Dorothy: [00:00:00] She knew that she had cancer, and she didn’t want her family to think she was sick, even though she was very sick. Breast cancer treatment can take a toll on anyone’s body, but for Michelle Holland, it was more important that her family not worry about her. That was one reason she tackled Thanksgiving dinner for 20, never letting on for one moment how badly she felt.
The other thing she insisted on having was the cold cap because keeping her hair was another way to defy the appearance of being ill. In the end, she kept 75 percent of her hair and said she accepted help from her family and friends only to make them feel better. She’s a self proclaimed terrible patient and has absolutely no regrets on how she handled treatment because she wanted to be strong. You’ll learn more about Michelle, what it takes to use the cold cap, why she’s now in a career that will impact breast cancer detection, and also why she [00:01:00] refused to ring the bell when her chemotherapy was over.
Please subscribe to our show. It will help us reach others as we share ways that help people get through breast cancer, give caregivers hope and information, and bring a new awareness to the importance of mammograms.
Let’s Talk About Your Breasts, 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.
Michelle, thank you so much for being with us today. It’s just a delight to have you.
Michelle: Thank you so much for having me. I’m super excited about being here and sharing my story.
Dorothy: Well, you know, I could tell just listening to you talk for a few minutes, but, uh, the story of breast cancer is never one that’s happy.
Michelle: No, no, no.
Dorothy: Tell [00:02:00] us how you, how, how did you find it or was it found or tell us about your experience.
Michelle: Sure. So, um, I started getting mammograms at age 40. Everybody should. And, um, I got diagnosed when I was 46. I have no family history. Um, it was a total surprise, but they found it 3 years ago. And so they found it, um, right after COVID. And, um, so I was diagnosed October 11th, 2021 stage one invasive ductal carcinoma and, um, I was 46 years old.
Dorothy: Wow. We are seeing more and more young women, so it just speaks to the importance of getting that mammogram every year and not putting it off until you’re 50. Like some women think they, they can wait, but—
Michelle: They do. And they think too, I’ve got friends that maybe don’t get it because they’re, you know, at that age in your forties, you’re busy with your kids and you’re running, going all over and you’re like, Oh, I’ll get it [00:03:00] later. I’ll get it later. And it just. Doesn’t happen and you feel like you’re doing the right thing ’cause you’re taking care of your family, but ultimately you really need to take care of yourself as well. ’cause early detection is key.
Dorothy: Yeah. So now what was your treatment like?
Michelle: So, uh, I was diagnosed and then had, um, sugery. I had a lumpectomy. Then had a reduction and a lift. And then I had, they sent it off for biopsy, found out it was an aggressive form of cancer and ended up having to have Chemo. So I had chemo, and then radiation. And actually, my Chemo, I had TC Chemo. Was supposed to have four rounds. I only ended up having three. Because I ended up having a severe allergic reaction to the chemo on my third round, which was kind of surprising, we didn’t expect to get— so I spend some time at MD Anderson. And, but then had radiation and went from there.
Dorothy: So this hasn’t been that long.
Michelle: It really hasn’t.
Dorothy: [00:04:00] When did you finish?
Michelle: Took about a year and a half almost. So I guess if I was diagnosed in 2021, it’s probably been about a year and a half that I’ve been out of it. Yeah.
Dorothy: So are you going back like every six months or?
Michelle: Still go every three months. I go every three months. Um, I’m on tamoxifen cause my cancer was estrogen and progesterone fed. Um, which really, you know, I heard all sorts of rumors about tamoxifen is just horrible and all this, but I’ve actually had a good run with it. So, um.
Dorothy: That’s so encouraging. Honestly, some, some women do not tolerate it very well. So, you know, everybody’s different. Everybody’s different.
Michelle: I think, you know, one of the things that made a difference as I went to my oncologist, I’m like, man, I’m having hot flashes and all of this, she prescribed or told me to get on magnesium oxide. And that was a game changer for me with Tamoxifen.
Dorothy: Oh yeah, I’ve heard that.
Michelle: So it made all the difference. I don’t get the hot flashes, I don’t get all the side effects, so [00:05:00] I’m gonna be on it for weeks, For a while. For a while. For a long time. Correct.
