Dorothy: [00:00:00] Valerie McDaniels has a deep fear of needles, and that fear stopped her from making an appointment to find out what was going on in her breast. In fact, she waited quite a long time as she watched this thing in her breast grow, knowing that if she went to a doctor, it would involve needles. Finally, she could not ignore it anymore. And somehow or another found herself at The Rose. Valerie tells her story of how The Rose employees really, really understood, took care of her, took all those extra steps to get her through her biopsy. And when she tells her story, you start to understand how something like this kind of fear could really cost you your life.
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Let’s Talk About Your Breast. A different kind of podcast presented to you by The Rose, the Breast Center of Excellence and a Texas treasure. You’re going to hear frank discussions about tough topics. And you’re going to learn why knowing about your breast could save your life.
So Valerie, thank you so much for being with us today. Yours is a very [00:02:00] special story and I want our listeners to know that you actually reached out to us and said I’d like to share my story now. That’s unusual and you were still in treatment at the time. So how did how did you find your breast cancer?
Valerie: Okay. Well in 2022 my husband and I were just you know in the restroom and in the bedroom or whatever and come across little lump. And I’m like, you know, I just played it off, you know, and he was like, well, you need to get that checked out. I’m like, okay. It was at the, it was small lump at the time. And so he said, well, you just need to get that checked out.
I said, okay, I will. And I ignored it. Not good.
Dorothy: Not good.
Valerie: However, um, by the time I ignored it by 2023, it was like two lumps and you can feel two. And so I say, okay, my husband’s like you, I thought you, I said, I’m going to take care of it. I’m going to take care of it. And he was like, okay, no, [00:03:00] good to take care of now.
So I contacted one of my friends that had just told everybody she was diagnosed with cancer. So I’m like, let me just talk, talk to her and see if she can come with me. Cause I’m terrified. I need to go get a mammogram and I need to go get an ultrasound done. So she took me over to a global imaging. I get over there and I didn’t have a good experience.
Uh, so they had to come, she had to come in there with me and hold my hand and everything. It was not a pleasant experience. Well, of course they said biopsy. And I’m like, I think that has to do with a needle. So, I ignored it. Didn’t get anything done.
Dorothy: Alright, now stop there Valerie, because the part of the needle is one of the things that has been one of your phobias for many years.
Valerie: Yes ma’am.
Dorothy: Right?
Valerie: Since I was a little girl.
Dorothy: You are afraid of needles.
Valerie: I am.
Dorothy: You have a horrifying phobia of [00:04:00] needles. And so you’ll do anything not to have—
Valerie: Not to have needles. And I don’t want to bust out and cry, but ever since I was a little girl, my mom would make sure we were the first ones at the doctor’s.
As soon as I would get there, I would take off and I would run and I would hide. I would find a cabinet, I would find a desk. I would find somewhere to go and hide. So we would always be the first ones there and the last ones to leave. Because what would happen was once they finally finished all their other patients.
They would all stop and they would say, okay, we got a young one here. Let’s look for her. So everybody would go looking in cabinets and desks and everything until they found me. Once they would find me, they would hold me down just to get my immunization so I can get all my vaccines and they would just give me everything they could give me at the time. Right here, right there, whatever. And they would hold me down, at least three to [00:05:00] five people.
Dorothy: Oh my gosh.
Valerie: Because I would fight. Um, and I did that for years. So, all the way up until I was 18, got accepted to go to college and would not go, all because you have to get a shot.
Dorothy: Oh. Valerie.
Valerie: So, I kept my little acceptance letter and put it in my yearbook and I said, uh, I can’t do this. You gotta get a shot.
Dorothy: Oh. Oh. Oh. Now there is, this is a medical condition. I mean it has it’s own name, it has it’s own conditions and treatments and all kinds of things. Did you realize it was a real, not just you being afraid of needles, but it was a real illness?
Valerie: I never really thought about it as an illness. You know, I just always said, I’m terrified of needles. And everybody said, well something had to happen. I’ve just always been terrified of needles. [00:06:00] I’m not, I don’t like pain. Period. Now, I really have really bad anxiety. So, anytime I know I have to go to a doctor, I can’t sleep for the whole week until it’s time to go to the doctor. Once I get there, someone has always got to be with me to make sure I go. They either hold me, let me hold them, or I will pass out. And, this has been always the case.
