Fitz Koehler battles Cancer by SHARING Strength vs garnering Pity

Thank you so much for your reviews!!

Fitz’s IG

https://www.instagram.com/fitzness/

Her Website

Fitzness.com – Live Better, Live Longer with Fitzness

The Audiobook we discuss

My Noisy Cancer Comeback by Fitz Koehler - Audiobook - Audible.com

Fitz ‘Abhors’ the idea of garnering pity

Top things you shouldn’t tell people with Cancer

1. “I know someone who recently died of cancer”
2. “When your hair grows back it may be very different”

Be aggressive with offering support to someone going through cancer

The importance of practicing empathy + integrity

Fitz’s fingernails rotted during chemo

Using landmarks as benchmarks for your recovery.

1. Last year I could get this far without stopping
2. Last month I could get this far without stopping
3. Today I climbed the entire hill

The upcoming race announcing schedule

“Coast Guard Marathon, Los Angeles Marathon, San Diego, half Marathon, big Sur Marathon,, Savannah Women's Half Marathon. Fargo Marathon, Buffalo Marathon. You name it. I have an incredible race schedule coming up. There's something for everybody, and when I say marathon, know that all of my marathon weekends have a half marathon.

Many of them have 10 Ks, five Ks, which is only 3.1 mile. Some of them even have one mile, um, races, kid races, baby races, dog races. So marathon weekends are diverse and there's something for everybody.”

Instagram

https://sproutspout.com/

Transcript

  📍  Hi, it's Daniel Lucas. Thanks for coming to chasing energy episode number 45 with Fitz Kohler, author of my noisy cancer. Come back. Fits was a fitness influencer. She has a great website fitness. Dot com all of it's in the show notes, including her Instagram. She is erase announcer and also an author. But. 

Probably most importantly, she's an inspiration to individuals who are going through cancer specifically in her case, breast cancer. And she details in her book, my noisy cancer come back, which I read in preparation for, for this interview. , the ex the things that you don't hear about a lot and. 

The just how long the process is of getting back on your feet, even when you catch it early and in her case. That's a big part of her message is, is. She has a slogan called squeeze your stuff. And the idea there is yes. Even if you have a mammogram or something like. That, um, you need to be checking on a regular basis. Annual check-ins are not enough. 

, I'm first I wanted to say I'm very impressed with our patients. We had all sorts of technical difficulties when we were trying to cap, which I normally do not have technical difficulties. And in this case, she was very patient about getting online and I'm grateful to fits for. Not only for connecting and reaching out to me, but definitely for being patient with the interview. 

I'm going to read two interviews. I'm sorry. Reviews. And because it means a lot to me when you leave a review. , I'm happy to say. I have no idea who these two people are. It doesn't mean I don't know them, but I don't know who they are. ,  their usernames are like acronyms that I'm not even gonna try to pronounce, but the first one says, great show. 

Listen to a few episodes and Daniel's great. Both with guests and on his own. Easy listening and good advice. , it's nice to know that people like the solo episodes actually looked at the downloads. And one of my little solo episodes is one of my top downloads, which really shocked me. , number two, it says 10, 10 recommended. And this one is from Roland. 

Garo. The ultimate, which I typed that into Google and it was, , some type of tennis player. , I don't presume that's the actual professional tennis player. I suspect it's a dedicated fan. This is an excellent podcast, contains tons of insight on proper health, nutrition, and fitness. Dale's a wealth of knowledge and speaks like someone who walks the talk without a doubt, one of the best podcasts out there. 

Buddy. If you were in my neighborhood, I would definitely treat you out to lunch or a coffee for that comment that made my day. Enjoy this. , interview with fits. Please give her a follow look at what she does. Her Instagram is kind of entertaining. She's always at these different races recently. I think she was in a. 

England. And it was, it was very overcast and raining. 

And, uh, thank you for following chasing energy. 

 📍  📍 Fitz Kohler, thank you for your patience in, in the technical difficulties in connecting with me. It's such a pleasure to meet you virtually. I'm so glad you're here. , for those who are listening, , picture, , Pollyanna with, , a wonderful, , neon light, which says what Fitz.

Yeah.

you are, you truly embody the idea of fitness, , in the sense that you practiced what you preached long before you had your, your setbacks.

But even during your setbacks, you encouraged others to do those type of things. And there's so much to your story. My noisy ca cancer comeback is, is the book, uh, do you want to us about when it's coming out?

