Beautifully Well Conversations with Nik

From “Hypochondriac” To Heard: A Breast Cancer Wake-Up Call

• Nik Sweeney • Season 1 • Episode 29

Share episode

Send us a text

Ever been told you’re “doing the most” about your health? I get it. I used to think my vigilance made me a hypochondriac—until relentless fatigue, a routine mammogram I almost skipped, and a biopsy that felt different pointed straight to breast cancer. This is a frank, grounded walk through what really happened: the missed messages, the call at work, the surgery that uncovered cancer in two lymph nodes, and the decision to face 33 rounds of radiation at 7 a.m., alone, in heels.

I share the context that changed everything, including a 2019 colon scare that taught me how to advocate, read my chart, and push for follow-up when the system lagged. We talk about why “I’m just tired” can be a legitimate red flag for women over 40, how to protect your annual mammogram, and what to do when care coordination gets messy. You’ll hear the mindset shift that carried me from a heavy first week of radiation to a steadier routine—prayer, bright lipstick, click of heels—and how that small ritual reshaped the room. Ringing the bell wasn’t the end; survivorship is the real terrain, with side effects that can surprise you years later and a calendar of scans that keeps you honest.

If you’ve ever second-guessed your instincts, this conversation offers practical tools: treat energy as data, keep the appointment, read the notes, and make your providers accountable. You’ll leave with a clearer picture of early detection, radiation realities, and the daily choices that help you stay present in your own care. Press play, share this with someone who needs a nudge to book that mammogram, and tell me: what symptom are you finally going to take seriously today? And if this resonated, subscribe, leave a review, and pass it on to a friend who needs the encouragement.

Stepping into this next chapter of health should feel empowering not overwhelming.

Simplify your journey to better health with our holistic approach to managing stress, mindfully eating, and moving more.

Beautifully well in 30 Days, the overwhelmed woman's guidebook to a clearer, realistic path to better health is available on Amazon. It includes one of our favorite meal plans you can use a blueprint to healthier eating.

Order today! https://a.co/d/iVPKbKs



Self-Care meets healthcare at Amani Nicol Wellness. Book a Service.

SPEAKER_00:

