“Baywatch” star Nicole Eggert recalled the warning indicators that she missed forward of receiving her breast most cancers prognosis.
The 52-year-old actress was recognized with stage 2 cribriform carcinoma breast most cancers in December 2023. Eggert initially believed the signs she had been experiencing have been as a consequence of menopause.
Throughout an interview with Fox Information Digital, Eggert shared the clues that she missed earlier than studying of her prognosis.
“I went for my yearly mammograms and my ultrasounds. I have dense breast tissue. So I was doing what I was supposed to be doing,” the “Who’s the Boss” alum defined.
She continued, “One factor I feel again on is that instantly my bra dimension — and that is one thing that not too long ago sort of dawned on me — my bra saved transferring and was becoming a little bit bit lopsided for a very long time.
“What I thought was, you know, our breast tissue is always growing and changing and as women, our breasts move, and gravity hits and all that. So, I kind of chalked it up to that,” she added. “And what was actually happening is that the tumor was taking up more space.”
“The mass was making that breast bigger. So that’s why my bra was not fitting properly. That was a clue that I easily overlooked because boobs are weird like that. It’s like feet, they’re not always the same.”
“I was at my ideal weight, and I was holding strong, and I was feeling really good,” she recalled. “And then, all of a sudden, no matter what I was doing, I was gaining [weight]. Turns out it was the estrogen. I was gaining all this weight.”
In response to the Cleveland Clinic, most cribriform carcinoma breast most cancers instances are estrogen receptor-positive, occurring when “high levels of estrogen in breast cancer cells help cancer grow and spread.”
Eggert mentioned that she additionally started experiencing ache in her breast, which prompted her to conduct a self-exam.
“And then the final [sign] was I felt throbbing in that area,” she recalled. “And so I went ahead and did the self-exam as soon as I felt the throbbing. And I found it. And it was this moment of like, ‘How did I not know that was there?’ So, those were my signs.”
Whereas talking with Fox Information Digital, the California native emphasised the significance of performing routine self-exams. In response to research carried out by the Nationwide Institutes of Well being, roughly 25% of girls who’re recognized with breast most cancers found the most cancers via self-examination.
“I was not doing self-exams. So I want to stress to women and men to do the self-exams. Feel yourself up. Get to know your girls. If I had been doing that, I would have found it much sooner. So, that was one that I was really kicking myself for,” Eggert mentioned.
“Not that we would necessarily put all of these [signs] together, but if you do your self-exams, I think that that’s your best bet,” she added.
After receiving her prognosis, Eggert underwent a mastectomy. The actress accomplished chemotherapy earlier this 12 months and not too long ago began her radiation remedy.
In an Instagram video shared on November 20, Eggert defined that she had gone in for a CT scan to map placement for radiation remedies, and acquired small tattoos within the course of.
“OK, so I just got out of my CT scan, mapping — as they call it — for my radiation treatment, and when they said they were gonna tattoo me, I didn’t realize it was actual, real tattoos, so I was tatted!” she mentioned.
“And it’s minor, it’s nothing but dots, but boy, every step of this process is never gonna let you forget it, there’s just always going to be a constant reminder,” Eggert continued, as her voice broke, and she or he started to tear up.
She was in a position to snigger off a number of the stress, joking, “So, yeah, I have tattoos, my mom’s going to be really proud of my neck tattoo, but that’s OK, that’s OK.”
Whereas talking with Fox Information Digital, Eggert defined that the following steps in her therapy course of embody a second mastectomy and breast reconstruction.
Following these surgical procedures, Eggert will both bear a hysterotomy or start hormone remedy, which might require a month-to-month estrogen-blocker injection for the following ten years along with the 2 oral medicines that she might want to take for the following 5 years.
“There’s a lot that goes into this,” she defined. “The mastectomy is strange. I kind of went into it thinking they were just going to remove the breast tissue, and you recover from stitches and scars and like, that’s it. But there’s so much more to it, because they cut through so many nerves. So that sensation and getting used to that is very bizarre.”
“And then also the lymph node removal is much more painful than the mastectomy,” she continued. “Much more complicated and affects the body much more, so I wasn’t really prepared for that, because they didn’t mention that they removed lymph nodes.”
“It’s something I had to figure out on my own,” Eggert added. “You know, from my bed going, ‘What is wrong with me?’ And it’s the discovery of all of this and then figuring out solutions that work for my body and trying everything nonstop until something.”
“It’s been strange, but the lymphatic system is miraculous. It’s resilient, and it can really back up on you and feel horrible — like tremendous pain. But then once you get it moving, and you work with it, and you understand it, it fixes itself quite easily. So, all these things I’m learning.”
Eggert mentioned that turning into educated about her most cancers and coverings had been an vital a part of her most cancers journey.
“Another part of my coping mechanism was to immerse myself and educate myself on what the processes are,” she mentioned. “A lot of people don’t, and I respect that, too. They just go through the motions and do what the doctors say. But I was very much about ‘How can I help my body along?’ You know, ‘What can I do?’ Because giving myself something to do helps me from sitting there stressing out and freaking out.”
The former “Charles in Charge” star advised Fox Information Digital that her love for her kids had sustained her all through the troublesome course of. Eggert shares daughter Dilyn, 25, with actor Justin Herwick. She can also be mom to daughter Keegan, 12, whose father she has by no means publicly revealed.
“I don’t want to see them hurt,” she mentioned. “That hurts me more than anything, is to think of them in pain or to think of them losing me or being hurt in any way. It hurts us tenfold. And so that’s what it is. It’s figuring this out and fighting as hard as I can so that my kids have a mom.”
In a January interview with Individuals journal, Eggert, whose mother and father each battled most cancers, shared that not being there for her daughters was her “biggest fear.”
“I have a 12-year-old at home where I’m the only caregiver. I have no family. I have nothing,” she mentioned. “It immediately made me realize, there’s just no succumbing to this. This is something I have to get through. This is something that I have to beat. She needs me more than anything and anybody,”
Throughout her interview with Fox Information Digital, Eggert shared that Keegan had stayed “very positive” via her mom’s most cancers battle.
“In her mind, I don’t think she could comprehend that I wouldn’t be here. So, there [are] no options,” she mentioned with amusing. “It’s, ‘You’re all I got, Mom. We got to figure this out.’”
Eggert defined that she had tried to defend Keegan as a lot as attainable from the “ugly side” of her therapy.
“When I was really sick and going through chemo, she would go away for the weekend with friends. I always made sure she had plans and was doing some things so that on those really dark days, she’s not around,” she mentioned.
“And as parents do, I cry in the shower, and I cry when she’s not home,” Eggert mentioned. “And you know, of course, there have been some instances, but that’s only natural, and that’s only human.”
“And she just is really a bright, shining light through it all and really keeps me going and really gives me the strength to fight.”
Fox Information Digital’s Elizabeth Stanton contributed to this report.