Well, so my noisy cancer comeback has been out that, that one came out in October of 2020. And that one,

and

yeah, so that's,

heard it through Spotify. Is it on Audible as well, or,

yeah, it's wherever books are sold, so you can get the hard cover, the paper back, the ebook, the audiobook. Um, that book's been out for two years now and it's been doing incredibly well and. You know, the blessing and the curse of that book is every day. Usually I get, most people buy it@fitz.com on my website because I sign all of those books and I send 'em with a sticker and pretty packaging and make, make my readers feel special.

But every day I get messages that say, you know, my dad was just diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Can you get, can you get him your book asap? Or, my sister was diagnosed with this or that. Um, I'm so grateful it's out there helping people, but it also is a, uh, it's tough hearing about all the cancer cases.

And then of course, I set myself up for a little more because my two new books than Are Your Healthy Cancer Comeback, sick to Strong. So that's the guidebook, the Manual for Cancer Patients and Survivors to dig their way out of. Very deep hole cancer puts us in and regain, rebuild their health and get back to living well.

And there's a companion journal, healthy Cancer Comeback Journal. So those are all three books.

Wonderful. Quite the trilogy. I w I'd like to start by asking you to share with our listeners. what your life was like before the diagnosis. So give it cuz there's actually, like you, you pointed me to your strength training for runner's video. Which is, which is that actually before? Right?

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah. So, uh, my life before cancer, Freaking awesome. I had everything going well. I was healthy as a horse. I was an athlete. I ran races half marathons and obstacle courses, races regularly. I was always strength training and doing all sorts of other stuff, traveling most weekends of the year as a professional race announcer.

So I'm the voice of massive running events like the Los Angeles Marathon and many. And, uh, yeah, doing keynote speaking, traveling. I had no, oh, two great kids who were teenagers,

15 at the time.

a

a dog mom too. Yeah. Married to a police lieutenant and, uh, yeah, everything was going great. I certainly wasn't, uh, anticipating, uh, my life to get thrown into spin cycle was something as, uh, terrifying as cancer.

Yeah. And I know you like to share this part, but there was a very small gap between your mammogram and the diag Self-diagnosis. Fill

Yeah, squeeze your stuff. That's right. . I am exhibit A of oh two things. If it can happen to me, it can happen to anybody cuz I do most things right. And then the other thing is, uh, a, you get those annual exams, but you cannot rely exclusively on them because I had a. Crystal clear mammogram in late December of 2018, and seven weeks later I found a lump in my breast and it had already, and it was a size lump and it had already spread to my lymph nodes.

Uh, so holy cow, this thing was on the move. If I had waited another 10 months to get the mammogram, I'd be dead.

Absolutely. Yeah. And I, I, I covered the part in your book where I enjoyed the part in your book where you, it seemed like you were on the verge of, of getting through it, and then the, it came back and said it was still in your lymph nodes, so you had to

do that part.

You know what's so interesting is, uh, I kind of forget about those things. It was a, it was 15 months of chemo and it was, it, some of it's a blur, but whenever I go into the oncologist's office for my checkups, I see the stairwells and there's, there, well, there's this stairwell that leads up to the pet scan machine and, um, the radiation tech gave me the wrong information, but I was told right before I came down those stairs that there was no more cancer.

They couldn't see anything. And you know me, I was, me and my little bald sick body halfway down those stairs and I collapsed with relief. And I'm not that person. I'm not a, I don't consider myself incredibly emotional or dramatic, but, but yeah, I got that information and it was such a weight off my chest.

Sadly, it was the wrong information. But when I think about that, when I, every time I pass those stairs, I think, Ooh, that was interesting.

And

a, you, you cover the, the ins and outs of getting these regular treatments. What happens to your body? What happens to your mind? What happens to your family? What happens to your fitness while all these treatments are taking place? I, I do notice that any any time you say, we'll call this person, I go, oh, this is not gonna be a person.

She, uh, so I think when you were just, I thought you were leading in there about the time where. They rescheduled your appointment and you got there six hours early you had to sit there hooked up to the IV six hours prior to the procedure because they had bumped it up.

Oh, that was my surgery. Oh, I was livid. And you know what made me so angry? . I said I was angry. You can't eat before surgery. . I was. I was storming around those. My room, I was stomping around my room like a caged lion. No one was allowed to talk to me. You know, that was just a, a kick in the crotch. You know, you don't take a cancer patient and then yank 'em around that way.

