Shannon: [00:00:00] Hi, welcome to Let’s Talk About Your Breasts. On this podcast today, we’re talking with Lynn. Lynn has dense breasts, and we’re gonna talk about how important it is to know your body when you have dense breasts and get checked out, and also about Skate Church, a great organization to get involved with. If you wanna get in the outdoors, and skate, and meet some new people, and create a community, they’re there to help, and they also help the Shrimp Boil. They’re there every year at our event, and they’ll be out there this year as well. So come and join and learn more about both Skate Church, knowing your body, and taking care of yourself.
It’s getting more talked about now openly, uh, but dense breast, and what’s that like, and what other things you have to do when you have dense breasts that isn’t just the normal, uh, screening mammogram for a lot of us that, uh, that don’t have that issue, and how common it is. So you went and got a screening mammogram a year, not long ago.
Lynn: Yes, ma’am.
Shannon: And where was that? What was that? How’d you get to that place?
Lynn: So originally, I heard an advertisement on [00:01:00] 90.9- for Texas Southern having free screenings for women.
Shannon: Okay.
Lynn: So I scheduled through them, and they scheduled me to come in for a free screening-
Shannon: Right
Lynn: for my ma- annual mammogram.
Shannon: Perfect, and then what happened? Uh, what’d you f- learn from that mammogram?
Lynn: So when I had my first mammogram there, um, they told me they needed me to come back and re-screen my right breast, uh, because I had dense tissue in my breast. And so they felt like they saw something there, but they wanted to make sure, so that’s when they did me another appointment to The Rose.
Shannon: To come to The Rose?
Lynn: Yes.
Shannon: Where they do the-
Lynn: Yes, ma’am …
Shannon: the different… ‘Cause when you have dense breasts, that ultrasound is often tied in with those-
Lynn: Yes …
Shannon: with that screening mammogram.
Lynn: Yes, ma’am.
Shannon: So, so now you do that, and so I think good news, n- no one’s looking at tumors in that dense breast once they were able to look deeper at that, right?
Lynn: Yes, correct. [00:02:00] So once we did the next mammogram at The Rose, so what I was told was there were some small calcification found, but in order to just make sure there’s no problems in the future, we’ll continue to monitor it. Uh, and so I have appointments every six months to make sure we’re monitoring to make, uh, sure that it doesn’t grow-
Shannon: Right.
Lynn: Like a mass.
Shannon: Just stay in there.
Lynn: Yes.
Shannon: So was that the first time you heard even about dense breasts when they told you about that?
Lynn: No, it wasn’t the first time. Uh, in the past when I’ve had mammograms-
Shannon: Okay …
Lynn: I’ve been told that I had dense breasts, but I guess since that was a younger age-
Shannon: Yeah. …
Lynn: it wasn’t as big of a concern at the time.
Shannon: Right.
Lynn: Um, and I was told that it may be a little more common than we know it is, but it is a concern. So- Uh, I’m just making the assumption that at this age, uh, [00:03:00] it needs to be monitored more.
Shannon: Yeah, it, it does, and dense breasts, um, w- learning more about it and, you know, f- as s- uh, science improves and, and screening improves, uh, it’s very common, and of course, makes it harder to find- the c- a cancer, if there is a cancer there. Um, and it’s very common in African American women. So that’s why it’s really crucial we, to remind women, um, all of us, everyone, but in particular, African American women who have dense breasts, to not skip those screening mammograms.
Lynn: Yes.
Shannon: And to be aware of that and, and advocate for, for your breasts- and what you might need. Uh, so you come every six months now- Yes … to get those, to get that screening mammogram done. Is breast cancer… Have you been touched by breast cancer in your family, friends?
Lynn: Not in my family, but I do have a few friends who had, uh, breast cancer. And luckily, it was caught early, so they were able to ma- uh, manage, you know, and maintain, uh, where it didn’t become a bigger issue. But I do not have a history of breast cancer in my [00:04:00] family. Great. But we do have a history of cancer in the family.
Shannon: Oh, gotcha. Gotcha.
Lynn: Yeah.
Shannon: So with those friends, were those close friends? Like, were you there offering support for them?
Lynn: Yes.
Shannon: They were in your inner circle-
Lynn: Yes
Shannon: … kind of girlfriends?
