Speaker 1: 0:00

This episode sponsored by Cram Crew Learn more at CramCrewcom and Stuart Orango Oral Surgery Learn more at SAOralsSurgeonscom. Welcome to the Bubble Lounge. I'm Martha Jackson. In October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and that's what we are going to talk about today. I came across this lady on Instagram, kathy Williamson, with the middle page blog, and she shares her journey of how she discovered she had breast cancer. She had no symptoms, she had no lumps, couldn't feel anything, and doing her annual mammogram they discovered something very serious was going on. I found her story to be very compelling and very inspiring and I wanted her to share it with you all today. So, kathy, welcome to the show.

Speaker 2: 0:48

Martha, thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it Of course.

Speaker 1: 0:52

Well, I have followed you on Instagram for a bit now, but something that really got my attention at the beginning of October was a t-shirt that you had on. Oh, yes, I remember that t-shirt.

Speaker 2: 1:03

And it says tell them what it says. It says, yes, these are fake. The real ones tried to kill me.

Speaker 1: 1:11

I know.

Speaker 2: 1:12

And either you're going to like it or not like it, but it's pretty much the truth.

Speaker 1: 1:16

I mean it's just, it's like quite the statement, you know. It is a breast cancer awareness month here in October and I wanted to do an episode anyway. But when I saw your shirt I was like that's who we're having on.

Speaker 2: 1:26

You have to talk to.

Speaker 1: 1:27

Kathy. So walk us through what happened and along with your journey with breast cancer.

Speaker 2: 1:33

Well, this all started 10 years ago. I just actually celebrated my 10-year cancer. I call it my cancerversary.

Speaker 1: 1:41

So it's a big deal. Congratulations yeah, it's a huge deal.

Speaker 2: 1:44

It's a huge deal, but what I had was something called triple negative breast cancer, and that is a breast cancer that's a little bit more well, a lot more aggressive, and it usually affects only 15 to 20% of all breast cancers, so it's not that common. However, it's become becoming more common and it used to be just it used to be a cancer back in, I would say, like 30 years ago. 25 years ago that really affected mostly affected young black women, and now it's affecting everyone, and can I just say this is really important it's affecting really young women, and so I'm a big, big advocate for telling younger women that I don't care if you're I mean like in your 20s, even that you I would just say that if you can go get a mammogram, just a baseline, so you have that baseline even in your 20s, and then, if you something comes up, you'll have something to compare to. I'm a big believer that the the average age of a mammogram should be a lot younger than 40. I would love to see it at at least 30. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 3:12

No, everything that you're saying is making me think. You know, it wasn't until I was 40-ish that I had my first one, and I don't think I would have thought twice about having it when I was younger.

Speaker 2: 3:20

Well, I didn't either, and so that's why I'm saying it's just the more I I believe, and this is my opinion. However, I've talked to my doctors about this, but I believe that triple negative is actually environment, like an environmental cancer. Because triple negative, so there are three markers for your regular breast cancer, and that's estrogen, progesterone and something called HER2. And those are the three markers that usually make up a breast cancer and most women are. I would say. A lot of women are estrogen positive, progesterone positive and HER2 negative and so and that's kind of, I think, the better of all the breast cancers if you, if you had to pick one. But triple negative is negative, those three markers, and so they don't really know where it comes from. So I believe that it's environmental and the reason I say that it's important for women, even younger women, to get tested, because look what's in our, our environment now, with food, just I mean, whatever we're, whatever we're breathing water, whatever I just I'm a big advocate for getting a mammogram early.

Speaker 1: 4:46

Yeah, I mean, we're exposed to just so many things in the environment, like you're saying, and I feel like Americans have the world's worst diet imaginable out there, absolutely, absolutely. So all that extra crap that's in our food, you know Exactly, and so, yeah, I was going to ask you if you felt like it was environmental, hereditary. Just bad luck, I guess. Just a little bit of everything, just depending, I think so.

Speaker 2: 5:09

I, I tested, so I had a genetic testing done after I was diagnosed with this, and triple negative usually goes along with the broccogene, okay, but I tested negative for all that, so, and no one in my family's ever had it, so it's I. I believe that it's like we just said. I mean, maybe luck of the draw and environmental.

Speaker 1: 5:35

Well, let's go back to when you first found out I mean I, that's literally.

Speaker 2: 5:39

My worst nightmare is the doctor calling and saying something this intense is going on?

Speaker 1: 5:45

Tell us about that experience.

