Episodes

Day 100: Fake Celebrations & IV Hydration [Natasha Curry, RN, NP]
Oct. 20, 2022

Day 100: Fake Celebrations & IV Hydration [Natasha Curry, RN, NP]

With five sessions down, Natasha feels less like a nurse and more like a patient. Her final chemo treatment is next Wednesday, and the planned end-of-chemo celebration feels fake because surgery and radiation are still ahead. Because food tastes even...
Things You Need For Surgery with Dana Donofree
Oct. 13, 2022

Things You Need For Surgery with Dana Donofree

Dana Donofree & Kristen outline the essential shopping list for surgery and recovery, from what to bring to the hospital through the different stages of recovery. Support the podcast by ordering your AnaOno favorites through our links! As an...
Guest: Dana Donofree
Day 79: How to Win Yourself a Trip to Urgent Care [Natasha Curry, RN, NP]
Sept. 29, 2022

Day 79: How to Win Yourself a Trip to Urgent Care [Natasha Curry, RN, NP]

After her 3rd chemo, Natasha is too tired to eat. All food loses its flavor and only texture remains, so peaches and sushi taste the same. She becomes so dehydrated that she wins herself a trip to urgent care for fluids. Wondering if she metabolizes...
Day 43: Things Are Unraveling [Natasha Curry, RN, NP]
Sept. 22, 2022

Day 43: Things Are Unraveling [Natasha Curry, RN, NP]

Natasha attempts a somewhat normal life by continuing to work and dating someone new. But behind the scenes, things are unraveling. She receives news about the alarming masses on her liver and thyroid. After her second chemo, unusual and disturbing...
Day 20: Oh Wait, It Might Be Stage 4 [Natasha Curry, RN, NP]
Sept. 15, 2022

Day 20: Oh Wait, It Might Be Stage 4 [Natasha Curry, RN, NP]

Horrific acid reflux is keeping Natasha up at night. None of the remedies recommended by her doctors make a difference, except for handy dandy marijuana. Radiology detects spots on her liver and thyroid and calls her in for an emergency MRI. The...
Day 1: Chemotherapy and Cold Caps [Natasha Curry, RN, NP]
Sept. 9, 2022

Day 1: Chemotherapy and Cold Caps [Natasha Curry, RN, NP]

On the eve of her first chemotherapy infusion, Natasha hauls a pile of new prescriptions home and questions why so much harm must be done to be “healthy” again. After meeting her oncologist Dr. Chen, a specialist in HER-2 positive breast cancer, the...
Day 0, Part 2: The Pathologist Never Calls With Good News [Natasha Curry, RN, NP]
Sept. 1, 2022

Day 0, Part 2: The Pathologist Never Calls With Good News [Natasha Curry, RN, NP]

As a nurse, it was easy for Natasha to think of all the things the almond-sized lump in her armpit could be other than cancer, so she moved along with her busy life. When she realized it was not going away, her doctor sent her for a mammogram. It took...
Day 0: I Found My Own Tumor and Ignored It [Natasha Curry, RN, NP]
Aug. 25, 2022

Day 0: I Found My Own Tumor and Ignored It [Natasha Curry, RN, NP]

While leading a Doctors Without Borders mission in Malawi, Natasha’s husband of 25 years blindsided her by ending their marriage in a text message. She returned home, fell into bed for a few weeks, and eventually with the help of her friends she...
Day 549: If This Is What Kills Me, At Least I Lived a Good Life [Kristen Vengler]
Aug. 4, 2022

Day 549: If This Is What Kills Me, At Least I Lived a Good Life [Kristen Vengler]

Persistent foot pain caused by chemo forces Kristen to spend hours each day on physical therapy, taping, and stretching her feet at home. Wowing her friends with her ingenuity, she reveals that flesh-colored socks with the toes cut out are the trick...
Day 526: The Last Night Before The Last Surgery [Kristen Vengler]
July 8, 2022

Day 526: The Last Night Before The Last Surgery [Kristen Vengler]

On the eve of the final reconstructive surgery, which coincides with the 1-year anniversary of her mastectomy, Kristen reflects on how far she’s come and how many things are different from what she expected. Finally relenting to the damage in her...
Day 463: Porn Star Sized Breast Implants Were Never On My Bucket List [Kristen Vengler]
June 23, 2022

Day 463: Porn Star Sized Breast Implants Were Never On My Bucket List [Kristen Vengler]

Six weeks after the (evil) expanders are out and new 700cc “porn-star-sized” breast implants are in, Kristen shares what it feels like to be on the other side of the painfully long process of stretching her skin to make room for the permanent...
Two Nurses Turned Patients: Author Theresa Brown, RN & Natasha Curry, NP
June 15, 2022

Two Nurses Turned Patients: Author Theresa Brown, RN & Natasha Curry, NP

As a nurse, you never truly understand the level of terror your patients are experiencing until you become one yourself. New York Times best-selling author Theresa Brown, RN, shares her breast cancer treatment journey along with details about her new...
Guest: Theresa Brown, RN
Natasha’s Story: Nurse Becomes Patient [Season 2 Trailer]
June 14, 2022

