The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - The Life Changing Scan with Kevin Manno

Episode Date: February 6, 2025

No symptoms, no issues, but a thyroid cancer diagnosis? Radio & television host Kevin Manno shares how his wife Ali and a full body scan changed his life forever as he reveals an update on his health.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. My boyfriend's professor is way too friendly, and now I'm seriously suspicious. Wait a minute, Sam. Maybe her boyfriend's just looking for extra credit. Well, Dakota, luckily, it's back to school week on the OK Storytime podcast, so we'll find out soon. This person writes, my boyfriend's been hanging out with his young professor a lot. He doesn't think it's a problem, but I don't trust her. Now he's insisting we get to know each other, but I just want her gone.

Hold up. Isn't that against school policy? That seems inappropriate. Maybe find out how it ends by listening to the OK Storytime podcast and the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Let's start with a quick puzzle. The answer is Ken Jennings' appearance on The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs. The question is, what is the most entertaining listening experience in podcast land? Jeopardy Truthers believe in... I guess they would be Kenspiracy theorists. That's right.

To give you the answers and you still blitzers. The Puzzler. Listen on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, my name is Enya Humanzor. And I'm Drew Phillips. And we run a podcast called Emergency Intercom. If you're a crime junkie and you love crimes, we're not the podcast for you. But if you have unmedicated ADHD... Oh my God, perfect. And want to hear people with mental illness. Psychobabble Yes, yes Then Emergency Intercom is the podcast for you

Open your free IHeartRadio app Search Emergency Intercom And listen now I just normally do straight stand-up But this is a bit different What do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club Answer

A new podcast called Wisecrack Where a comedian finds himself At the center of a chilling true crime story Does anyone know what show they've come to see It's a story It's about the scariest night of my life this is wisecrack available now listen to wisecrack on the iHeart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts this is the ben and ashley i almost famous podcast with iheart radio it's almost famous podcast we are here today to speak to somebody who's been in the headlines recently for something very unfortunate uh and something we want to get some clarity on uh because i've honestly i I'm reading through our rundown, and there's just a lot of intrigue that I have to speak to Kevin Mano.

That's how I said it, right? Mano. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you got it. Hi, guys. Kevin Mano is also known as Ali Fittoski Mano's husband. That's right. And his relationship to Bachelor Nation. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's how I've met. You guys, you've both been very nice over the years, and your team sent some nice stuff over here after my news came out. So thank you guys. Of course. You have a radio voice, and I know you have a career in radio. As we kick this thing off, I want to keep it light at the beginning, if possible. Are you still working in radio? Kind of give everybody an idea of where they could hear you or where they can catch up with you.

Sure. Yeah, that's thanks. We'll do the plug right off the top. I like it. Yeah, I do a morning show, a morning radio show. I did it in one in L.A. for like 104.3, My FM there. And now I am on 107-5, The River. in Nashville. We've lived in Nashville for four years or so, and I do the morning show here on a

station called The River with my friends Ricky and Zach, and it's a ton of fun. And I've been doing morning radio for, you know, almost 15 years now. And I absolutely love it. I wake up at four o'clock even on the weekends. And so that schedule suits me. I like it. Whoa. Yeah, I know. That's a special person. Something wrong with me. But then I also do a daily podcast, which is just my own solo thing called First Thing with Kevin Manna, which is 10 minutes every morning, just a quick recap of all of the top headlines, just a very easy, efficient way to get the news in the morning. So doing all that. I've listened to your podcast. I think it's great. I love the concept of a quick hitter to get me caught up. And then any further details I need, I can go out

and kind of research. I think it's fantastic. Totally. And I'm so, I love listening to podcasts and music I always have my my AirPods in so to be able to get sort of the headlines without having to doom scroll just while you're doing other things while you're getting yourself ready in the morning like that to me that's how I want to consume the news so that's that's what I'm doing you just said that you've been in Nashville for about four years I remember when I moved to Rhode Island uh Ali I think she I think she messaged me being like I'm also in like the same boat right now we just move to a new place like I'm kind of regretting it we both having move from L.A. at the same time.