Dorothy: That had to be hard.
Valerie: It’s very hard.
Dorothy: Alright, now you know you need a biopsy.
Valerie: Now, I hear that, that word, biopsy. So I’m Googling biopsy. All I see is needle. I’m going around, I’m asking family members. They all know that I’m terrified of needles, so they all trying to like, just put it in. Oh, it’s not that bad, it’s not that bad. I’m like, y’all tell me. Do it hurt? You know, I’m just asking around, asking co workers. I’m asking people. [00:07:00] Putting it off all because of a needle. And I put it off until I couldn’t put it off any longer.
Dorothy: Now, what happened then? I mean, had it grown so much?
Valerie: Yes, ma’am. So the whole year of 2023, I’m hiding the fact that this two lumps that was started off at one, turned to two, and now it’s the size of a fist.
Dorothy: Oh.
Valerie: Okay? And it is almost the size as big as my heart.
Dorothy: Oh my goodness.
Valerie: And I’m sitting up here hiding it away from my family, hiding it from my husband, I’m hiding it that I got this lump in my breasts. And I’m sitting up there just, just being so naive, I’m kid you not, because I’m like, it’s just, it’s gonna go down, you know? And I’m using different pads over here to make the both breasts look even. Stuff like that.
Dorothy: [00:08:00] Oh, Valerie.
Valerie: I’m doing the most.
Dorothy: Oh.
Valerie: Hiding it. Trying to make sure I don’t tell no one in my family, because the first thing they’re gonna do is take me to the doctor and get it done. And of course, I’m hiding it. And did your husband suspect? So, he did not, because I, of course, I was, you know, lying to him, different things, because I’m, now I’m walking around in teak tank tops and stuff, you know, you know, oh no, don’t touch me right there, you know, all this other stuff, as long as I could, until we got on a cruise in December 2023, and he’s, he’s walking around the deck, and that same Breasts that had the lump mass inside had grew a, like an ulcer or something on the outside. It came through.
Dorothy: Oh yeah.
Valerie: My crazy self was sitting here putting Neosporin on it and bandaging like, is this going to go away? [00:09:00] Not knowing that I’m walking around with cancer.
Dorothy: Yes.
Valerie: Well, get on the cruise and guess what? It burst.
Dorothy: Oh my goodness.
Valerie: It bursts. And it’s just shooting out blood, like, uncontrollable. I’m panicking, I’m losing blood, I’m gathering towels, I’m trying to do everything I can do, and I’m like, and of course I’m losing, you know, I’m losing, like, my energy and all this other stuff, because I’m not, still not noticing what’s going on.
Dorothy: Right.
Valerie: And, um, I’m cleaning up the mess and I hurry up and find some bandage and close it up, just to cover it. My husband comes in the room and he’s like, um, you know, like what’s, what’s going on? I said, I need to go to the medical unit. He’s like, why? I’m like, just don’t ask me no questions right now. Just take me to the medical unit. And he’s like, looking at me like, why? You tell me why? Like, no, just take me now.
Cause I’m about to pass — I’m about to fall out. [00:10:00] So he gets me down to the medical unit and I didn’t even want him to know. Cause I knew if he knew he’s going to be very upset.
Dorothy: Yes.
Valerie: So I asked them to put him out the room while the medical unit look at what’s going on. Immediately they looked at me and they’re like, ma’am, we don’t know what to do. We out to sea right now. All we can do is give you some gauze. And, but when, as soon as you get to port, you need to go to the emergency room. I’m like, okay. I got this whole hundred box of gauze. I’m good. What’d I do? Prolonged it. Got to port, got back to, got back to my, you know, destination, and still prolonged it.
Scared of needles. So, a week later, it burst. Again. And now, I can’t do anything. So now I have to run and drive myself [00:11:00] to the hospital. My husband’s at work, and I drive myself to the nearest hospital. I’ve never driven myself to a hospital. Okay? So, I get to the hospital, and I call my mother. I say, Mom? Come and meet me at this hospital.