If you've ever gone to the doctors and was made to feel like you were overreacting or a hypochondriac because of your symptoms, or maybe you're that person you may even feel that you're a hypochondriac because everything that happens from small to large or what other people might call minute, you are ready to figure out what is wrong with me, what is happening with my body. If you consider yourself to be a hypochondriac, or the people around you have okay, start over. You're doing it again. Or maybe someone close to you have said, you know, girl, every time I turn around, you think something is wrong with you. Get off of Dr. Google. Or maybe you've even gone to the doctors because there was a symptom or a way that you felt that just did not feel right, and you left that office feeling like a hypochondriac. This podcast episode is for you. And not because you feel like a hypochondriac, I'm actually for the hypochondriacs out there listening. For those of you who feel like people think you're overreacting to symptoms that appear to be too small to be concerned about, I'm gonna tell you, I want you to share this episode with those people because once I share some tidbits about my breast cancer story, I'm telling you, you're gonna put those people who think you're a hypochondriac to shame. At least I hope so. And if it's not those people, if it's you internally going, oh, should I be that worried about this symptom? I'm gonna tell you, especially if you are a woman over 40, yes, be concerned about that symptom. I'm your girl, Coach Nick, living the beautifully well lifestyle and on Beautifully Well Conversations today, October 1st. Y'all know it is breast cancer awareness month. So, what better month to have a conversation about breast cancer? What better month for me to finally carve out the time, get fully present with you, my listeners, who I love the fact that you love listening in, and finally share some more details surrounding Coach Nick's breast cancer diagnosis and how my diagnosis is going to help you as women to not belittle your symptoms. Because for those of you that may have been around for a while, you know that the first symptom I had was not a lump. I was tired of feeling tired. The first symptom that led to my breast cancer diagnosis was chronic fatigue. Y'all, your girl was tired, and I'm the energizer bunny. So tired for me had to begin to feel extreme, really extreme, right? So I'm gonna walk you back to uh November 2021. We're gonna walk on this journey, y'all. I've shared a little bit about my breast cancer story here and there, sometimes on social media, a couple of podcasts, but I haven't dove deep into it. And I don't know why I feel like now in 2025 is the time for me to become fully present and hopefully empower those of you who are listening to just tap into non-traditional or non-expectant symptoms, to not feel like a hypochondriac and recognize that, especially for us women over 40, that our symptoms could be the beginning of something bigger. I'm gonna tell you. You know, I'm gonna walk you back. I want you to follow me here. I am the energizer bunny. I love energy. I wake up with energy for the most part. And in November of 2021, I was tired of feeling tired. Now, but I'm gonna give you the backstory, right? Because if you went to the doctors right now and you said, you know what, I'm gonna need you to do some blood work, run some tests, some scans, what have it. And then the doctor says, Okay, you know, we can do all of that, but um please let us know, Miss Sweeney. You know, what brings you here today? What are your symptoms? Oh, I'm tired. Okay, so you know you're tired. Okay, well, describe this tired. Oh no, I'm just I'm not my normal self. I want to fall asleep midday. I the things that I want to do, I have to force myself to do them throughout the day. And I'm talking before the sunset, right? Y'all, I'm tired. This fatigue is abnormal, and and it's not associated with anything else. I don't have a fever, I don't have the chills, I can't say that I'm working too hard. I can't say that I'm stressed beyond belief, right? Why am I feeling so tired? That's the symptom. And I need y'all to figure it out. Now, reality says if you went to the doctors and you said, I'm gonna need y'all to run some tests because I'm tired, probably the average physician is looking for more. So I gotta give you the backstory. How is it that I could go to the doctors November 2021, complain about tired, and immediately get testing done? Well, I have a history of some health concerns here, y'all. That's why I'm an advocate. That's why I do what I do. I have to go back to personal, personal experiences. In 2019, I was tired then too. I noticed I was feeling uh my tired, my level of tired was abnormal in 2019, late 2019. Um, I also found blood in my store. I had never experienced that before. Long story short, because this is not about my colon cancer misdiagnosis. We're talking about breast cancer, but I gotta reel you in why I could be that girl to go to the doctor, say I'm tired, and they listened. In 2019, a four-centimeter mass was found in my colon. I have no history of colon cancer, not even in my family. And it was immediately assumed that that polyp or that mass could have been cancerous. Fortunately, it was not. Um, but because of the sides, its location, I had to go through the whole nine in terms of surgery, caught up my colon, removed the whole nine, and continuous observation. That was 2019. So two years later, when I'm tired again, we gotta check to see what else could be going on. November 2021. My colon is fine, it's cleared. Um, couple of blood tests