And she was like, I hear it's supposed to take two years to get adjusted to a new place. How have you guys adjusted now, four years in? We've definitely adjusted. I mean, there are still things that we miss, honestly, we miss about California. We will always love California. We go back and visit. We have a bunch of friends there, but no, Nashville is home now,

and we love it here. We have a ton of friends. The kids have tons of friends, so I love my job. Like, it didn't take, about two years was right. I would say two years in a new place is probably a good, pretty good, you know, barometer. But yeah, we're good now. We're settled here. Well, you might have a new neighbor and Ben in a few years. Yeah, my family. Yeah, my wife's family is all from Nashville, so everybody keeps pushing us. Yeah, Ben, I'm sure you and I talked about this a lot a long time

ago when we first met, but I grew up. I spent so much time in Warsaw, Indiana. That's where all of my mom's sisters and my grandma, that's where everybody lived when I was growing up. So we were always there. I remember this. Not a lot of people have been there, but the good ones have, Kevin. Yes. It feels like you're always meeting somebody who has memories from Warsaw then. It's a popular spot. For such a small town.

Is it a little bit of a lake? Yeah, it's just like it's kind of like a hub. People gravitate towards it when they want to better themselves. Oh, Ashley, how are you? How are you? Do you say Rhode Island? How are you there? Yeah.

I've definitely adjusted. I would still rather be by my family in Virginia. But we'll see. That might happen at some point. She makes no secrets, Kevin. Speaking of family. Kevin, before we dive into kind of why we're here today, Ali did leave for special forces.

And that is a topic that I am curious about. Now, I'm a little confused, Kevin, and maybe you can bring some clarity to this. Trista and Ryan, obviously, are married. Trista was on the show as well. Ryan was posting. We're not going to go into how we feel about the post. We've already done that in a very past episode.

But he was posting like she was gone for a long time, even though we only saw her on two episodes, right? Yes. Ali, similar situation when she left the show. Are they gone a lot longer? And then my follow up to that is, how was that on you being kind of a solo parent? My mom came and helped out when she was gone,

which was very nice that, you know, I needed to help because of my job and having to get the kids of school and all that stuff. Your kids are younger too. And honestly, Allie had trained so hard

for special forces. Like, truly, she was fully committed to this. We got a cold plunge because of it. She was working out three times a day. Like, it was crazy. She was ready. So we were hoping she would be gone the whole time.

Like, best case scenario, when she said goodbye to me that morning when she was leaving the hotel, like I wouldn't hear from her for 10 days, sadly that did not happen they made her leave the show because her finger she hurt her finger

and so they medically withdrew her but yeah she was there there were like two or three days of like you know doing interviews and like stuff just random stuff that happens with the TV show before they even left

to go start filming the show so I would say all total she was she was only on two episodes of the show but she was probably gone for seven or eight days and those seven or eight days you had support and so I mean

as sad as it is to not have your spouse around, you were doing okay. I was doing okay. And, you know, I mean, distance makes the heart grow fonder whenever, you know, if she's out of town for a couple days, it's nice to have a big bed to myself. Yeah, you can stretch out. I've got it. Yeah.

Full starfish. Didn't she, like, train for six weeks? Yeah, I mean, the minute she... How did she know that they could have that much notice? I feel like oftentimes you don't get that. I'm not sure why. Honestly, she, as far as we know, she was one of the first people to be approaching. about the show and she said yes and she started training immediately we we started watching the

previous episodes of the show and she just hit the ground run in like that day um and i was i mean i like i like to work out and stay active and fit but i was blown away by the thing she was doing and how strong she got before the show and it was man like i was sleeping one night it was you know two nights into her filming the show and my phone rang and she has like a special ring on my phone and it woke me up and my heart just sank because i knew that meant she was back with her phone in a hotel room somewhere and she was no longer on the show. So that was rough, but I'm still proud of her. Yeah.

Yeah, it's a big deal just to say yes. Yeah. Kevin, we're talking about family and we're talking about physical fitness. And the reason we're here today is because recently you've came out publicly about your diagnosis with thyroid cancer. The first question I have for you is, how are you doing right now? Do we have an update since the announcement? Yeah. I mean, honestly, I'm a little anxious because I have surgery coming up in a few days here,

and I haven't really had too many surgeries in my life. So the whole thing is just sort of, you know, freaking me out a tiny bit. But I know I'm in good hands with my surgeon and everybody at Vanderbilt here in Nashville. But really, I'm not just saying this. I'm so good. I feel like the overwhelming feeling is just like gratitude that we caught it and that I know about this and that we have a plan and that everybody has been so supportive. And again, my mom is coming back to help us out when I'm recovering from the surgery.