Cause everyone knows I don’t drive myself to the hospital. So she’s like, well, I said, just, just come to the hospital. So she gets to the hospital and as soon as she gets there, she see me bleeding like crazy. I’m just bleeding like crazy. I’m asking the people, could they please let me lay down? Cause I’m about to faint.
My mom was looking like, where’s this blood coming from? Cause of course I was hiding it. No one knew. So, of course, they got me to the back. They get me to the back, and the first thing, the doctors come in, they’re a nurse. They call the nurses and everybody to come and hurry up and to administer me. One person on this side, which is the doctor, nurses on this side, and everybody is trying to stick me with needles, and I am [00:12:00] going crazy. I’m literally about to have a heart attack, all because they’re trying to stick me.
Dorothy: Of course, they didn’t know.
Valerie: And they didn’t know my fear.
Dorothy: Right.
Valerie: And I’m I’m literally having a panic attack. All right. Finally, my mom just said, just do it. Whatever y’all have to do, just do it because I’m not, you know, didn’t, you know, they don’t know me. So they go ahead and do it. So he stuck me on this side to stop the bleeding. They’re stuck me on this side to put my IV in. All right. Needless to say, he goes and they run tests and he comes back and that’s when he first said, ma’am, you have breast cancer. What? Breast cancer?
He said, and you need to get to an oncologist ASAP because you have breast cancer. And my mom was over there like, so of course I got my mom upset with me. I got my husband upset with me. [00:13:00] And then I got to tell my children and God, you know, I’m like, I’ve been holding this. I could have really, it could have been something minor to where they could just went in, took out a little lump, been done. But no. So, they immediately told me I need to go and see my doctor. ASAP. We don’t know what stage it is, but one good thing he told me that day, it has not traveled.
Dorothy: Oh.
Valerie: That was all he could tell me.
Dorothy: Okay.
Valerie: I said, okay. So, that was that part.
Dorothy: So, you’ve carried this now for Well over a year, two years?
Valerie: Well over, it was two years.
Dorothy: Two years that you’re knowing something’s going on. Knowing something’s going on.
Valerie: Started as a lump, then a two, then a mass as big as a baseball.
Dorothy: How did you get to The Rose?
Valerie: So I get to my primary care physician and she’s like, [00:14:00] Valerie, you know, she’s, she’s upset with I told you, you need to go get a biopsy. You know, all this stuff. And I’m like, Okay, where do I go? Where can I go now? She’s like, cause you, you’d realize you have breast cancer, right? That everybody can. I’m like, God. Okay. She said, I said, so where can I go that’s affordable? Cause I know a lot of these places I call like global imaging or wherever I call different people, she said, is that the problem? Is that why I said no? I mean, I’m scared too, you know, so can you give me something? She said, well, I can give you some anxiety medicine and, but you need to go to The Rose.
Dorothy: Ah.
Valerie: So I said—
Dorothy: So your physician sent you to us.
Valerie: She said, go to The Rose. I said, okay. Can you give me their numbers? She said, here, call them and find the location you want to go to and go to The Rose. But you need to get this done ASAP. Alright, yes ma’am. [00:15:00] Meanwhile, so, of course, I get to The Rose. Not by myself, of course. Um, and they had a lot of, uh, other patients ahead of me. So they were like, ma’am, we’re, we’re really full, but we’re going to try to squeeze you in.
And I’m like, at this time, this is bleeding out of control. Everybody is telling me I need to get to The Rose and get a biopsy, but they have to do their mammogram and ultrasound as well. So I’m like, okay, God, let’s hurry up and get this done. So I take my anxiety meds. I have my, my little mask over my eyes.
My mother, my husband, my daughter, they making sure I get in there. And my mom was like, um, she’s bleeding really bad. They said, ma’am, we got this, we got this under control. We know exactly what to do. We’re going to take good care of her. My mom says, you sure? They said, yeah, they took good care of me. They walked me to the [00:16:00] back and with my sleep, my little mask on my eyes and everything, and, um, they say, okay, we’re going to do your mammogram and we’re going to do your ultrasound.
