Joan Lunden Discusses the Physical and Emotional Effects of Breast Cancer Treatment

Journalist, author and television host Joan Lunden shares her experience with breast cancer, treatment and side effects with Roy Firestone. Lunden announced her diagnosis of breast cancer in June and has been public about her cancer experience.

During the interview, Lunden was candid about wearing a wig, digestive side effects from treatment and working through treatment.

"I did not stop working but I did kind of change the way I work," she said. "I was on the road a lot. And that was the one thing that my oncologist put the kibosh on. They said, “While you’re going through chemo like this and your white blood cell count and your red blood cell count is so low, and that means you don’t have a lot of immunity, we don’t want you flying around on commercial planes.'"

Lunden also shared her advice for others who are going through cancer, including taking a friend or family member with you to appointments for support and note taking.

"I think it’s really important if you have this opportunity to take a loved one or a good friend with you. Because I will tell you, that in some of those first appointments, it was almost as though their mouth was moving but the doctors were saying, “Blah, blah, blah,” because I was just in another zone."

She emphasized to patients to put themselves first while they are going through treatment. "You just have to understand that your number one priority has to be fighting the cancer," she said, and made a special point to women, who are the natural caregivers of the family.

CURE magazine will feature Lunden's story in the February 2015 issue. You can subscribe to CURE for free at curetoday.com/subscribe.