I was so mad. And what can you do? You can't scream or yell at anybody or throw things. That doesn't help. So I just had to stomp around and tell people to stay away from me. That was

So one of the themes that I got from your book, from the very beginning, and you mentioned this on our pre-call, was that you, and even in going into this, you made the decision that you were not going to be the kind of, uh, patient who allowed any type of pity. For them

that, that was a very particular point I heard in every chapter of your book, which was, I'm not trying to draw a pity from this.

I don't want your pity. Can

about what that started from? Have you always been that way prior to this and what, is it that you think that way?

So pity makes me recoil. Uh, I, I want to be acknowledged for the good things that I do or the efforts I put forth, or just being a nice person. I also. I'm, I'm really turned off by all the people on social media that get on and say, pray for me. I sprained my ankle. Or I just want everyone to know that I've had covid and I'm still coughing.

Please, everybody know this. And I think Why, why do we all have to know this? Why does everybody in the world need to know that, uh, you know, anything is going wrong with.

Um, you know, I was bullied into revealing my diagnosis cuz I was gonna go bald  people were gonna ask questions, but, but yeah, I really don't, um, gosh, I just don't enjoy when other people do it.

And you know how sometimes you see role models and you think I wanna be like them. And then there's a role model of the different sort where you think, oh, I definitely don't wanna be like that. Uh, yeah, that just beg that plea for p. Just makes my skin crawl. So, uh, it's not who I am. I didn't want anyone to see me falling down.

I would much rather people see me standing up.

So with that, I'll, I'll do a segue there. And that is because th this is sprinkled throughout your book, can you tell me your top three things to not tell someone who is going through cancer?

Oh, what a good, good topic. You're a great , great listener of my audiobook. So, Number one, the first weird thing people told me is, uh, so once I revealed publicly that, Hey, I have breast cancer, and as you you recall, I said, I don't want your pity. You can root for me. I'm gonna be fine. But so many people reached out and just said, Hey, I just wanna let you know my sister died at breast cancer.

And I thought, what, what? What? Why? Would you say that to me? Why would you take me in this vulnerable state and just kind of twist the knife in my back and see, just wanna let you know, lots of people are dying. Yeah, I know. People are dying. So definitely if you know someone with cancer, any other sort of potentially terminal disease, please don't say that.

Say, um, my, my canned response responses. Science is making progress every day. And, uh, I'm, I'm rooting for you. I know you're gonna be okay. I know you're gonna be okay. So that's the first thing. And then the second thing was, uh, when I was bald and, and again I was very, very bald. No wigs. So that was a, a good topic, topic of conversation.

People tended to find real joy and coming up and saying, Hey, do you know when your hair comes back? It may be really dark and really cur. And my hair previously was long and pretty straight and blonde. And what I thought was interesting is how much joy people took in sharing the fact that this hair that I loved and I lost may never be the same again.

I thought, wow, that's really fun for you cuz this is not very fun for me. So I never retaliated against people who said things like that, but I don't think it was very thoughtful. Um, what was the other thing I should be mention?

I don't, I don't know, a third one. Those were the two I thought of. I

top three because I'm sure you have several. Um,

on that note, I'll, I'll, I'll let you off with two. Uh,

know what we wanna differentiate here because. you're, what I get from you is that you, want empathy maybe, but not sympathy.

Those are two different things, and sympathy is, I feel sorry for you. Poor pitiful you. Empathy is, I want you to know that I connect to you as a person and I

going through. So what I'd like you to do now is tell us what. What do you recommend if you know someone who is going through any form of cancer? How do they approach that? What are some words to break the ice?

Uh, I care about you. I will be here to support you. In fact, these are the things I'm going to do. So there's, there's three different ways you can help a cancer patient. Uh, number one is financial support. I mean, some people don't have the funds to pay for their, uh, their, their home if they're not working right.

So there's, the gift cards are a good way. If you don't wanna give someone cash, you might buy 'em a gift card to a restaurant or a grocery store. Some people set up GoFundMe, um, people offer that for me. I did not need it, so I refused. Um, but lots of people sent gift cards to the grocery store and restaurants and things, which were really nice, especially for my family to just say, here, go leave me at home and please go, go have a nice meal.

So, um, there's the financial support, there's the practical support, which is showing up and folding laundry, showing up and mowing the lawn, or providing a lawn service, you know, all those. Yeah, that need to be done. And then last but not least, it's that emotional support and their FR and friendship. And you can do that anytime from anywhere.