I’m like, okay, okay. Mind you now, I’m barely up, you know, because I’m like, I took this medicine. So they, they, they bring the machine over to me. They have it come close to me as possible. And they, they did it very, you know, soft, that it wasn’t putting too much pressure and all that, but they had to do what they had to do. While cleaning, and on top of that, it had a scent.
Dorothy: Oh, yeah.
Valerie: They was like, I’m like, how y’all not passing out in here? You know what I’m saying? But they were like, man, we, we, we understand, we know how to do this. Like, okay. They did a very good job. Now it’s time for me to go to the ultrasound. And that’s where I met Zemira.
And, um, Zemira and, uh, Ultrasound Tech, uh, Hao, [00:17:00] is her name? Hao. So, I met them. And, uh, they like, We gonna take good care of you, Ms. Valerie. We gonna take good care of you. But you got to promise us you come right back next week. We gonna put you in next week so you can get your biopsy. I did that word again.
“Needle.” I’m like, Zemira, can you please tell the doctor that I am terrified of needles? She said, I will let him know, and he is a very good doctor, Ms. Valerie. This is all we do, okay? He is super good. I said, okay. She said, just, just ask for me when you come back. I said, thank you. I got back, of course. I had my blind shade on, my anxiety medicine. She said, ask for her, and that’s exactly what they did. We asked for Zemire. She came. She helped me to the dressing room and made sure I got changed. She walked me to the back. I cannot even tell you [00:18:00] what Dr. Trevino looked like. I don’t know. I just know they laid me down. They told me to just relax. They kept me very calm and they was cleaning the area, you know.
She said, I’m with you, Ms. Valerie. I’m with you. Okay. I’m with you. She said, I got you, okay? Next thing I know, I heard some Caribbean music. And I’m like, and I’m a travel agent too, so I love to travel. So I’m just listening to the Caribbean music. Taking my little deep breaths. She’s like, I’m with you, Miss Valerie, I’m with you.
And he told her to put this cream on, or whatever it was. And, uh, I’m like, Zemire, she’s like, I’m, she said, Miss Valerie, I’m with you. I’m not gonna leave you. I told you I’m right here. And they just kept holding me.
Whatever tool, I don’t know what tool Dr. Trevino [00:19:00] used to do my biopsy, but he said, you’re gonna hear a sound. I said, okay. And I heard, pew, pew, pew. He said, that’s it. I’m sitting here like, Oh my God, it didn’t hurt. I let my fear of needles hold this all this time, and it didn’t even hurt. I’m like, Oh my God, I can’t wait to tell everybody I got a biopsy done, it didn’t hurt.
So, he left out the room, and um, Zemira said, No, don’t You did great. You did great. I’m so proud. I’m so proud of you. You, I’m so proud of you. So they cleaned out everything. They changed my, they, you know, the bandage and all that. Um, she said, now they, now the doctor have to get your, you know, biopsy and they got to read everything [00:20:00] so they can give you a proper diagnosis.
I said, okay. So that’s how that happened. But God put the right people, in the right place, at the right time, I kid you not. I didn’t know anything about The Rose. Zemira was there. She really helped me, I kid you not. She, I, I don’t even think I would be here if it wasn’t for her. She just kept telling me she gonna be with me.
And, of course, my faith in God, um, He just put the right people. The right place at the right time. I kid you not. Cause if I think if I had waited another week, it would have been too late.
Dorothy: Yeah, you were, you were getting on with that. That’s for sure. So you, then you’re going back to your, you’re going to your oncologist at that point.
Valerie: All righty. So now, I have to go to the oncologist. [00:21:00] So he hadn’t even received all my test results. Cause you know, I had to get MRIs. I had to get CAT scans. I had to get all kinds of stuff done. And soon as I walked in his office, he just looked at me and he was like, um, we’re going to just say, if I have to give you a diagnosis, I’m just going to say A, B, or C. We’re going to say 3C. Okay. And that’s going to be. Stage 3 HER2 positive breast cancer. I’m like, okay. He said, if, but I don’t have your results back and everything, but we’re going to just say 3C. I like, okay. He said, and I got to hurry up and give you something now. So he said, but you need to go get your port. So of course, needle.
Dorothy: Right. Did it get any easier?