Lynn: Yes, my inner circle-
Shannon: Yeah, as we say
Lynn: girlfriends. Well, yes.
Shannon: I, that’s what I call my girlfriends, my ride or die.
Lynn: Yes.
Shannon: The ride or die-
Lynn: Yes
Shannon: … girlfriends.
Lynn: Right. Yes, ma’am.
Shannon: So what, what could you talk about, watching them go through that as a friend, what was that like for you, and how did you offer support and help them?
Lynn: Well, the great part about it is with us being so close friends, just the, um, mental support, the hugs all the time.
Shannon: Right.
Lynn: Yes. And just ha- keeping a positive attitude with each other.
Shannon: Right.
Lynn: Staying fun, happy, continue to do things, fun things, and not let it, you know, get any of us down. It’s the great thing to do.
Shannon: Right.
Lynn: Yes.
Shannon: And def- or, or define the ti- the person either.
Lynn: Yes.
Shannon: It doesn’t define the person-
Lynn: Correct …
Shannon: or change the person-
Lynn: Yes
Shannon: uh, as much. So, uh, so they’re doing well now, and were they… Do you know any of their history? Were they, you know, of concern? Were [00:05:00] they, have dense breasts? Or have y’all talked about that now since-
Lynn: No …
Shannon: you’re all more aware of it?
Lynn: Well, we really haven’t talked about it a l- a lot, but I do know that it came from regular mammogram screenings, that they were able to find the problem early.
Shannon: And we can talk about that-
Lynn: Yes …
Shannon: as much as possible.
Lynn: Yes.
Shannon: How important it is- to get a screening mammogram, and if you don’t have insurance-
Lynn: Yes
Shannon: … there’s places to go.
Lynn: Yes.
Shannon: That, like you found, and here at The Rose, but we have, there are places, we’re very blessed here-
Lynn: Yes …
Shannon: um, to have places to go to at least get that screening mammogram done, because early detection.
Lynn: Yes.
Shannon: And you’re keeping monitoring, and yours may not be anything-
Lynn: Yes …
Shannon: uh, as, uh, calcifications often aren’t.
Lynn: Yes.
Shannon: But at least you’re keeping an eye on it, and you’re aware of it, which is so important. It’s so important you got that screening mammogram without having a symptom.
Lynn: Correct, yes.
Shannon: You just went because it’s important to you.
Lynn: Correct, yes.
Shannon: Why was that so important to you to go get that done?
Lynn: Well, to me it was important because, I guess just because from what I know about, we need a regular screening. And the [00:06:00] history of cancer in my family, it may not have been breast cancer- But other cancers … but it, yes, it is other cancers.
Um, my dad, um, has cancer. And right now he’s in treatment, and so I know it’s important if he would not be going through his treatments, or if he would not have been tested and found it, that he may not be doing, you know-
Shannon: Right …
Lynn: w- how he’s doing right now. Even though treatment can be pretty harsh also, but h- getting treatment is better than not getting treated, and that’s not-
Shannon: Exactly.
Lynn: Yes.
Shannon: And the earlier-
Lynn: Yes …
Shannon: any cancer’s found-
Lynn: Yes …
Shannon: of course, the easier the treatment is, too.
Lynn: Yes.
Shannon: And it’s, that’s so important, too, because there’s so many cancers we don’t screen for-
Lynn: Yes …
Shannon: regularly. Uh, so that’s why I think, uh, you know, early detection is so important with breast cancer, ’cause there is a protocol.
Lynn: Yes.
Shannon: In other cancers, we don’t have that protocol- to screen, uh, you know, regularly like we do for the breast cancer. So you’re also tied to The Rose in other ways.
Lynn: Yes.
Shannon: Or newly to us-
Lynn: Yes …
Shannon: coming in. We’re excited about this. So [00:07:00] talk about Skate Church. You’re wearing that great shirt here today with Skate-
Lynn: Yes, Skate Church
Shannon: Skate Church. We’re supporters of The Rose. So you’ve skated all your life, or pretty much?
Lynn: Yes, so I skated as a kid. Started off with those metal wheels on the skates-
Shannon: Yep, old school …
Lynn: and on the concrete.
Shannon: I can hear it. You talk about it, now I can hear it.
Lynn: Yes. Yeah, so I started off with those. My sister and myself, we had some skates, and we would just skate outside. We never really got to go to the rink or anything- like that. Um, that was an extra treat-
Shannon: Right …
Lynn: if it happened. But I stopped skating, because adult life happens.