If you can go sit with a person who's at chemo or just sit with them at home and keep an eye on them, if they're. Um, in, in rough shape. I mean, nobody knew this other than the people within my home, but there were days where if, if someone didn't bring me a drink, I wouldn't have had a drink. I was that sick.

So you never know. Most cancer patients are unwilling to tell you what they actually need. So be aggressive, show up. And then my other favorite, um, emotional connections were friends from around the country and world that would text me and say, Hey, you don't have to respond. Just know I love. And, uh, that was really helpful to me cuz some days I really was actually too sick to text a response.

And so, you know, pick, pick your, your methodology but just continuously pour love and it'll be meaningful them whether you hear back from them or not.

Yeah. I, I like that, especially that last part when, when I know somebody who passes or their, their mom or brother passes the, I go with the, I'm here for you. If you need me. You don't have to respond. I'll bring you whatever. What I don't do, and I, I hope I don't offend too many people with this, I cannot stand the statement, I'm sorry for your loss, because it's such a

that, that people throw around, and to me it's, it, it's used so much.

It's like I don't know what to say. saying, you know, how are you, today is another one.

Yeah. I also think what you just said is probably the kindest thing. I don't know what to say. I know I can't make this better, but I love you or I care about you. I tell everybody I love 'em, and I pretty much mean it. So not everybody's on the love train like I am, but you know, I care. I don't know what to say, but I care about you and you know I'm here for you.

That's, that's good enough.

Absolutely. It is. You know, what we want from people is, I think at a, at a deeper level. Um, I don't, I don't necessarily need you to agree with me as so much as I need your integrity. I need you to just tell me truthfully what's going on. And when I ask for advice for, from one of my guy friends, for example, I always tell 'em, I, I don't need you to make me feel good.

What I need is to be a better person. And so just let's just get to that point. Uh, you and,

You know what? You and I have to be best friends. You're so sweet.

it's hard not to, after reading your book, I feel so connected.

Oh, you're such a sweet guy. You're such a sweet guy.

the race announcing is something that you take a particular pride in. I will have, you know, fits, um, while I'm not running. I told you I was not running right now, but I did think to myself, I wonder how hard it would be to try to find one of the events that she does and, and that way I could see at the finish, uh, you had some great stories, uh,

Yeah.

the different antics, the Wonder Woman, Batman, and all those type of things. And then you also talked about how you made it a point to make a brief announcement, whenever you would tell 'em about your diagnosis. It kinda like you did at the beginning of this podcast and say, Hey, I got tested. I found it shortly thereafter, and this happens. I'm dealing with it. I'm going through it.

Yeah. Yeah. You know what? Um, nothing I do is about me, so of course my name is on the, is the brand, right? It's Fitz. It's my,

not

Not anymore. Now you're an inspiration.

Well, thank you. Thank you. But my business is always about you. It's always about the consumer and who I can help. And so the last thing I wanted to do on race day was turn anybody's attention to me. I mean, my, my head was a spectacle enough and I really, I never wore, I said it again. I never wore wigs or hats to cover up.

Sometimes I wore hats because I was cold. Right. But I knew, especially during the Anthem, when I took off my. The cr, you know, the 20,000 people in front of me would go, oh, oh, you know, and that they would start thinking about me and I really just didn't want that. And so I would say, Hey guys, blah, blah, blah, diagnosed with cancer, you know, but I caught it early.

I'm gonna live, squeeze your stuff. And I, you know, those people showed up to have a great day, not to feel super sad for the poor bald announcers. So, um, so yeah, it's, uh, everything I do. It's about you. You know, so we talk about me. This book and the, when I first started doing press for my book, it felt very strange, even though I had already written the memoir.

You know, I could pour all of the, uh, dirty details, all the gory details into the book because two things, a, I was already done with cancer, so nobody could pity me. Like you could look back and, and hear what I went through, but you can't pity me cuz you see me. I'm strong and wonderful.

right.

Um, but then once I started talking about some of this stuff, uh, to people with my mouth and your ears, and, and it felt a little strange.

It felt a little strange, but I guess my story is helping other people do better and be better. And so I, I've come to grips with that and here we are talking about it, right?

So, and on that, help people do better and be better. Tell us about a couple of your different efforts there, cuz there's the one with children I want you to share, that you try to get in the schools. And then the other ones the hotty, the hotty

Maha.