But I just, I feel good. I'm not stressed. I'm not freaked out. I'm like, I know that this is an easy one to just go in there and get. And then, you know, I have to be in bed for a bit to recover. But I'll be back in action before, before you know it. So I feel good. I really do.

Your Instagram noticed to all the followers about it was also very positive. What were your symptoms going? into it that made you even get checked out in the first place? None. I had no symptoms. Allie and I, yeah, a little over a year ago, we went to Chicago and we did those prenuvo full body scans. Okay, I just reached out to them because Trista also just got one. And I was like, hey, I'm interested. Yeah, I mean, that's the only reason I know about this, honestly. No. Yes. When we did it, you know, we got our results from the scans. And for the most part, Allie and I both had, you know, clean bill of health, which was great, but we obviously shared the results of the scans with our doctor.

and there were like two tiny dots on my thyroid that she was like, let's keep an eye on that. You know, we'll check back in in a year and see if it's grown or if it's nothing, whatever. And so a year after we did those scans, she wanted me to get an ultrasound on it. I did. And yeah, then we found out that those little spots

had doubled in size over the past year. So then we did a biopsy and then a cat scan. So we did all the stuff. And here we are. I would not have known had it not been for that full body scan. pre-nova is like the next step in our health I really feel like be totally magical if we could just make getting one of those scans every few years to be like our annual checkup yes and that's so that's kind of my I mean if anybody is you know paying a little more attention to us in our

life at the moment that would be the message I want to get out there is just preventative care whatever you can do to you know be aggressive when it comes to your health and get checked whatever that looks like for you, everybody should be doing whatever they can to just stay on top of these issues. That's like Maria Menunos, she had pancreatic cancer, and they found it so early, which pancreatic cancer is never found early. And she had a baby on the way and everything, and she's fine because they caught it that early with pre-novo. Yeah, there's not enough emphasis in our health care system. We're not here to go on a rant about the health care system, but about preventative stuff.

You know what I mean? A lot of it is like treatment-based. But any sort of preventative care you can do, I think is a great idea. My boyfriend's professor is way too friendly, and now I'm seriously suspicious. Well, wait a minute, Sam. Maybe her boyfriend's just looking for extra credit. Well, Dakota, it's back to school week on the OK Storytime podcast, so we'll find out soon. This person writes, my boyfriend has been hanging out with his young professor a lot.

He doesn't think it's a problem, but I don't trust her. he's insisting we get to know each other, but I just want her gone. Now hold up, isn't that against school policy? That sounds totally inappropriate. Well, according to this person, this is her boyfriend's former professor and they're the same age. It's even more likely that they're cheating. He insists there's nothing between them. I mean, do you believe him? Well, he's certainly trying to get this person to believe him because he now wants them both to meet. So, do we find out if this person's boyfriend really cheated with his professor or not?

To hear the explosive finale, listen to the OK Storytime podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. Hi, my name is Enya Umanzor. And I'm Drew Phillips. And we run a podcast called Emergency Intercom. If you're a crime junkie and you love crimes, we're not the podcast for you. But if you have unmedicated ADHD... Oh my God, perfect.

And want to hear people with mental illness, psycho babble. Yes, yes. Then Emergency Intercoms the podcast for you. Open your free IHeart Radio app. Search Emergency Intercom, and listen now. Everyone thinks they'd never join a cult. But it happens all the time to people just like you. And people just like us.

I'm Lola Blanc. And I'm Megan Elizabeth. We're the host of Trust Me, a podcast about cults, manipulation, and the psychology of belief. Each week we talk to fellow survivors, former believers, and experts to understand why people get pulled in and how they get out. Trust me, new episodes every Wednesday on exactly right. Listen wherever you get your podcast.

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On America's Crime Lab, we'll learn about victims and survivors, and you'll meet the team behind the scenes at Othrum, the Houston Lab that takes on the most hopeless cases, to finally solve the unsolvable. Listen to America's Crime Lab on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Now, for the listeners, I think a first big takeaway, you obviously went to Chicago for this and you live in a metropolitan area

that has a lot of access to incredible health and services. If somebody's listening, no matter what kind of financial place they're in in life, where can they find one of these facilities? where do you recommend them reaching out to? I mean, Prenuvo has, you know, offices around the country. There are none in Nashville. I think the closest one actually to Nashville would be Atlanta. Chicago would probably be second,

but I know there's a bunch in California. They are all over the place. So their website has a full, you know, list of where you could go do it. If that's something you are able to do. I know there are other places where you can do like a, you know, a pretty comprehensive blood draw and they'll do a ton of tests on you. So, you know, whatever's in your price range. if any of this stuff is, I would just say look into whatever works.