Valerie: You know, [00:22:00] it’s getting a little better because I mean, I’m getting used to it now.
Dorothy: Right.
Valerie: But, all I do is I have my blind shade, I have my stress ball, and I have my anxiety medicine. And, of course, I have my support. Without support, you’re not going to make it. I kid you not. That’s another thing. So, I have some strong supporters. Which is, you know, of course, my wonderful husband, my, my children, my parents, you know, of course, my, I have a grandfather that’s constantly praying for me and my pastor and, you know, I have my aunts and stuff. I have a great support system and a few friends that I told. That was it. Uh, little family members. But other than that, you won’t make it without support.
Dorothy: That’s right.
Valerie: I kid you not. So, anyway. The had to get the port. So, of course, they all went with me. Everybody’s going with me making sure I get that done. [00:23:00] Again, my anxiety, but once they did it, it didn’t hurt. That’s another thing I want to let people know. If you have to go through these treatments or whatever, I suggest you get the port because it’s just one stick and it’s done. They don’t have to fiddle around and looking for veins and none of this. I’m telling you, just get the port. You won’t feel it. I, I am a living witness. Everyone will tell you if I can do this, anyone can. I’m serious. So, but, the, the, the part is not knowing how it’s gonna feel, you know. So of course I got the port and I have to start my treatments. So I get back to the doctor’s office, my oncologist’s office, and I’m in there cutting up real bad. It wasn’t good because I had just got the port. It’s still a little sore and I, and they got to go through the port. I’m giving them a run for their money. [00:24:00] So needless to say, anybody that is in the medical field that had to come in contact with me, they know my name.
Dorothy: But they also, I’m sure understood that you were an, an tremendous fear and anxiety and, I mean, they, you know.
Valerie: They know me. They know me.
Dorothy: Yeah.
Valerie: They probably going around telling people in their family about this woman.
Dorothy: They’re saying, oh, Valerie’s going to be here today. Who’s up?
Valerie: Everyone. Trust me. When I walk in the room, they’re like, oh my goodness, here she come. But they don’t say it to me, but I know they all know me.
Dorothy: Right.
Valerie: So I put a few pictures in my, you know, files just so y’all could see. I try to give them that, you know, thank you.
Dorothy: Right.
Valerie: For being patient with me because that’s another thing. You have to have patience with people like me because if not, you know.
Dorothy: Well, you put it off for two, almost two years there of being listened.
Valerie: Yes, ma’am.
Dorothy: [00:25:00] Goodness. But.
Valerie: Yes, ma’am. So I got it done.
Dorothy: Got it done.
Valerie: With God, I’m serious. With God and like I said, family members sitting there with me, coming through their lunch breaks, taking off from work. I got all my chemo treatments done. I finished chemo and I run that bill. I was so happy.
Dorothy: Oh, good for you.
Valerie: Yes, ma’am. And then it was time for me to, um, have surgery. Never had surgery before in my entire life. Now, here we go. Needles. So I meet those doctors and they staff. I tell them up front, guys, whatever y’all have to do, please just get it all done. I’m telling you, because I can’t deal with these needles. So anyway, the surgery went well. So needless to say, I had to have a double, [00:26:00] um, you know, mastectomy. When I just woke up, it was done. And I have to say, I’m glad I did that. Even though it was not in my left breast, they did see like a little small, little, you know, something. They was like, well, I said, look, I don’t want to have to go through this again. Just do what you got to do.
Dorothy: Right. So good decision.
Valerie: Yes, ma’am. And that was it. So I didn’t get the other part, like reconstruction or nothing done, um, yet. But all I did was, um, get the, um, double mastectomy, and now I’m currently going through immunotherapy and radiation.
Dorothy: So, a little bit more to your treatment.
Valerie: A little bit more to my treatment.
Dorothy: Another three months, four months?
Valerie: Um, so right now I’m in radiation, and I’ll be done with that by November the, hmm, about the 13th.
Dorothy: Ah, good.
Valerie: I’ll be done with that. Uh, immunotherapy is 14 treatments of that, and I do that once every three [00:27:00] weeks.
Dorothy: Ah.