Yeah. So I'll start with a morning mile and if anyone's interested, check out morning mile.com cuz I always, uh, I'm always recruiting help to get more kids moving In the mornings, it's a B four school walking running program, each school that uses the morning mile and I have over. 400 programs implemented around the world.

They have four countries in, uh, most states in America. Um, but the schools basically provide a 30 minute window before class begins for kids and their families and the faculty to show up and they can walk as slow as they want, run as fast as they want. They can do one lap and go to class. They can do.

Four miles and go to class. We offer fun, friendship, play music, make it highly rewarding. And we require nothing. There's no choreography, there's no coaching. It's just, uh, a fun place to get active before school starts. And we unleash these kids and they, they do incredible things. Absolutely. Nobody's excluded.

I want the girls, I want the boys. I want every age group. I want the moms and dads and bus drivers, and we get that.

Yeah,

provide you in the, in that sense, you provide a couple of things and I'll get a little psychological one is you provide the environment and that it's, uh, consistent to

and welcoming.

so they know where it's at. They know there's people there and they, they know it's sort of waiting on them and it convenient location, which kind of takes out why most people. Make the time to do this

Right, right. And they don't have to pay for it. So, um, businesses or generous individuals sponsor the program. So the schools traditionally get it for free unless their PTA wants to play with pay for it, but the kids get charged nothing. The moms get charged. Nothing. Everybody shows up for free. And it's really like, why would we not wanna go do that?

and, and I don't know if you follow this, but one of the best things you can possibly do for your, Sleep and to kick off your circadian rhythm is to expose yourself to the sun first thing in the morning

Yeah.

uh, depending on the brightness, of course, it's between five and 15 minutes, but it amazes me how many children don't see the sun for more than two or three minutes during their entire. It just blows my mind how the only time they see it is between the car and a building, they might have a recess where they're actually out there. But that to me is a huge disservice to the health of your mind and body is to not be exposed to the outdoors in any form or fashion.

So, yes, uh, definitely. You're, you hit that nail on the head. I think it's cruel and unusual to take a squirmy little child, pump them full of sugary cereal, and then pin them down in a seat for seven hours. It just,

And then

inhumane.

don't, they can't focus. Your child has, uh, focus of some sort

Yeah, yeah. No, your kid needs to move. Um, but where my programs are, I mean, it varies. Sometimes it's in a very rural place or a very fy me, like Calabasas has it and Compton has it, and everywhere in between. But, uh,  and my schools in Chicago, you know, they have a basketball court outside, they don't have a lot of space.

So they exercise in whatever space they have. Sometimes they run laps around the building. Sometimes they go across the street to a playground, a, a city park to do the program. Sometimes it's a parking lot that gets sealed off and the kids run around the parking lot cuz that's the only space they have.

But where there's a will, there's a way. I truly believe that. And, um, you know, there shouldn't be any excuses when it comes. Physical priority on physical activity with kids.

and I cut you off. You were gonna talk about the other, the hottie group as.

Oh yeah. No, no, you didn't cut me off. I leptin. Uh, so my hotty Body Fitness Challenge is my online Facebook group. Free to Join. Everybody's Welcome. And it's called, the, the reason it's called the Hotties is I used to be the fitness expert for America Online.  and I had a column between Thanksgiving and New Year's called the Holiday Hotty.

And you know where most people gain all this weight. I not only helped people get to the New Year fitter, not fatter, but I helped so many people lose a tremendous amount of weight in December. And so there was that holiday hotty thing. I left a o l, but I wanted to continue that. So I kept the word hotty cuz holiday wasn't always re uh, relevant.

I made it. The hotty body fits this challenge. Now, all of these people in the group, there's thousands, they're regular Joes and Janes. No one's like a Kardashian in a thong and leopard print,  plastic outfits. It's just regular people and I provide daily guidance. I, we use the exact formula for weight loss, which is not a diet.

People just learn how to eat the right amount or the right food for the size they specifically wanna. And then I provide daily workouts. I'd say, yeah, like today, a cycle for 25 minutes and then do these four strength training and stretching exercises. Here's little videos that go along. So, uh, you know where some people say, I don't know how.

Okay, here's how I'm giving you absolutely everything you need. I don't have a gym membership. Okay? You don't need one. You can do these things in your living room. I don't have money, okay? I'm not asking for your money. It's just do it for free. And then these people, my Hatties, I. They're, they're from everywhere and they're so kind and they take such good care.