revealed that something is definitely going on, but we can't quite put our finger on it. February comes, y'all. It's February 2022. Time for my usual mammogram every February. I have to be honest and tell y'all that my planned mammogram late February. I was going to cancel it. My baby girl was home visiting. She lives out of state. She was visiting, and her visit uh went from, you know, the weekend into the early part of the week. And I was like, I'm having so much fun with family. Let me give them a call and reschedule this mammogram. I don't feel like going anyway. But I'm remembering I'm not putting it off long term. I'm just saying, you know, this day, late February, I'm going to reschedule this mammogram. And hopefully they can see me maybe March. But something said, don't do that. You have no reason. This mammogram is not going to take over your whole day. You'll be able to come back and spend time with your family. And I'm glad I talked myself out of it. And trust me on this: a mammogram is something I would rarely ever skip. Not on purpose, not intentionally. But this day, you know, I just wanted to spend time with family. Late February, I get the mammogram. Um time goes by, right? I will tell you, I actually missed communication with my oncologist because remember, November 2021, there's some concerns. Blood work shows there should be some concerns. So I was um given an oncologist under observation with the oncologist. So, of course, my uh mammogram results and I went back my usual, because I have a history of breast lumps, but remember, I'm not finding any lumps. That's not the reason why I'm there. And this is a routine mammogram. Um, and then it turned into needing to go back for uh a sonogram as well. Um, so it turns out gonna bypass my oncologist set on some of these results a little longer than he should have. It's now April, mid-April, and I'm told I need to come in for for a biop. Well, more more imaging. The more imaging led to a biopsy. Yeah, I hope y'all following this story. I I swear, I hope it's interesting, right? Because late February, abnormal mammogram, took too long to find out it was abnormal. Now it's early April. I'm I'm back doing more scans. Now it's time for the biopsy. This biopsy experience. If you've ever had a breast biopsy biopsy, of course, no one signs up and gets excited about this. But I had a breast biopsy before in 2010. In 2010, doing my own uh what do you what do you call it? I'm I'm in a shower and I'm doing my own breast exam, right? I'm feeling around and I find a lump. This is 2010 in my early 30s, right breast, I felt a lump. Fortunately, that lump was benign through doctor's recommendation, had it removed anyway. But in 2010, I had a biopsy. I never forgot what it felt like, but I was okay. This biopsy in April 2022, because of the biopsy, how I felt the proceed, just the procedure within itself, the air in the room from the physician and his assistant. Now, they weren't mean anything, they didn't have a bad bed, side manner, y'all, but I'm just telling you, I'm in this room and I already feel like something is not quite right. And because I experienced a breast biopsy before, um, nearly 12 years earlier, I said, Oh, this biopsy hit different, and I'm not feeling this. And I I feel like something is wrong, and I was right, so I prepared myself, right? I I know the call from the doctor, I believe, if it was not the next day, there was a two-day window because they move pretty quick. I'm sitting at work two days, a day or two, because the brain gets fuzzy. A day or two after the biopsy was done. I'm in a staff meeting. Y'all know I'm an entrepreneur. I'm sitting in my office, staff is there, we're having a meeting, and I know that phone number. I know that phone from I know that number from GBMC. I know what it looks like. And he says, he says, um, I before he could get it out, and I'm listening because I'm sitting there, I I asked my staff, you know, at the time, you know, I'm I'm gonna um let me just step out for a minute and take this call. It was a short call. It wasn't long at all. I felt like time stopped, but only for a moment. Just for a moment. Um I knew what he was gonna say and he said it. I immediately asked him what the next steps would were going to be. Um, I got real clear about those next steps. I told him thank you and walked back in my staff meeting and had that meeting, went on my work day, like like that phone call was not a breast cancer diagnosis. I'm telling you, the my work from the moment I hung that phone up, I hung up that diagnosis. I moved right on with the rest of my day. That phone call happened the uh early afternoon. Early afternoon. The workday didn't end until a little after five. I didn't call anybody, I didn't even call my husband, I didn't call my mom. I didn't call my daughters. I got through my workday. I said, because you know what? Right now is not the time for me to process all of this. I need to be in a space to process something that I have been preparing myself for, I felt. So maybe, maybe you you would have done differently. So if you were in a situation, you just got off that phone with the doctor who told gave you the worst case scenario, and you were at work, what would you had have done? A uh found the bathroom or a quiet place and cried out, get it out, pray it out. B find the nearest person you could trust to at least share, or got on a phone with a loved one to share it. C immediately leave work so that you can go and find solitude and silence in this. I don't know. I I what would you have done? I'm curious. I would love to know. Or if you are a survivor, what was it like