Yeah. Why did you decide to get it in the first place? That's all Allie. She's very, she's so much more on top of this stuff than I am. So if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't even know about it, but she knows all these things and we're always doing all the stuff. And I'm so thankful for that. Or else I would just be walking around with thyroid cancer and have no idea.

Yeah. I haven't got a physical in years, which brings me the next question. That'd be me, Ben, if it would, Ali wasn't in my life. You're making me feel all convicted here. You know, when you get this kind of news, it's something you don't really prepare for. And I know that you're positive. And I know your doctor even initially called it like the boring cancer, which I think would feel good. But how did Allie respond and how have the two of you support each other in the midst of still getting news that you have cancer?

I mean, it feels weird to say that it's brought us closer, and it's not like we had any issues prior to this, but it has. It's been a nice, like, bonding experience because she has really taken the reins on just, like, reading all the stuff and reaching out to all the people and making all the appointments for me. And, like, I'm, my doctor told me to, you know, alleviate stress from my life, so I'm trying not to do any of that stuff. And she is taking it all on, and I could not be more appreciative. She's, she's really, I mean, I wouldn't be in the situation. without her and I wouldn't be able to do it like I am without her either because yeah it's just it's been great and I'm very thankful for for everything she's done now if you had symptoms what would they be what should people look out for that's a good question we should get allie in here to talk

because she's the one doing all the reading I know most of the time people will like develop like a lump that they can feel and touch in their in their throat because the thyroid's like right below your adam's apple area so that's how most people realize that they've got something going on is they'll you know, they'll feel this giant thing growing inside of them. And you're deciding whether or not, or at least the last time I heard, we heard from you publicly, you were deciding whether to get half of it out or the full thyroid out. Yeah. Have you decided? And what does that even mean for your life going forward?

I think I was so freaked out at first about having cancer that I was like, go, just take the whole thing out. Like, I don't want to have to deal with this again in two years. I don't want to keep an eye on the other half to see if that now has cancer. like always i just get rid of it and i don't want to think about it anymore that's kind of where i was at first but the more we looked into it everybody all the experts were saying like if you can save half you should always save half whatever body part that might be uh you know try to save what you can um so yeah i think that's where we are now and my surgeon is not going to know until she gets in there to see like there are some little like lymph nodes or

something that might the cancer might have spread to those and she's going to they're going to like while I'm under on the table, they're going to, like, send those to the lab to see if they're cancerous, whatever. They might have to take the whole thing, and if that's the case, that, you know, that's what they're going to have to do. But I really hope, I mean, this is, you know, we all think about like these cosmetic things and stuff, but I don't care about a scar or anything, but I do work with my voice doing radio. And so whatever, I've heard some stories from people that are like, oh, my voice didn't really heal for eight months. And that's not going to work for me, really so I just I hope that they can you know avoid any damage to my vocal cords but I'm again

I know I'm in the best hand so I'm not too worried about it I feel like a doctor in Nashville probably has worked with a lot of people that rely on their voices totally um and so I'm guessing that isn't like a new shocking thing you you have surgery and worse on Dana they might be like I don't know what's going to happen I think they know what's going to happen in Nashville uh Kevin you we did mention that you to have some, some smaller children. I'm curious about if they know of this situation, maybe how you told them or why you decided not to. No, we did. I was so, I was so nervous about telling our kids and our daughter is so sensitive and she's eight and she knows what cancer is. We have friends that have, you know, battled cancer and she's seen them lose their hair

and everything. So I was, I was worried that she would freak out when she heard that word. But But we told him as softly as we could, like, the doctors found the smallest amount of cancer. They're just going to go in, remove it. It's not going to be a big deal. And then I said, and Mimi's coming when I'm, when I'm after the surgery, when I'm in bed. She goes, me, this is the best surgery ever. That was her response. So she was fine.

They're okay with it. They're excited that I'm going to be home from work for a week. So how do you regulate hormones and such? How does the thyroid like, you know, that's what it does? Yeah. How does your body continue to do that once it's out? That's a great question, Ashley. I don't know if you looked it up or knew that because I didn't.