I've, you know, I've created an environment where everyone must be nice or I will kick you the heck out. I have no problem removing anyone who tries to sell a pill or a powder or say something nasty. And so the people left over are just warm and fuzzy and they try hard and you know, they accomplish extraordinary things where they're losing 300 pounds.

Um, or that they're trying to get rid of their back pain. It's all, it's just a wonderful environment. I'm so proud of these people. It's a, it's a blessing to be associated with them.

wonderful. I'll, I'll make sure I put some links in the show

things. Yeah, so talk to me. the things that people don't think of when they, when they're going through cancer, that, that they're being affected. We all, I think we all know the hair and that you get very tired, but I'm thinking of things like when you talked about your fingernails and a couple of other things. What are some of the things that shocked you? Your eyes color, uh

Yeah.

what are some of the things where you thought, or, or that you could share that, you know, don't necessarily expect these type of things.

Yeah. So every cancer and treatment is different, right? So we, uh, it's like, it's like the snowflake. We all have our different experiences, but, uh, my drugs, for example, were. The kind that killed rapidly dividing cells. So everything in my digestive system went, my fingernails, my hair. I didn't anticipate my fingernails.

We knew the hair was gonna go from my head. Um, what I didn't anticipate is my nose running profusely, thinking it was allergies. And then a friend's, you know, how are you? I said, ah, I just have allergies cuz I had all the tissues on my table at my finish line. She said, you don't have allergies? And I said, yeah I do.

My nose is running like crazy and I'm not sick. You don't have any nostril hair. And so I had her look in my nostrils and she was right. And so that was crazy. You know, I knew I would lose the hair in my head and my legs and my armpits, et cetera, but I didn't think about my nostrils. Um, when my eyes changed color, that was bizarre.

You know, I was stuck in a ho. I wasn't stuck. I was in a hotel in Monterey and I woke up and my eyes had, my whole life had been gray. You know, I've been that, that person with the pale blue, gray eyes and. And out a shower looked in the mirror and they were big navy saucers. And I thought, what the hell?

And I looked again, I thought, well, this is crazy. Why didn't like what's going on? And then I thought, well, I could call 9 1 1, but. They'd probably just send a psychiatrist over. And if I called and said, help my eyes have changed color, so . So I thought, what the heck? And, um, maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm seeing things.

And then my announcing partner, Rudy, showed up, knocked on the door, and the very first thing he said is, What the hell happened to your eyes? And I said, I know. So, um, they still haven't gone back to gray. They're stu, they're royal blue. That's where they've settled, which is not a terrible fate, but they're, they're also not my gray eyes, which I used to like.

Um, what else? So the fingernails were strange. Uh, you know how every ring on a tree represents a year of life? I ended up with these rainbow shaped ridges forming on my finger nail. I thought, well, that's weird. And all 10 and my toenails, they all got ridges. And what would happen is I got a new ridge every time I went in for chemo.

And so my chemo, the first six months of it were, or the first six rounds were every three weeks. So every three weeks this new ridge, rainbow shaped ridge would develop. And um, then they started rotting out. My fingernails rotted out on my fingers. I only realized once I brought my hand by my face and , I thought, what is that smell?

That's disgusting. What did I touch? But I didn't touch anything. I had rotten fingernails on my hands, which again, nobody warned me of. And then they all started ripping off. You know, I would touch something and it would catch, and, and the nails would rip off and my toenails ripped off and it was, it.

Insanity. Just, you know, you would think I'd been through enough, you know, being sick and tired and all that stuff. That's plenty, but there my fingers are bing, bing. And it was extremely painful and very pathetic. I, I didn't want pity, but I tell you what, I felt very pathetic. But, you know, I, I talked about that stuff.

It's interesting how many cancer patients reach out and say, yes, I have the ridges on my nails, or, oh, my fingernails are, are ripping off too. That's one of the reasons I wrote the book. I wrote the book for two reasons. Number one, I thought this is wild and crazy and nobody talks about this stuff. And also I think people get a good laugh at my expense.

Cuz some of that stuff had to make you laugh, right?

yeah.

It's wacky and it's okay to laugh cuz cancer can be funny. And then, uh, the other reason I wrote the book was because I, I knew that I had the ability to help people get through it better than they likely would without some good advice. So, yeah.

on that note, tell us about Alfalfa and Lolita.

Well, alfalfa, my, uh, pride and joy after being very, very bald for a very long time. Alfalfa was the very first hair  that appeared in my head, and it was unusually long. It was like a one inch hair s sprouted up overnight and, uh, just stuck out at the top of my head. And my, my kids were like, mom, you gotta cut that.