Shannon: Right.
Lynn: And we start making other things priorities.
Shannon: Right.
Lynn: But I always wanted another pair of skates, and in 2020 when everything started getting shut down-
Shannon: Right
Lynn: due to, uh, the pandemic-
Shannon: A lot of us changed our lives and priorities then, for sure.
Lynn: Yes. Yeah. Yeah, so some things we had been doing, we weren’t doing them anymore, which gave us more time for other things.
Shannon: Right.
Lynn: So that gave me more time to go back to one of my passions, which was skating.
Shannon: That’s [00:08:00] wonderful. And so what are you doing now with skating? You found a group.
Lynn: Yes, I found a great group. So I was actually looking for a- outdoor skaters. Uh, in 2020, even though things were shut down for COVID, uh, we would meet and skate outside when the streets were closed-
Shannon: Right …
Lynn: downtown.
Shannon: That’s perfect. Oh, wow.
Lynn: Yeah. So yeah, we would do downtown street skating. It was really great. When the weather is great, it’s beautiful scenery. So after that, once everything- … started opening back up, we know how traffic is in Houston.
Shannon: Right.
Lynn: Yeah. I was not too comfortable with street skating.
Shannon: No. Downtown opened back up.
Lynn: Makes it too dangerous.
Shannon: Yep.
Lynn: Yes. So I had been looking for other groups who did outside skating, and I found Skate Church, uh, who mostly do trail skating, um, find beautiful trails at parks. Uh, those things is really great.
Shannon: So trail skating, is that on concrete then, or is that-
Lynn: Yes. Okay … it’s mostly concrete trails.
Shannon: Okay, still. Okay,
Lynn: yes. Yes, at parks, like bike trails-
Shannon: Okay …
Lynn: or walking trails.
Shannon: Ah,
Lynn: yes. [00:09:00] I mean,
Shannon: yeah.
Lynn: So people ride bikes-
Shannon: On the bikes …
Lynn: or walks.
Shannon: Right.
Lynn: Yes. And the scenery is just so great. Everybody shares the trail, and we just go out there and have fun and sweat it out.
Shannon: Yeah, that’s a great one, and it’s great exercise.
Lynn: Yes.
Shannon: And so it’s great to prioritize that. Again-
Lynn: Yes …
Shannon: a fun childhood thing-
Lynn: Yes …
Shannon: but now actually is, is really fun to do as an adult, but also healthy-
Lynn: Yes …
Shannon: and taking care of yourself-
Lynn: Yes …
Shannon: and having fun.
Lynn: Yes.
Shannon: Great healing there. And so Skate Church. This year, you’ll be part of our Shrimp Boil.
Lynn: Yes.
Shannon: So are you excited about that? You’ve never been.
Lynn: I have never been, but my calendar was free. And I know I need to give back just like-
Shannon: Aw
Lynn: … The Rose gives-
Shannon: Oh, that’s wonderful …
Lynn: back to the community. And I said, “Hey, I’m gonna put my skates on and get out there and volunteer for the Shrimp Boil.”
Shannon: That’s wonderful. We love having our volunteers at the Shrimp Boil every year, and your group is one of the most fun because-
Lynn: Yes
Shannon: you’re the only ones-
Lynn: We’re always fun.
Shannon: Yeah, and w- and I know they’ve told us they like that floor-
Lynn: Yes. … [00:10:00]
Shannon: So we’re excited that you’ll be there this year.
Lynn: Yes. Skaters are always fun, so don’t forget.
Shannon: Can’t miss them. Yeah. Can’t miss, you can’t miss the Skate Church when they’re in the building, for sure. They have, they have their shirt blinged out, and they are ready to, uh, take that money- to help support our mission so that more women like you-
Lynn: Yes …
Shannon: can take that care of that screening mammogram. They know that they’re due.
Lynn: Yes.
Shannon: There is a place to go if you don’t have insurance.
Lynn: Yes.
Shannon: If you have insurance, come too.
Lynn: Yes.
Shannon: Because everyone should be getting that screening mammogram. Is there anything else you wanna share about, uh, your experience or anything about that process or advice for anyone?
