Danielle Fishel is sharing a positive update after revealing her breast cancer diagnosis.
The Boy Meets World alum, 43, underwent two lumpectomy surgeries and was informed that the procedures successfully removed the cancer.
“There is no evidence of disease, so the surgery was successful and got the cancer out of my body,” Fishel told Today.com on Tuesday, October 15. “But they call cancer a journey for a reason. It’s not just walk in and have even one procedure and then you’re done.”
Fishel explained that she chose to undergo a lumpectomy rather than a double mastectomy because she wanted quicker recovery. She added that she didn’t have any genetic markers that would make her a candidate for a double mastectomy.
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“I got my diagnosis on July 22, and I started meeting with doctors that last week of July, and was like, ‘How can I still be at work on [August 21]? I’ve worked many years to get this opportunity to direct these five episodes of Lopez vs. Lopez that start on [August 21]. I want to get back to my normal life as quickly as possible. How do I do that?’”
After undergoing the lumpectomy, Fishel will now begin a hormone therapy pill and potentially undergo radiation. She told the outlet that she’s being “constantly monitored,” including having mammograms every three to six months and the potential of annual MRIs.
“I was so lucky that I found my cancer so early because I went and had my annual mammogram on time,” she said. “I was thinking, like, ‘Great. I caught it early. I can be done with this soon.’ But there really is no ‘done with it.’ And so that has been an emotional and mental process.”
Fishel announced her diagnosis during an August episode of her podcast, “Pod Meets World,” which she cohosts with former Boy Meets World costars Will Friedle and Rider Strong.
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“I was recently diagnosed with DCIS, which stands for ductal carcinoma in situ, which is a form of breast cancer,” Fishel said at the time. “It is very, very, very early. It’s technically stage zero. To be specific, just because I like too much information all the time, I was diagnosed with high-grade DCIS with microinvasion.”
Fishel explained on Tuesday that there was 2 millimeters of cancer when she was diagnosed. She explained it was likely too miniscule to be detected manually.
When it came to breaking the news to husband Jensen Karp —with whom she shares sons Adler, 5, and Keaton, 3 — Fishel noted that she was worried about telling him because both of his parents died of lung cancer. While she ultimately told him, she has yet to inform her kids of her diagnosis, instead telling them she was undergoing surgery and would have a “boo boo” after.
“And it means … I’m not going to be able to wrestle with you or pick you up or swing you around, and you’re going to have to hug me a little gently,’” she told the outlet of her talk with her little ones. “Both my kids were amazing and totally understood.”