Speaker 2: 5:46

So okay, so I went for my regular mammogram. I went every year and 10 years ago when I went in, I got called back like a couple days later and my gynecologist called me and she said you need to go back because they found some calcifications. And I thought you know what? No big deal. I remember my mom said she had a calcification. I probably am doing just like my mom.

Speaker 2: 6:15

So I went back, they did more pictures and then the radiologist called me into his office and he had my films up and he said and I mean huge I mean it wasn't just a little bitty x-ray, it was huge on the wall. And he said do you see this? And pointed to this calcification. So it mine didn't show up as a tumor. He, he pointed to the calcification and the calcification had like tentacles on it. It looks sort of like a jellyfish. And he said I don't like the way that this looks and I think you should get a biopsy. Well, thank God he said that because it wasn't a tumor that showed up. So I went in long. It's a long story, but I ended up at UT Southwestern and ended up with the head of radiology and he was the kindest man and he did the biopsy, which was. I thought it was awful because it's it felt like jackhammering yeah.

Speaker 1: 7:23

I've heard very painful yeah it was just not fun.

Speaker 2: 7:26

But he couldn't even find it because it was high, my tumor was hiding in the duct. But finally got to it. And the next day, just because he was so nice, he said I'm going to, I'm going to help you out and let you know real quickly. So the next day he called me and I remember answering the phone and it said on my you know caller ID, ut, southwestern, and he said you know, this is Dr Evans. And he said, you know. I said, oh, you were so sweet yesterday. And he said, oh, I had the, you know, such a good time talking to you. And he said, but I hate to be the bearer of bad news but he said you're, you know, your biopsy came back and you have cancer. Oh, my gosh, and it's, it's just, you know, it's like you, you go your head. But I just remember my head just like that tunnel vision.

Speaker 2: 8:20

And then the next day, well, back up, I had an appointment that afternoon as well, the day of my radio my biopsy. I had an appointment with a breast surgeon over there and she just wanted to see me, just in case, I guess. And she came in and when she she said I think we caught this early and when she said that my daughter had gone with me and I just remember it was like the Charlie Brown teacher that you know probably couldn't hear anything she said I couldn't hear a thing. And we walked out and I looked at my daughter and I said did she just tell me I had breast cancer? And my daughter said I think she did.

Speaker 1: 9:08

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Speaker 1: 10:05

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Speaker 2: 11:06

I went back the next week and we she was going on vacation, so they worked me in real quickly and back 10 years ago they were doing now they do chemo and then mastectomies, but back 10 years ago they did mastectomies and then chemo. If you needed it, your choice. If you wanted a mastectomy, I chose to do a double mastectomy and so from the time I found out it was two weeks later that I was under the knife getting a double mastectomy and then I found, then found out it was triple negative and you don't get a choice. If it's triple negative you have to do chemo, and I did radiation as well. So, and I will say this, that if anybody is going through this or God forbid it happens to you or somebody that you know make sure that you see a breast cancer specialist, don't just go to a oncologist. Make sure that you see a breast cancer specialist and oncologist that deals in breast cancer.

Speaker 1: 12:28

Well, and we're so lucky here in Dallas, Texas. We just have so many wonderful resources. Like my, biggest fear is living in a smaller town and not having access to these things, and we really are fortunate and it sounds like you had a really good team that was ready for you.

Speaker 2: 12:43

Well, they were amazing and I had lived in Birmingham, alabama. I guess we lived there for 10 years and we moved to Dallas and I was diagnosed like a year and a half after. I know One of my really good friends that lived in my neighborhood in Birmingham she was diagnosed with triple negative six weeks before me. Oh my gosh.

Speaker 1: 13:13

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 13:13

And it's kind of weird like an Aaron Brockovich story. But there were two other women in the neighborhood that were also a year later triple negative and several years before triple negative. But had I done, had I lived in Birmingham, I would have followed what she did, the protocol she went through and she didn't go to a breast cancer oncologist and unfortunately it didn't work out for her. Oh wow, I know it was really sad, but I'm so thankful that I was in Dallas and got that treatment and that's why I like to tell people go to a breast cancer oncologist.

Speaker 1: 13:57

Got it. I mean, that's really really good advice and you don't know how to navigate these situations until you're like in it and you're an emotional wreck. You're trying to process the information, you're right, and then trying to turn to just figure it out. So, yeah, so fortunate to be in Dallas, texas it is. Did you have a good support group, friends, family that took care of you and lifted you up doing all this?

Speaker 2: 14:21

So I did, I really did.