Natasha’s Story: Nurse Becomes Patient [Season 2 Trailer]

Natasha Curry is not your everyday average nurse. As a palliative care nurse practitioner at San Francisco General Hospital, she cares for the poorest and most vulnerable at what is often the most challenging time of their lives. Many patients are...
Beating Lymphedema with Lymphatic Massage Expert Christine Galione, MSPT, CLT
May 27, 2022

Beating Lymphedema with Lymphatic Massage Expert Christine Galione, MSPT, CLT

When and if lymph nodes have to be removed in the course of breast cancer treatment, lymphedema is a persistent aftereffect that must be treated and cared for following surgery, sometimes for many years. Special guest and lymphedema specialist...
Guest: Christine Galione, MSPT, CLT
Things You Need for Radiation with Jen Delvaux
May 13, 2022

Things You Need for Radiation with Jen Delvaux

To help make radiation go a little better, Kristen teams up with guest Jen Delvaux to talk about their radiation experiences and share the little things that made them more comfortable. Most women head into radiation not knowing the process or what to...
Guest: Jen Delvaux
Day 422: The Weight is Off My Chest [Kristen Vengler]
April 28, 2022

Day 422: The Weight is Off My Chest [Kristen Vengler]

It’s the day after Kristen’s surgery to replace her expanders with permanent breast implants, and she’s already feeling much better. For the last 33 weeks, Kristen lived with a constant 2-4 pain level from the uncomfortable and awkward expanders....
Day 420: Goodbye Franken-Boobs [Kristen Vengler]
April 21, 2022

Day 420: Goodbye Franken-Boobs [Kristen Vengler]

It’s the night before Kristen’s implant exchange surgery. After 9 long months, the painful, lopsided tissue expanders will be replaced with silicone gel breast implants and her constant pain will come to an end. At her pre-op appointment with Dr....
Day 403: What They Don’t Tell You About Hormone Blockers [Kristen Vengler]
April 8, 2022

Day 403: What They Don’t Tell You About Hormone Blockers [Kristen Vengler]

Nobody told Kristen just how horrible the side effects from the hormone blockers would be. The neuropathy in her feet causes her to walk like an old woman and she struggles with simple, everyday movement like standing up from the couch or walking up...
Day 365: I'm Still Here [Kristen Vengler]
March 24, 2022

Day 365: I'm Still Here [Kristen Vengler]

Kristen returns to Austin during the holidays to help a friend recover from surgery, clear out the last of her old things from the storage unit, and close the door on 26 years of her life. A stinky side effect leads us to invent a new dance move, and...
Deconstructing Kristen’s Breast Reconstruction with Plastic Surgeon Dr. Salvatore Pacella (Part 2)
March 10, 2022

Deconstructing Kristen’s Breast Reconstruction with Plastic Surgeon Dr. Salvatore Pacella (Part 2)

In part 2 of our conversation with plastic surgeon Dr. Salvatore Pacella, we go behind the doors of the operating room to understand how the team functions and learn some surprising things about surgery. Looking back on Kristen’s extraordinary pain in...
Deconstructing Kristen’s Breast Reconstruction with Plastic Surgeon Dr. Salvatore Pacella (Part 1)
March 3, 2022

Deconstructing Kristen’s Breast Reconstruction with Plastic Surgeon Dr. Salvatore Pacella (Part 1)

Kristen’s plastic surgeon Dr. Salvatore Pacella joins us to deconstruct her breast reconstruction and help us understand his strategy for the multi-stage approach in which the expanders are placed at the time of mastectomy and replaced with breast...
Guest: Salvatore J. Pacella, MD
Day 301: Another Day in the Valley [Kristen Vengler]
Feb. 17, 2022

Day 301: Another Day in the Valley [Kristen Vengler]

Two months after radiation, Kristen’s chest isn’t looking like such a hot mess anymore. But in mental health terms, we’re in the valley now and nobody knows how deep or wide that valley will be. Kristen learns the hard way what happens if she misses a...
Day 248: Nothing Will Ever Be The Same Again [Kristen Vengler]
Jan. 28, 2022

Day 248: Nothing Will Ever Be The Same Again [Kristen Vengler]

Despite increasing pain and burns from the most recent round of radiation, Kristen manages to keep up with work and spend time with a friend at the beach. With only five days left until the end of radiation and “no evidence of disease,” surely there’s...
Day 198: Why I Decided to Have Radiation [Kristen Vengler]
Jan. 13, 2022

Day 198: Why I Decided to Have Radiation [Kristen Vengler]

Weary and desperate for a break in the relentlessness of breast cancer treatment, Kristen makes the decision whether or not to proceed with radiation. While the medical team followed a tight protocol during chemo and surgery, suddenly now to receive...