that moment? For me, I had to put it in my back pocket and move on with the day. As a matter of fact, um, when I finally got home, I only lived a couple of minutes from the office anyway, didn't take long to get to get home. And of course, the first person I had the conversation with was my husband. Let me tell you, honey, my my husband does not show emotion. Well, and you know, he's a take one for the team type of guy, and um it was I don't remember a lot of those, the initial conversation, but what I do remember what I believe, because I didn't see things as doom and gloom. I felt like this was just another situation that we had to overcome. And don't get me wrong, I would have though the roller coaster of emotions, right? One minute thinking, you know, the unknown, which is what is the actual um stage? Because initially they said three. I was freaking out in my mind. Like this is impossible. I get a mammogram every single year. Um, every year, try not to skip it. Last year everything was fine. Why are things so different this year? But then, you know, that other roller coaster um side of it, just being optimistic, being a woman of faith, and knowing that, you know, this is not the end all be all. And then at the end of the day, y'all, I'm gonna tell you real talk. I had things to do. This was a time in business where things were finally moving at a space in a pace that was great. So this was not just a diagnosis. For me, it felt more of a distraction. Like now you got to figure out how to navigate this. Now, mind y'all, this is April. We're getting towards the end of April. There is an assumption that this is just a lump. We're just gonna remove it. Chemo could be a conversation, radiation is definitely a conversation, and I'm like, let's just move forward with the surgery, let's just remove the little thing. Surgery in May. Diagnosis in April, surgery in May. An interesting caveat to surgery was this thought that it would have been impossible that the breast cancer would have spread um through the lymph nodes or to any other part of the body. And that was, you know, an assumption leading up to surgery, even a week. It wasn't even a week before surgery. Like they were thoroughly convinced this was uh stage one. We do a lumpctomy, we do a few tests to see if chemo was going to be necessary, and we're definitely pushing for uh multiple rounds of radiation. Turns out the cancer had spread to two lymph nodes. So now we have a lymphactomy. The surgery includes lymph node removal, still outpatient, same day, and um I'm back to work. Uh maybe I want to say the same week, right back at work. I'm telling y'all, I'm giving you just bits and pieces of this for several reasons, right? You may say, This woman, when do you sit down? When do you process this? When do you become fully present in this? I honestly saw this as something, it was happening to women all around me. It's common in my family, although not genetic, and thankful to genetic testing that nope, it's not um um no braca gene testing, heavy in a family, but at the same time, because of seeing so many women fight and push through, having my moments from here, here and there, that leading up to radiation, completely rejecting chemotherapy. That's a whole nother story, not quite for this episode, but it was surgery fine, radiation crazy. And what made radiation crazy initially? Because in this episode, I'm gonna close out and I'm gonna leave you with that radiation story and follow up with the part two as we talk about how I was able to navigate through uh radiation. But surgery in May, radiation happens late August, 33 rounds, and an attitude that set in. I will tell you 7 a.m. early bird morning person. All I wanted to do was was get it over with. Um, in the beginning, that first week, uh I was just really frustrated at the fact that I had to endure 33 rounds. And it was that attitude initially in that first in the first week that I had to work on. Um I felt like I didn't need anyone to take me to radiation. Nobody needed to take me um or stay there with me. I just wanted to treat it like a regular appointment and get up and go. 33 rounds by myself each each morning. The first week was the hardest because my attitude was was the toughest. It was the roughest. It was not woe is me. It was just why do I have to be here? Why do I have to do it? And it was after that first week that I realized, oh girl, you got five more weeks to go. And if you wake up every morning to that attitude, life is gonna be harder than it has to be. And if you've ever been in a situation where you had to see the situation for what it is and take ownership of it and realize that at the end of the day, this stuff is not changing, it is going to be, it's gonna happen, and you have no choice but to figure out the best way to navigate it. That the ball is in your court from day one. How will you decide to handle it? I had to remind myself that this is the time to be grateful. I mean, you can imagine if you're you're a survivor out there and you had to endure chemo, you had to endure radiation, just dealing with the prep, even leading up to surgery. You come in contact with women who you may be able to visibly see that there's they're enduring a lot. And this is not to belittle your journey. I don't believe in doing that. Everyone's journey is their own. But I had to be grateful, y'all. Stage one B. I knew women battling at stage three. Women battling, dealing with uh recurrences, um, seeing the the cancer come back, uh relentless. And here I am for that moment. I just had to recognize that hey, this is an ordeal, it doesn't feel good, it's a lot, and this