No, I like to pretend that I'm a doctor on TV. That was good. I didn't know anything about the thyroid before any of this happened. But there's like a very standard medication. I would say the name of it, but I know I'd get it wrong. But like my mom had her thyroid removed a long time ago. They found pre-cancerous cells on hers. So she's been taking this medicine every day for, I mean, over 20 years.

And it's just a pill you take every day. And it just, it's like, you know, does what the thyroid would do. One of my best friends had his thyroid removed when he was a teenager, and he's doing just fine. But yes, he takes a pill every day, and it helps regulate everything. Kevin, as we close up here with you, you mentioned at the beginning, there's a little anxiety right now about the surgery itself, maybe not as much even why the surgery is happening, but the surgery itself. And I wanted to hear if you could dig into that anxiety a little bit, how are you feeling? and what is exactly making you nervous about, you know, next week? Yeah, the only other surgery I've ever had was I had one single wisdom tooth removed

and that was the only time I've ever been put under and that was, I mean, 15 years ago, so before I had kids or anything and sorry to get heavy on you here, but like I keep just like my mind wanders to like, what if I don't wake up? And I know that's, you know, a one in a millionth chance of happening. But those are probably natural thoughts for people to have. if they're going to experience this for the first time, really, in their life. So that's kind of where my mind goes, but I very quickly know that's not going to happen. It's all going to be great.

Again, I'm in great hands. But, you know, I mean, just spinning the wheels and stuff like that for no real reason. My dad's an anesthesiologist, and yet, if I ever have surgery, it's the waking up from the sleep that is the scariest thing to me as well. Yeah. Yeah. But he's, I mean, is it an inappropriate? question to ask you know since you have somebody in the field like does it people usually wake up right i'm very i don't think that that happens so so rarely hi like how are you good you're great kevin

thank you ashley i just text alie instead if you're here pop up and here she is i just wanted to say hi yeah alley we only have one i mean we have so many questions for you but we'll only ask you one based on respect for you we were wondering the symptoms of thyroid cancer or if Kevin was experiencing them for people to look out for and he thought you would know. Oh, God. I told them that you've been doing all the reading,

all the research. I have been doing all the reading. I feel like that's when I haven't been reading up as much just because he didn't have any. We already knew he had it. But from what I understand, the symptoms are feeling like a lump in your neck. So it's just sort of feeling your neck

and feeling your thyroid and seeing if you feel like a little bulge or, you know, but it's not necessarily sore. It can be sore. Horseness, like a horse voice all of a sudden, could be an early sign. But from what I understand, like, the most people find out from like an accidental scan. Like going in and getting scanned for something else and then they see it. The people who don't have symptoms. But, yeah, I mean, gosh, we're just so lucky that we found it.

Yeah, we're just, I think, he's more anxious than he's letting us. on also let me just say well i just have a lot of anxiety in general i'm just i'm an anxious person yeah like he's like playing it cool and everything and he's being very positive which is also important but you know it's still cancer and it's still surgery and i think alley's getting annoyed with me like you know her and the kids are trying to relax at the end of the night i'm just pacing around the house just looking for things to stay busy yeah so yeah she she definitely witnesses my anxiety but it's it's not too bad but we're like making plans like tonight we're going out with friends to play trivia and i'm just we're trying to do things to like just keep his mind busy because also what we've heard

from other people who have had cancer, stress is like the absolute worst thing for cancer. You want to minimize that as much as possible. So we're trying. My boyfriend's professor is way too friendly and now I'm seriously suspicious. Oh, wait a minute, Sam. Maybe her boyfriend's just looking for extra credit. Well, Dakota, it's back to school week on. the okay story time podcast, so we'll find out soon. This person writes, my boyfriend has been

hanging out with his young professor a lot. He doesn't think it's a problem, but I don't trust her. Now, he's insisting we get to know each other, but I just want her gone. Now hold up, isn't that against school policy? That sounds totally inappropriate. Well, according to this person, this is her boyfriend's former professor and they're the same age. It's even more likely that they're cheating. He insists there's nothing between them. I mean, do you believe him? Well, he's certainly trying to get this person to believe him because he now wants them both to So do we find out if this person's boyfriend really cheated with his professor or not? To hear the explosive finale, listen to the OK Storytime podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Hi, my name is Enya Umanzor. And I'm Drew Phillips. And we run a podcast called Emergency Intercom. If you're a crime junkie and you love crimes, we're not the podcast for you. But if you have unmedicated ADHD... Oh my God, perfect. And want to hear people with mental illness, psychobabble. Yes, yes.