Valerie: So, and every time I go, I’ve been counting down, because of course, it’s through my port needle. I take a deep breath. I try to relax because, you know, my mom was like, well, they, they can’t do anything if you let your blood pressure get too high or, right. They’re trying to help you. So what I have to do is I just keep telling myself, they’re trying to help me, you know, they’re If I get in there fighting and all that, they’re not gonna want to help me.
So, I relax. I take deep breath, I take my little anxiety medicine if I have to, I put my blind shade on, I have my little stress ball, and I let them do what they have to do, every time. That’s the only thing that helps me, you know, and um,
Dorothy: I love it though. I mean, you’ve got a system to handle this very bad phobia.
Valerie: Yeah, so if anybody had that problem, get you a stress, a stress ball, get you a little blind shade, cause I can’t even, look, I walk in [00:28:00] a room, it smell like needles.
Dorothy: And you go, yes.
Valerie: And I’m like, I take off running.
Dorothy: Aww.
Valerie: So. And my mom like, Valerie, needles don’t have a smell. I’m like, it’s just smell like needles.
Dorothy: I believe you.
Valerie: So I’m telling you.
Dorothy: I believe you.
Valerie: Yes, ma’am.
Dorothy: So we know what was the most challenging part of your treatment. But still, I mean, I just, I really think this is so brave of you. We’ve never had anyone on here who’s talked about this.
Valerie: Man.
Dorothy: And it’s a real thing.
Valerie: It’s a real thing.
Dorothy: And if it kept you from going and having it taken care of, I mean, that’s a big message, Valerie.
Valerie: Yes, ma’am.
Dorothy: You know, because in the end, you know, the things you feared the most.
Valerie: I’m gonna let needles kill me.
Dorothy: Yeah.
Valerie: I’m not even thinking about, I’m not even thinking about the cancers, but you know what I’m saying? I’m saying you’re worried about a needle, and more [00:29:00] concerned about a needle than the cancer killing me.
Dorothy: I know, but when it’s your own issue.
Valerie: Yes.
Dorothy: You know, it’s, it’s not the same.
Valerie: It’s not the same. And some people that had, don’t have this fear or phobia or whatever, they don’t understand. So they’re like, Oh girl, just go in there and you can do it. You can do it. Well, it’s just a, that’s another thing. When I had to go for treatments, they had to surprise me with this Nulesta and it goes on your arm. Needle.
Dorothy: I know it’s not funny, but listening to you describe it, my gosh.
Valerie: Needle. So that was not good, because they had to put this on my arm. And I’m sitting there, okay, who can tell me what this feel like? They all in there telling me what it sound like, but they’re not telling me what it feel like. And I’m like, no.
So that’s why I’m here. I can actually tell someone now what it feel like because everybody in there, oh, it’s [00:30:00] just a pop. I’m like, I know what it sound like. I want to know what it feel like. Don’t, you know, so to people that have not experienced this, they can’t tell you. I, I’m a living witness now. I could tell you, okay, it’s going to tick for five seconds and then it’s going to pop. Now that pop like this. However, at the time I didn’t know that. So I’m like, giving them a problem. So needless to say, they threw it on there.
Dorothy: So your message to women is?
Valerie: Hmm, okay. If you are like me and terrified of needles, one, don’t hide it. That’s another thing. Tell somebody. I’m serious. Tell somebody and let them go with you to make sure you okay. I’m serious. Don’t hide it because I hid it from the same people [00:31:00] that had to turn around.
Dorothy: And that loved you very much. And that were trying to get your help.
Valerie: Yes. And had to turn around and be the ones to clean my wound, drainage bags, like you name it.
Dorothy: That, that’s why they’re here for us. They love you.
Valerie: And I put them through. I feel so bad. I put them through some unnecessary stress because they were all trying to be strong in front of me. But behind the scene they were all calling each other, crying. I didn’t know. You know, my husband, I put him through some stress. But at the end of the day, you know, he’s stuck there with me. He’s still here with me, even though I’m going through what I’m going through. Um, I put my whole family through a lot of stress, and I, I want to tell people, like, do not [00:32:00] do this to yourself. And don’t do this to your family.
Dorothy: That’s such good advice, Valerie.
