'Very Stinking Tired': Danielle Fishel Shares Update on Her Breast Cancer Treatment
Michelle Milliken
Actress Danielle Fishel shared her breast cancer diagnosis in August, and she’s got a new update on her progress.
On the January 13 episode of her podcast “Pod Meets World”, which she cohosts with her “Boy Meets World” co-stars Rider Strong and Will Friedle, Fishel said she’d kept listeners “abreast” of her cancer diagnosis and treatment so she had an announcement. She said that she’d wrapped active treatment after getting 15 rounds of whole breast radiation and five rounds of targeted radiation. However, the side effects have been a doozy.
She said, “Boy, I am feeling the effects… I have a very bad sunburn. I also have a rash on top of the sunburn, which is just great, so it’s very itchy and, also, you can’t itch it because if you even come close to touching it, you want to cry. So yeah, hurts to wear a bra, hurts to not wear a bar, hurts to sleep on my side, hurts to sleep, period. Hurts to be awake. Hurts to live right now."
In addition to her radiation, Fishel, 43, had a surgery to treat her DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ), which is considered a non-invasive or pre-invasive form of breast cancer. She told listeners that she didn’t need any chemotherapy, but she will ultimately be put on the hormone blocker Tamoxifen to help limit the risk of recurrence.
In the meantime, she requires more healing up from her radiation side effects, which is why her care team has put off the Tamoxifen for a short while.
Among the other radiation impacts has been fatigue. Fishel says she’s “very stinking tired”, and she wasn’t too excited when her doctors told her that would probably last for the next two to three months.
She joked on the podcast, “I’m going to feel this tired for two to three months?!... And then get this, they told me if I want to feel better faster, I need to work out and drink water. You want me to be tired and take care of myself?!”
She said she plans to drink more than the “12 ounces of water” she usually manages per day and has begun working out.
The mother of two young children shared her diagnosis on “Pod Meets World” in August. She said she’d always thought if she were diagnosed with cancer, she’d keep the news to a small circle until treatment was over. However, she reconsidered after speaking with other breast cancer survivors, who inspired her to help others at the beginning and “messy middle” of their journeys. She also wanted to encourage people to get their screenings.
At the time, she said, “The only reason I caught this cancer when it is still stage 0 is because the day I got my text message that my yearly mammogram had come up, I made the appointment… It would be so easy to say, ‘I don't have time for that. I went to my mammogram last year, I was fine…’ And I didn't … and they found it so early that I’m going to be fine.”