Then Emergency Intercom is the podcast for you. Open your free IHeartRadio app. Search Emergency Intercom and listen now. My name is Ed. Everyone say hello, Ed. Hello, Ed. I'm from a very rural background myself. My dad is a farmer and my mom is a cousin.

So, like, it's not like... What do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? I know it sounds like the start of a bad joke, but that really was my reality nine. years ago. I'd just normally do straight stand-up, but this is a bit different. On stage stood a comedian with a story that no one expected to hear. Well, 22nd of July 2015, a 23-year-old man had killed his family.

And then he came to my house. So what do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? A new podcast called Wisecrack. where stand-up comedy and murder takes center stage. Available now. Listen to Wisecrack on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Everyone thinks they'd never join a cult.

But it happens all the time to people just like you. And people just like us. I'm Lola Blanc. And I'm Megan Elizabeth. We're the hosts of Trust Me, a podcast about cults, manipulation, and the psychology of belief. Each week we talk to fellow survivors, former believers and experts to understand why people get pulled in and how they get out trust me new

episodes every wednesday on exactly right listen wherever you get your podcasts you know kevin we're talking alley uh as we closed up here uh on why he was anxious and i you know take it from me i've had 10 surgeries none of them cancer related so i'm not there's no quantifying, you know, better or worse here. I always, no matter what, and I don't think I'm scared of surgery. I always have these thoughts for like three days leading up to the big event of like worst case in error thinking. And you know what it is for me? It comes from most of my life I try to have control. And I know that for this period of time in my life, I'm going to have zero control. But here's the cool part. Here's the thing to find comfort in. The people that will have control

are literally the experts at keeping you alive. Like, that's what they get paid for. And like, I don't get, I don't even know how to keep myself alive, but they do. And Ben's not joking when he says he doesn't know how to keep himself alive. When was your last physical, Ben?

This whole thing is about... Five years ago. It's, I'm going to get so much trouble. My mom's going to listen to it. My wife's going to listen to this. They're going to right away be so mad at me. I know. You have to, like, get your blood work done into that.

See, this is like a wifely duty, right? Yeah. I feel like I'm always the one that's like, I'm making you a doctor's appointment. because I know that you never, ever will. Yeah. That's exactly us, too. I'm, I'm sure Kevin might have already said this, but since this happened, I've, like, ordered

everything under the sun, whether it did you know, I'm like, Brazil nuts or blueberry powder or broccoli sprouts. We have changed so many. We have a new gray toilet paper in the house. I mean, there's so many little changes that she's implemented. It's not bleached because regular toilet paper is bleached, so we're just like, we're making. No way. Yeah.

And down there, especially, you know, for girls, like, there's a lot of. Very sensitive, absorbent parts of your body down there. So it's, anyway, it's a whole mother, damn. Ali, come on and do another health podcast with us. I love it. Kevin, you're never going to have a cheeseburger again. Well, I don't want that to happen. We've gone down the health rev for sure.

But you know what? That's good. To me, like, it's only positive to make positive changes in your life. Well, we'll be thinking about you guys. We have been, obviously, this is a, this is a, this is a big deal not to be go understated but your positivity your outlook and also here's the cool part what everybody that knows is saying is this is going to be great like you're going to be just fine and that is an awesome thing to celebrate we're glad you caught it early

and thankful for those scans everybody listening if you have the opportunity the chance go do it it saves some lives it's also saved some really different situation. So, but yes, we'll be thinking about you. When is the day to the surgery again? So anybody listening can check in? I'm not sure when this will be posted, but it's a few days away. It's the 10th. It's Monday. So the day after the Super Bowl. Okay, we'll have it up. And I will be checking in to the hospital that night to have our very first baby. So I'll be in the hospital. Are you serious? Oh, yeah. You guys, this is the craziest thing ever. You're both going to do this on Super Bowl Sunday. You're not going to be able to enjoy that moment at all.

That's all right. More important things in life, right? Oh, Ben, that's awesome. No, congratulations, man. Congratulations, that's so exciting. Thank you. That's why I was asking the parenting questions. I'm trying to get any wisdom and advice that I can. And so how do you tell your kids really difficult news?