Valerie: Don’t do it. It’s, trust me. I realize how many people love me, because what happened was, um, I finally had got the courage, uh, to give a testimony at my church. No one knew. Like my majority of my family, nobody knew because I didn’t want to tell everybody until I was ready.
So, on August, I believe it was like August, uh, 18th, that Sunday, whatever that Sunday was, I was so happy because I had my surgery on August 5th. And August the 13th, my pactology report had came back, and it showed no cancer.
Dorothy: Oh, that’s terrific.
Valerie: And I was like, I gotta tell somebody, this is a miracle.
Dorothy: Right.
Valerie: Just by me [00:33:00] getting to The Rose is a miracle, I’m telling you, all by itself. Because I, I don’t go, I don’t even have my ears pierced, I’m serious. These are clip ons. I don’t let anybody get close to me with a needle, so. This is a miracle and I’m a walking testimony. So I didn’t, I didn’t want to keep it a secret no longer.
So when I got ready, I stood up there and I did, they did a live stream at the church and I was able to let everybody know and anybody that’s terrified of needles like myself, I showed them. I carry around, it’s in my bag now, my stretch ball, a mask and my anxiety medicine, just in case. I have to have anything done, I got it.
Dorothy: You got it.
Valerie: I got it.
Dorothy: And it’s okay.
Valerie: And it’s okay. You let your fear get in the way.
Dorothy: Right.
Valerie: But, you know, even though I know everybody, I’ve been in church all my life, you know, and I love God and I know God is watching over [00:34:00] me and all that. You still had a little fear.
Dorothy: Right.
Valerie: You know, like I try to explain to my husband, I’m like, it’s just like you have a fear of swimming or somebody have a fear of spiders or whatever. Whatever. My fear is needles.
Dorothy: Right.
Valerie: I got family members that have never flown anywhere. They, they scared to fly. You know, my fear is needles and I’m doing better now because I wouldn’t be able to walk in the room by myself, with needles, but I’m doing a little better.
Dorothy: Well, I tell you, this is a remarkable story. And I know there’s someone out there that’s going to hear this and go, Oh my gosh, I need to go get it done.
Valerie: They need to go get it done. And it don’t hurt. That’s another thing. I’m a living witness, I’m trying to tell you. Get to The Rose, and I’m telling everybody this, get to The Rose, I know, get somewhere where I experienced, wonderful experience, the staff from the beginning, even the person that put me in [00:35:00] on schedule, because I kept calling and saying I’m bleeding everywhere, I have to come in.
Well they, they made a way for me. You know? I don’t know who I bumped in line, but I did and I got in there. The staff helped me from the, from the front to the back. And, uh, I thank y’all so very much for that. Um, so if anybody is like me that need to get a mammogram or ultrasound and a biopsy done. The Rose is the place, and I specifically went to the Galleria location.
Dorothy: Right. Well, we appreciate that endorsement, but believe me, dear, you’re the one with the bravery. I mean, this took so much courage, and, and, I sincerely appreciate you sharing this.
Valerie: Yes, ma’am.
Dorothy: This is a, a, this is a success story, and you’re going to beat this, and it’s done.
Valerie: When I see you, I’m counting down.
Dorothy: Yes, you should be.
Valerie: Every time they start to tell me, you got, um, [00:36:00] 20 more days to go. I’m, okay, I’m counting down. And Friday they close, I’m like, oh, you’re messing up my days. So, but, uh, I’m telling y’all, I gotta help somebody else.
Dorothy: Oh, I know you have.
Valerie: I gotta help somebody, you know, so if this word can get out to whoever that has a fear of needles, please get to The Rose. It doesn’t hurt. Whatever Dr. Trevino used, use it on them. Cuz It didn’t hurt.
Dorothy: Oh, thank you so much for sharing that story.
Valerie: Yes ma’am, yes ma’am. And um, I don’t know if you have any other questions for me.
Dorothy: No, dear, this, I think you’ve shared what, what our audience needs to hear for sure. Thank you again.
Valerie: Yes, ma’am. Thank you.
Post-Credits: Thank you 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 [00:37:00] 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. Remember, self care is not selfish. It’s essential.