And I. Hell to the, no, I'm leaving this here.

gonna serve as a beacon of hope to all the other hair follicles on my head. Yeah. Yeah. And then , another one came out the back of my head, maybe longer. And uh, we call that one Lolita. She was my weird little ponytail. It was just one hair. Uh, but I was so proud of both of those hairs.

I kept them, I never, I never cut them.

wonderful.

Yeah. Um, you know, you gotta take the winds where you.

So are there any, I mean, I think we can explore some of the psychological changes, but what are the things that. you found your life was better afterwards and after the, the treatments were over that you maybe didn't have before, or even if it's just in terms of perspective, physically or, or from psychological perspective.

Um, I would say, uh, psychologically I fear so little. There's, there's very few things I fear. Um, mainly anything happening to my kids. Other than that, I am full blown game on, on life. You invite me to do something rowdy or rock us or adventurous, and I am there. I will figure it out. I am diving into trouble as much as possible and enjoying the hell out of every minute of it.

Uh, so that's pretty cool. You know, any fears I used to have in business are. I, I mean, I'm just gung-ho and it's really working for me. Um, I had great per perspective before, which is really one of the great gifts I, I used throughout my cancer care. Um, because it was hard. It was really hard and I think perspective really, really matters.

Um, but it's even more clear. I mean, I've had two vehicles, two vehicles in my family, totaled in the past six weeks. One of 'em, we were in horrific car accident, walked away, uns. And all I could think was great. I had just a great day for me. Most people would be, um, moaning and complaining about their vehicle loss, and I just think, yeah.

Oh, who cares? Who cares? I'm alive. I'm not, I'm not even scratched my knee. Hit the dashboard and no injury came. I thought, well, this is a great day. I was in a horrible car accident and nothing went wrong. So I think, uh, I, I. If you're someone who's going through cancer or you've been through cancer, you have lightened the heck up because you know how hard life can be every day without cancer is a great day.

What a great, what a great story. your daughter, um, you, you were one of the unicorns when it comes to a parent because you talk about how your daughter wants to be like you something, something I cannot relate to. Um,

So I don't know if she wants to be like me, but the poor dear is like me.

you, you said like when she wanted to mock, mock your hairstyle and certain, when you had certain things on and, and that she wanted to look like you in, in some way or another.

maybe. Maybe

is like me. Poor girl. She looks so much like me. Uh, she is me on steroids. If you could imagine. She's wild.

and so another sign of your progress is when you would hike the hills and Rob would push you, and then he had to push you less and less and less to get up those hills, right?

Yeah. Yeah. So, uh,  actually one of these cars that got totaled, uh, was totaled cuz it rolled down the hill and, uh, crashed. So that's, that's how steep my hill is. But yeah, I was, you know, coming out of the very meanest, uh, Chemo fog and trying, you know, pursuing exercise and baby steps. But I walked down the hill and, um, tried to get back up and I couldn't  stuck at the bottom of the hill.

So I had to call my husband, say, Hey, uh, I need you to come get me. And he was like, oh, well where did you go, ? I'm in the bottom of the hill. He's like, I don't understand. I was like, I can't, I can't make it up. My legs won't carry me up this hill. You have to come and. Uh, I can't remember if he drove me home.

I think he drove me home that day, but after that, he would come on some of the walks with me if I went downhill and he'd get behind me and he would push

push two hands pushed

Now, was this

your request or was it him

It was both. It was both.

and literally pushing you?

Yeah, he was actually pushing me physically with his hands up the hill so I could do partial part on my own accord.

And then, you know, he was maybe giving 80% of the effort. And then, um, sometimes he would pull and then eventually I could start doing it myself. I still, I walked the dog. I am over two years out of treatment and every time I go up the hill, I think hot. Damn, I can just walk up this hill. I'm so proud of me.

It's, it's a small thing, but it was a big thing you.

a benchmark for your recovery. You, you're able to look at every part of that hill and go, this is where I was at this point. This is where I was at this point in

Yeah,

et cetera. Do now, are you, are you, is, are there any limitations on you as far as your training and whatnot? Yes.

uh, that's a great question. No. So the things that are different about me, um, So I, I'm, I, I can't get pregnant anymore. I lost my period. I can't have

which is just fine. I was done anyway, so that's actually kind of a blessing. Thanks. Cancer. Um, . I have some scars, uh, but that's okay. I'm, I'm just fine with that.