is just the beginning, right? It's just the beginning, but the way that I manage my emotions and handle it could really make the difference of how I move past this into survivorship, and so by week two, I'm getting up and I'm getting fully dressed. And when I say fully dressed, I'm dressed for work. I got on heels, I prayed that morning, better attitude, positive attitude, and ready to go, ready for the burn down. Burn down, burn up, whatever you want to call it. Um, attitude completely changed, and I could see that my attitude even helped with um it helped with the staff. It was like I became this little ray ray of sunshine in the morning. They could hear me before they could see me because the hills were on. The hills were on, the the dresses were on, the makeup was on, and um that helped get through those five weeks, and so the lesson in that I talked a little bit about it, and and that is just how do we allow our attitude and our mindset to shift when we are in a space, especially in a space where the only thing that we can control is how we deal with things, and being there, seeing so many um women, well, women and men, because the radiation wasn't reach restricted, it wasn't a women's breast center. Um, but just seeing others um indoor and go through their uh their appointments, not knowing the whole story, but feeling like, you know, every day, I'm just gonna count down. I'm gonna count down to 33. Well, I can I get my butt to 33. Uh early, early October, second week week of October 2022. I rang that bell. And I tell the story, y'all. Ringing that bell simply means that treatments are completed. It doesn't necessarily mean cancer free. You ring that bell because finally that 33rd round took place. The real journey is survivorship. October 2022. I walked away for that tiny moment, and I can't even say walked away completely because there's the follow-up. There's waiting to see the effects of radiation, and the effects of radiation can happen at any time, and it varies and it differs um for each woman differently. It is what is this, October, three years later from radiation, and I'm still experiencing that the effects of radiation. Um, what is this? Yeah, exactly. Three years later, still affected um by radiation. So you just we just never know, right? That's why they call it survivorship. Every day you will figure out how to survive. Well, again, beautiful, it is the beginning of October, October 1, to be exact, a new month to focus on our health, to reset and make sure that we are taking care of our health overall, but with a special attention to our breast health. That's part one. We're gonna talk about survivorship next. So I hope for those of you who are able to hang out, what are the takeaways from this conversation? Well, one for my hypochondriacs, continue to be a hypochondriac, especially if you're over 40, because something as simple as being tired, excessive fatigue, we gotta pay attention to that, could be an indication that something else is not quite right. And no, we should not be tired when we wake up, and no, we should not be tired midday unless there's some disconnects, y'all. And I'm talking about disconnects beyond uh eat eating healthy and exercising. You gotta pay attention to that energy. Um, second takeaway, who what is the mind, what is the mindset? How much control and how do we process emotions? Are you a suppressor? Are you do you just take things as they come? You kind of uh uh prepare for it in advance, and is that a good thing or not? That's a whole nother episode. Um, for me, I viewed that diagnosis as a distraction. I viewed it as a distraction, y'all. And guess what? Three years later, showing up. So, what I would have done differently would have been to go back and take some time to really um just be in the flow of it, and not in a pity way, but just to understand the the change, the difference, um, to be fully present in radiation, right? And just not go and show up for the appointment, but um just becoming totally aware of my my body mentally and emotionally as well. Um, and then let's think of a last takeaway. Uh, the biggest takeaway of it is to keep up with our health, keep up with your breast health, don't skip that mammogram appointment, no matter how. Much fun you're having with family, even if you're gonna postpone it. Don't postpone it, just go for it. And I'm gonna say a last takeaway: make our providers accountable. Um, I mentioned my sonogram, my um mammogram was late February. We didn't start talking about abnormalities until April, but um a note was actually in my my chart. I missed the note, I didn't go back to it, right? Remember, I'm under observation of an oncologist for several months leading up to this. So we're gonna talk about this. We're gonna talk more about this story. It's gonna flip to survivorship. And I thank you all for tuning in. Reach out to someone, share this episode, encourage someone else to feel good about noting some of these small things that could lead to bigger things, like our energy. And so it's your girl, Coach Nick, on another episode, a beautifully well conversation. Look out for the next conversations following up with here. We're going to talk a little bit more this month of October about how you show up for you and a number of series of conversations with some of our panelists that'll be showing up at our conference coming up November the 8th, the I Am Beautifully Well Conference. Look out for more information related to that. If you're in the Baltimore area or the DMV, you don't want to miss it. Make the day awesome, continue to make it beautiful, and I'll see you at the next episode.