it feels like in this moment.
0:45.2	There were days where I was like, I should be journaling so that I can remember all of these things that I'm feeling
0:50.5	and these fleeting moments that feel so insurmountable.
0:53.6	And then I didn't because journaling felt like too much work.
0:56.3	So do you know how I documented all of this?
0:59.2	In really long Instagram captions that almost always hit the word limit. Beyond that and you know my group
1:06.5	texts I don't have a lot that I've done to sort of put all of this in a time capsule.
1:14.3	No, I'm not writing a book.
1:16.3	Stop asking me to write a book.
1:17.7	I have no interest in writing a book.
1:20.0	Not only does it seem like a lot of work,
1:21.6	I can't imagine anyone would want to read it.
1:24.4	A lot of people have been through much harder.
1:27.6	Go read their books.
	...

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