Uh, the thing that I've been lacking, it's very interesting. I just crossed this bridge. So, uh, I had surgery on July 31st, July 31st, 2019. And, uh, they, I had a lumpectomy and they removed lymph nodes and so, uh, had that happened and then instantly went into radiation and they zapped my entire breast and my armpit lymph node area.

So there's just been a lot of weakness and scar tissue and soreness, which I didn't realize would take so long to come out of. I didn't find radiation particularly. I didn't burn much, so I thought radiation was lovely. It was far, far more lovely than chemo. I didn't realize there was gonna be long-term repercussions, but um, I haven't been able to do pushups without pain.

Um, this left shoulder chest area has just been weaker, and it's this SC joint, it's the Sterno clavicle joint.

Mm-hmm.

um, I don't know in front of your neck, but anytime I tried to do pushups, I got this horrible pinch and it just was like, not worth it. And the other day I thought, you know what? I'm gonna try some pushups.

And there was no pain. There was no pain. So, uh, I'm so proud. I went to physical therapy today and I said, Rob, I've got the best news ever. And he thought maybe I was appointed czar of something. And I said, I can do pushups without pain. And so, I don't know. I don't know if I'm, I think I'm, I think I'm done.

I think I'm a hundred plus 50%. I, I'm in great shape and, and I hope most cancer patients know that they can also get back to, you know, to status quo and then do better after treatment.

Side note and slight digression. Uh, when you do pushups, do you have your hands on the floor or do you have one of the the perfect pushup twister

Oh, I, I prefer the floor, but I have done the perfect pushups before.

my shoulders an ache less if I, if I have a twist motion in mind. But that's me. That's

Okay. Oh man,

don't mind trying them, but yeah, I don't have to worry about pain anymore. They're, uh, pushups feel good again. What a great triumph for me.

Absolutely. So tell us a little bit about what races you have coming up that you'd like to share over the next couple of months.

Oh boy. Well, uh, I'm gonna just rattle 'em off and I hope people come to fitna.com and look me up because I love it when my.

that your tour? Live tour schedule?

Yeah, it says, uh, race announcing schedule or whatever. Um, what's next? I have the Donna National Marathon. Finished breast cancer in Tampa, or in Jacksonville in February, followed by Gasparilla, the big Pi Pirate Party in Tampa.

In February, I have Coast Guard Marathon, Los Angeles Marathon, San Diego, half Marathon, big Sur Marathon, uh, Savannah Women's Half Marathon. Fargo Marathon, Buffalo Marathon. You name it. I have an incredible race schedule coming up. There's something for everybody, and when I say marathon, know that all of my marathon weekends have a half marathon.

Many of them have 10 Ks, five Ks, which is only 3.1 mile. Some of them even have one mile, um, races, kid races, baby races, dog races. So marathon weekends are diverse and there's something for everybody.

All right. And tell, uh, our audience a little bit about where they can find you fits.

Oh, so fitna.com is my headquarters. That's home base for me. That's f i t Z as in zebra, n e s s.com. There's a ton of free resources for you there. Workout videos, recipes, articles, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's all there. Um, my books are on sale there, so I'd love for you to stop by. And if you don't have cancer, great.

I hope you don't. However, every single person I. Love somebody with cancer or love somebody who recently just finished cancer care. So please let them know that Cancer Comeback Series is available because my mission now is to get these resources into the hands of those who need a cancer care is brutalizing and there are.

Close to zero resources of this kind to help people through it. So, um, that's where the books are sold. They'll also be sold everywhere else, but I, again, I like personalizing them. So come to fitna.com. I'm also at Fitna on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and then I'm on LinkedIn. So, um, my, my request is that if you follow me, great.

But please reach out, comment, say, I heard you on Daniel's Chasing Energy podcast. Because I'd much rather have friends than followers, so please say hi.

Oh, that's a, that's a powerful statement. I like that.

and you, you had alluded to that too, that your, the people who followed you were more active than passive in, in how they

It's amazing. It's amazing how you can form these wonderful relationships with people e either someone you've never met in person, or you just chit chat with online, but oh, we all really care about each other.

the good things about social media,

that we can inspire, we can connect to people, we can do things right.

So grateful for it,

Well, this has been a true honor and a pleasure. I'm a fan and I look

I look forward to following you and hopefully one running one of your racists sooner than later.

Fitz.

Oh, you. You better come because we're besties now. It's a rule.

can

You can count

Okay. Thank you.