Caroline Manzo Opens Up About the Emotional Toll of Her Health Scare
"It was a terrifying few months that made me think, 'I'm too frickin' young to die,'" the #Manzod mom says.
Manzo'd with Children is back, and we know that this season is going to bring all of the hysterical and heartwarming moments we've come to know and love from this family. However, we also know that a heartbreaking moment could also be on the way. The famiglia gets especially emotional at the end of this season's supertease (clip above) when it looks like Caroline Manzo finds a lump in her chest and the future seems uncertain.
Caroline spoke to The Daily Dish prior to the season premiere of Manzo'd with Children about her health scare. She said she found the painful lump at the beginning of April when she was also dealing with a broken foot. "It was a terrifying few months that made me think, 'I'm too frickin' young to die,'" Caroline said.
The gravity of the situation really hit home while Caroline was making a cake for her eldest son Albie Manzo's 30th birthday last spring. "As I'm making this cake, I'm saying to myself, I'm literally thinking this in my brain, 'Oh my God, what if this is one of the last cakes I make for him? And what if I'm not gonna be there?'" she told The Daily Dish. "Then you say to yourself, 'Well, if this is God's will, then it's God's will.' You're helpless. That's the worst part, just feeling absolutely helpless and just saying, 'OK, I just got to roll with this and see where it's gonna take me.'"
Luckily, that was the same day Caroline's doctors found that the lump had shrunk during an ultrasound. As Caroline continued to take antibiotics and she had more ultrasounds performed, her doctors eventually determined that the lump was not cancer but an infection. "Thank you, God, I'm fine," Caroline said. "It took about [the] beginning of April to the beginning of July, so [a few] months, before we got the all clear that the lump is gone. So it was a crazy infection that pretty much stumped the doctors."
At first, Caroline said she wanted to keep the matter private and not a part of this season of Manzo'd with Children for fear that it could upset her children, but then she realized that sharing her experience with viewers could do a lot of good. "I wanted to put it out there because I think it's very, very important that this lump I discovered on my own because it was painful and that I felt it. You could just feel it. But when I went for a mammogram, the mammogram did not pick it up; the ultrasound did. And so many women go and just get a mammogram and think they're OK. And that's why I put it out there, because I want to be able to say, 'No, a mammogram is not enough. Get an ultrasound. It could save your life.'"
These days, Caroline said she knows how fortunate she is to have had good news from those ultrasounds. "For me, it was an exception. For a lot of other women, they're not that lucky, and I know I'm lucky," she said. "Every second, I say thank you."
Watch Caroline and the Manzos live life to the fullest, below.