Speaker 2: 14:24

Like I said, we had just been here a year and a half, and so my family is in Dallas, and so I did have my family, my two of my kids were here and, yes, and I had some really good friends that helped me along the way, plus friends from other parts of the country where I've lived, and that's really important to have that, because, even though I will say this, that the support is great, but unless you've gone through it, it's really hard to understand what somebody's feeling, and so I didn't really have anybody that I could talk to that had been through this, except for my friend in Alabama who was six weeks ahead of me.

Speaker 2: 15:16

But I like to always tell I mean I try to on my blog, bring it up every once in a while Every once in a while. I want to make sure that women know that if they are given this diagnosis, I'm always happy to talk to anybody, and I have done that for the last 10 years. People have reached out to me and I'm just like here's my number, just call me, and let's just go through the whole thing, because there are tips and tricks, of course, for mastectomies and then chemo. There are a lot of tips and tricks and you don't know until somebody tells you you know that's walked this walk ahead of you. So if anybody needs me, you can get in touch with me.

Speaker 1: 16:06

No, I know so many people would appreciate that a lot, and it's so nice that you have this blog and you have access to so many women out there that are following you and enjoying your content, that you're able to get the word out to such a big audience.

Speaker 2: 16:20

Right, right. So, and sometimes I try not to be that the breast cancer blog, because I started as just a fashion blog, but it's there. I mean, if you need me, I'm there. So just so everyone knows.

Speaker 1: 16:35

Well, you know, October's breast cancer awareness month, and so we're doing all that we can to bring awareness out there. Do you have any tips or advice for people just as far as to what to look for and again stress the importance of that yearly mammogram?

Speaker 2: 16:50

Well, I think, of course, breast self checks are really important and I always err on the you know side of just be cautious, you know, just just be proactive, because even if you feel something, go get it checked. I mean, it's probably nothing but it's just peace of mind and you get it checked, because I know a lot of women have fibrous breasts and or dense breasts and I think that that's you know. I've heard I didn't have that. But a lot of women who I've talked to said oh my gosh, I feel lumps all the time. Your doctor is there. For that reason, if you need your doctor, go to your doctor, right, and of course, get the mammogram. And I just think you know, pay attention to your body and most of us know if something turns up that wasn't there, you get a sense of I need to check this out. You know, most of the time you do get that I should go get this checked out.

Speaker 1: 17:57

Well, did you feel anything?

Speaker 2: 17:58

No, no, no, no, no no, and, like I said, mine was hiding. I couldn't feel it. When I went in for my first visit with my doctor, she couldn't even feel it. So that's why I'm saying the mammogram is really important. So, even if you're, you know again, you know, just try to make those appointments every year and go, because I didn't ever think it would happen to me and it did. So you know. You just never, you never know.

Speaker 1: 18:31

Yeah Well, you know we're all way over scheduled and have way too much to do, but this is so important.

Speaker 2: 18:36

So important.

Speaker 1: 18:37

Do not dismiss it, don't get too busy and say I'll do it next year. Just do it. Mine's coming up next month. Good, we'll do it. Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 2: 18:44

I will not skip it. It's like the Nike slogan Just do it. It's two seconds you know, and it doesn't really hurt and you know it's it's. It's better to do it than not do it. No, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 18:59

So we were talking earlier about a support group and I'm just so curious, like how was it with your family? How did they handle the news? So my.

Speaker 2: 19:08

I will tell you that my children were older at the time. I had maybe one in college and then the other two were out of college. One was married already. They were shocked, sure and kind of in disbelief. My husband was a wreck and I've heard this more and more from women that have had breast cancer. You know my husband, I guess if you're the man you want to fix things, you know, and so he. This was something that he couldn't fix and he was. I mean, he was a rock star the whole time. He went to all my appointments with me. He went to all my, all my chemo treatments with me. Couldn't go to the radiation because they wouldn't let him back there, but he did go to really and truly almost all of my chemo's. I think he was out of town once and a friend came in from out of town and went with me.

Speaker 2: 20:09

I always had somebody with me, but he was a wreck and he just I think it was actually harder on him than it was on me.

Speaker 1: 20:20

Yeah, I could see that Like if there's something going on with my kids, I literally can't function because I would have fixed it you want to fix it. There's some things you just can't. And it's just this feeling of not having any power or control and you can't do a thing about it. For your loved one, exactly, yeah.

Speaker 2: 20:37

Exactly, and my dad, my mom and dad were alive. My mom is still alive, but I just remember. You know, my parents were just. I mean, they were devastated too I will say that, and my husband tells me this all the time and I just was. I think I was just trying to function, but I was really trying to be positive for my family and I was, I put on. I really never complained about it, and so they. I wanted them to feel like I was gonna be okay, and this is kind of funny.