Lynn: Well, my advice would be For women who don’t have insurance, my advice would be just do your research. It’s may not be as convenient or as easy or accessible, but there are resources out there, [00:11:00] like we spoke about.
Shannon: Right.
Lynn: And if you just ask around, keep your eyes open and your ears open, with the internet, you could do so much research and find places, just like I found the program-
Shannon: Right
Lynn: just like I found Skate Church-
Shannon: That’s right …
Lynn: out of research. That’s right, looking for it.
Shannon: Yeah.
Lynn: I just researched it. Um, so you won’t miss out. Like, there’s opportunities where if you can’t pay, then there’s resources out there that will help you at low cost or no cost, for sure.
Shannon: Right. And stay on top of that.
Lynn: Yes.
Shannon: Stay on top of that- because it’s so important to find that cancer early.
Lynn: Yes.
Shannon: Uh, so we’re, uh, so glad we, you came in today.
Lynn: Yes, I’m glad I’m here.
Shannon: And we’re excited to see you-
Lynn: Thank you so much for having me …
Shannon: through it, and we, we’re glad to keep you- … keep us updated on how everything is going.
Lynn: Yes, ma’am.
Shannon: But we’re glad that you found us-
Lynn: Yes …
Shannon: and that they were able to take care of everything you need, and we hope everyone heard that message about how important screening mammograms are-
Lynn: Yes …
Shannon: and to know your body.
Lynn: Yes.
Shannon: So if you have dense breasts, make sure you’re aware of that and what difference that makes for you.
Lynn: Yes. Thank you, and definitely come out and skate with us.
Shannon: That’s right. Uh, hey, if you like skating-
Lynn: Yes …
Shannon: [00:12:00] Skate Church a great group to join. It is. A lot of fun, uh, uh, from all walks of life-
Lynn: It is …
Shannon: from everyone I’ve met.
Lynn: Yes.
Shannon: And, yeah, go skate outdoors and in, and enjoy that.
Lynn: Yeah, you meet-
Shannon: Get some fresh air
Lynn: so many people, fresh air, families. We have a family day once a month on Sundays, and people bring their children to skate with us also.
Shannon: Oh, that’s wonderful.
Lynn: All levels, beginner levels.
Shannon: Is there a website for Skate Church?
Lynn: So there is-
Shannon: Or do you know- …
Lynn: social media-
Shannon: Oh, social media …
Lynn: for sure.
Shannon: Okay.
Lynn: Skate Church in Houston On Facebook and IG.
Shannon: Gotcha.
Lynn: Yes.
Shannon: Wonderful.
Lynn: Definitely. And they put a schedule out once a month.
Shannon: Okay, good.
Lynn: So we usually have scheduled events at least once a week, but unscheduled events several times a week.
Shannon: Yeah.
Lynn: So when you’re part of the group, people are just like, “Hey, I’m going skating today. Let’s go.”
Shannon: That’s wonderful.
Lynn: Any time of the day.
Shannon: Well, and we talked about COVID, how important that is. Now I think we’re really starting to realize how much connection we all lost.
Lynn: Yes.
Shannon: That in-person connection. This is a way to get back in. If you’ve been looking for something to get back in that’s-
Lynn: Yes …
Shannon: healthy and a fun bunch of people.
Lynn: Yes. Yeah. Come out with us. Just wear your pads if you’re-
Shannon: That’s right. …
Lynn: afraid to hurt yourself. Wear your pads. You can wear your helmet.
Shannon: I’m sure someo- someone would [00:13:00] slow down to skate with me.
Lynn: Yeah. Oh, of course, of course. Learn new skills.
Shannon: Yeah.
Lynn: Everything,
Shannon: yeah. That’s right. That’s great. Well, we appreciate it, Lynn.
Lynn: Thank you.
Shannon: Thank you so much, and we’ll see you tomorrow.
Lynn: Thank you so much.
Shannon: Yeah. Thank you. All right.
Lynn: Thank you.
Post-Credits: For joining us today on Let’s Talk About Your Breasts. This podcast is produced by Speke Podcasting and brought to you by The Rose. Visit therose.org to learn more about our organization. Subscribe to our podcast, share episodes with friends, and join the conversation on social media using #letstalkaboutyourbreasts. We welcome your feedback and suggestions. Consider supporting The Rose. Your gift can make the difference to a person in need. And remember, self-care is not selfish, it’s essential.