And it sounds like you just sandwich it with. And by the way, grandma or grandpa's coming. They go, oh, cool. All right, we're good. Yeah. That really works. I want to end with a fun question for both of you guys because you're both going into something life-changing, possibly, in all good ways on Monday, what is your, like, guilty

pleasure comfort thing? Is there a food that you're going to celebrate with? Is there a song that's keeping you keeping your spirits up? It's a good question. Kevin will be eating broccoli, sprouts, and blueberries. No, I'm looking forward to, Allie and my mom bringing me a bunch of smoothies because the doctor said I just have to drink food for a while, so I like a good peanut butter smoothie. But I also, I mean, it's not a song, but I'm looking, I don't lay in bed and watch movies ever, but I'm going to watch all of the best picture nominees while I'm laying in bed recovering. So I'm going to watch all those Oscar-nominated movies.

All those very indie movies these days. Yeah, I know. Then? That's, what are my comforts? Yeah. Goodness, right now, it's vodka soda at the end of the day. Or honestly, my. wife and I have spent the last week, like going to bed early, laying in bed and just appreciating

like this time before chaos of just the dog, two of us snuggling watching TV without any other thoughts in the world. I mean, man, it's your final few days of just the two of you. That's wild. Really try to savor as much as you can. It's awesome and wild. Can I give my last minute unsolicited parent advice? Okay. One thing, especially now that our kids are older that I have been reflecting on every day. And I think this has been like even multiplied a hundredfold since we've got Kevin's diagnosis is just how quickly time is going by. Right. And once you have kids, time is going to start going by so much faster than it used to. Right. Like I feel like the last nine years of my life, our daughter's eight,

but I was pregnant for that first time, has gone by faster than like the previous 25 years. And so I guess my advice would be, like, to slow down as much as you can. Like, because it truly, they say it goes by so fast. I know that's such a cliche thing to say, but I think when you think of it in terms of, like, I don't know, hearing from parents that truly the time, like, it's just, it's like fast forward. And then now with what's going on with Kevin and health, and we realize, like, we're at that stage in life where people start getting cancer and people start getting sick and old, it just makes you, like, really appreciate every moment. So that would be my grace. And then Kevin, Allie, I wonder if you're with me on this. You're going into your first child.

Like, it's going to be fine. It's the second one that just turns your world upside down. Yeah. I could bring a thousand. Same here. And I miss those days when our daughter, Molly, was just a tiny little baby, just taking care of a tiny little baby. It was like, that was your only care in the world.

It was so great. So you're going to love it. Yeah. Yeah. Jared and I were thinking out this a lot this week. I don't know why this. week of all weeks but we're like do you remember when was just Dawson how easy was that how did we think that was ever hard yeah but it is going to be hard ben don't yeah yeah yeah i'm sorry

that's going to be hard too it is hard it don't feel bad for being hard it's uh it's an exciting time uh again kevin wishing the best um this been almost famous podcast and i've been ben i've been ashley see yeah follow the ben and ashley i almost famous podcast on i heart radio or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. My boyfriend's professor is way too friendly, and now I'm seriously suspicious. Wait a minute, Sam. Maybe her boyfriend's just looking for extra credit.

Well, Dakota, luckily, it's back to school week on the OK Storytime podcast, so we'll find out soon. This person writes, my boyfriend's been hanging out with his young professor a lot. He doesn't think it's a problem, but I don't trust her. Now he's insisting we get to know each other, but I just want her gone. Hold up.

Isn't that against school policy? That seems inappropriate. Maybe. out how it ends by listening to the O.K. Storytime podcast and the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Let's start with a quick puzzle. The answer is Ken Jennings' appearance on The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs. The question is, what is the most entertaining listening experience in podcast land?

Jeopardy-truthers believe in... I guess they would be Kenspiracy theorists. That's right. They gave you the answers, and you still blew it. The Puzzler. Listen on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, my name is Enya Umanzor. And I'm Drew Phillips. And we run a podcast called Emergency Intercom.

If you're a crime junkie and you love crimes, we're not the podcast for you. But if you have unmedicated ADHD... Oh my God, perfect. And want to hear people with mental illness, psychopaths. Yes, yes. Then Emergency Intercom is the podcast for you. Open your free IHeartRadio app. Search Emergency Intercom and listen now.

I just normally do straight stand-up, but this is a bit different. What do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? Answer, a new podcast called Wisecrack, where a comedian finds himself at the center of a chilling true crime story. Does anyone know what show they've come to see? It's a story. It's about the scariest night of my life. This is Wisecrack, available now.

Listen to Wisecrack on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.