Speaker 2: 21:19

But I of course lost all my hair during chemo. I had eight rounds of chemo and so it was four months. Every other week I would have an infusion, and so I lost my hair on day 17. On, actually it was my birthday. I had to shave my head on my birthday and I then had like a buzz, it was like a little bit of hair, and then it just all starts coming out, where you look like Uncle Fester from the Adams family since his Halloween month. But I just remember I would wear like a little beanie, a soft beanie, or a halo wig or a wig, and I never, ever let my husband or my children see me without anything on my head. I did not want them to have that vision of me. I wanted because I would have people say I'm so sorry you're sick, and I was like, but I'm not really sick, I just have breast cancer. I mean, it doesn't feel like sick is like when, like we were talking earlier, was like me, having the flu, the stomach virus last week that's sick to me.

Speaker 2: 22:36

I had cancer. I just didn't feel sick. So I didn't want them to have that, that mental image of me without any hair, and I didn't even really want to see it because I just was like I don't want to feel sick. Yeah, you know. So it's just the way that I dealt with it.

Speaker 1: 22:57

You know, we all deal with different that sounds exactly like I would handle it as well.

Speaker 2: 23:03

I did. I mean, I just, you know, it was just one of the ways that I handled it. So, anyway, but I will say that I relied a lot on my faith and I just knew that I was in God's hands and something. A friend of mine in Alabama sent me a book and this is a great book, even if you're going through anything, any illness, but it's called 365 Days of Healing and it's by Charles Brevitt I think it's B-R-A-V-E, bro, no B-R-A-Z-E-E, and you can get it on Amazon 365 Days of Healing, but it was.

Speaker 2: 23:48

It made me kind of. It gave me sort of an aha moment when I was reading, and I think it was on January, I think January 13th, maybe I can't remember the exact date, but I and this is just, I mean, if you believe in God or you know it just said, it said on that page, it's just like a devotion. And he was talking about the Lord's prayer and he said on earth, as it is in heaven, well, there's no sickness in heaven. And so I just started thinking about that and I was like I'm not supposed to be sick, so I'm gonna start claiming that I am healthy and whole and this is gonna go away, and that's kind of how I got through it. It seems like it worked.

Speaker 1: 24:38

It did work.

Speaker 2: 24:39

It did work and I will tell you. I mean, even to this day I read that book every single day and it's just, it really does help you think positively and I think that when you have any kind of cancer or any kind of illness, I think the brain is really powerful and I think that when you put that positive thought into your head, I really do think it can heal you.

Speaker 1: 25:09

So between the book and the wigs I'd say that's kind of what helped keep your spirits alive.

Speaker 2: 25:16

It did, and it was I guess. I was going through chemo during October and early November, so I got a lot of online Christmas shopping done, yeah.

Speaker 1: 25:29

I was going to ask you how did you feel your days, Because just the anticipation of the next week of treatments, that would just, it would be really, it would be really difficult to pass the time waiting for that.

Speaker 2: 25:41

Well, it was difficult passing the time. I took a lot of walks and I really didn't get in crowds very often because I had a goal date of November 7th was the day that I was to finish chemo and I did not wanna go past that. And so I did end up in the hospital one time because I got what they call neutropenic, and it's when you're I think you're white cells I can't remember if it's your white or your red cells go to zero, and I just felt horrible. So they put me in the hospital and they're like you can't I mean you can't go out and be around anybody and I was like why am I in the hospital then?

Speaker 1: 26:24

I mean, this is the worst place to be right, exactly yeah.

Speaker 2: 26:27

But they finally let me out. But I just, I tried to stay and I was able to do my chemo that next week, but I just really didn't get around in crowds. Sure, sure, yeah, so I could stay healthy.

Speaker 1: 26:41

Look, Kathy, thank you so much. You have done such an amazing job of sharing your story and just being so open and honest with us, giving a ton of really good tips in that book.

Speaker 2: 26:50

I'm gonna include a link to your book, oh that book is amazing and I just appreciate you having me on, especially during this month of breast cancer awareness month. And, ladies, please go get checked. Get your daughters to go get checked, your, you know, your sisters, your granddaughters, if they're in their 20s, don't think that it can't happen to younger women, because it really can. So I just really wanna reiterate that that's great advice, thank you so much.

Speaker 1: 27:26

Well, that's been another episode of the Bubble Lounge. I'm Martha Jackson and we'll catch you next time.