Dorothy: But it does make such a difference in reoccurrence. It’s just almost a miracle.
Michelle: It really is. It really is.
Dorothy: So one area that you had that a lot of women don’t even know about it and that was the cold cap.
Michelle: That was huge for me.
Dorothy: Tell us what it is, how it works, how you made sure you had it, because like I said, so many women don’t even know it exists.
Michelle: Right. Funny, I had a lady call me today asking me, a friend of a friend, asking me questions. And um, so cold capping is, it’s, it’s a cap that you put on your head. It’s two layers. It’s plastic. And water runs through it. And then it’s another layer you pull over and you put it really tight on your head. And it freezes your scalp. I joke and say it’s kinda like Elsa, from Frozen. You have to defrost for an hour and a half after it’s on. So, it keeps the [00:06:00] chemo from going up into your hair follicles. And reduces the amount of hair that you lost. So I was able to maintain over 70% of my hair percent of my hair. Which, um, was important to me because it made people not come up and be like, Oh, I’m so, you know, they, they know if you don’t have hair, they know you’re more than likely going through cancer of some form. And it made people not think I was sick.
Dorothy: Right.
Michelle: Which was important.
Dorothy: And, and how you feel, how you look is part of that recovery process. I mean, we, it just is, it really is. And what are some other tips? You said you have to defrost.
Michelle: Yeah. So you go in, so, you know, just to use an example of the lady that called me today, she said, you know, the hospital I’m going to, they’re not really, you know, they’re like not really telling me much about it. So I really had to advocate for myself as well. And that’s what I told her. Um, I specifically use Paxman and, um, that’s the type of, uh, Cold Cap, and I went to MD Anderson for my treatment, [00:07:00] and um, called Paxman, they walked me through everything, they got me all the supplies that I needed, then I got with MD Anderson, because they’ve trained somebody there, to um, how to fit the cap and all of that.
Dorothy: And that’s very important. It’s not like you can just put on any cap, or it has to be fitted to you.
Michelle: It has to be fitted to your head, and it’s got to be a very tight fit. So that it keeps the, you know, it gets super cold. It’s like the most intense brain freeze. It lasts for about 10 minutes. Would set my phone and I’m like, okay, 10 minutes. It’ll be okay. When you first get it on, it’s a little shocking, but it, um, it was a game changer because it let me maintain my hair. But again, it’s still in the stages where I think you really have to advocate for yourself. These hospitals, I mean, we are so lucky.
We live in Houston with the best treatments, the best hospitals. But they’re there to treat the cancer. Hair is kind of an afterthought, so you really have to advocate for yourself on that.
Dorothy: Well, one of our guests [00:08:00] said she had worn her contacts the first time, and she learned right away that that’s not something you do because the cold will even, well, your eyes will get dry and that kind of thing. So. Was it everytime you had chemo?
Michelle: Everytime I had chemo. Yep. Every time I would have chemo, I would go in, and I had to get there early to get prepped, you have to wet your hair down, you have to put, um, kind of like a conditioner in it, slip the cap on. There’s a big unit that runs the water through and it regulates the temperature. Um, and so I’d have to get all that set up.
It’d have to run for a certain period of time, and then they could start the chemo. And then I would have to defrost, like I said, I think it was about an hour and a half. It was literally that frozen, that cold, but it kept my hair.
Dorothy: Kept your hair.
Michelle: Kept my hair.
Dorothy: That was important.
Michelle: And now they’re doing some really great stuff. Paxman in particular, um, as far as getting to get it, uh, covered by insurance. So I paid out of pocket [00:09:00] for it probably cost around $2,200, I guess. Um, But now they’re really making some big strides to get it covered by insurance.
Dorothy: That is so encouraging.
Michelle: It really is.
Dorothy: Because for some women, that would be a real deterrent. They wouldn’t move forward with it.
Michelle: Yeah, because cancer is expensive.
Dorothy: It is expensive, yeah. There’s so many other costs that we don’t even think about.
Michelle: You don’t realize all the things, I mean, even from, I got treated here in the League City area, so I didn’t have to pay for parking, but if you’re going up to the Med Center, you’re paying for parking every single day, every time you’re up there.
Dorothy: Right.
Michelle: And it’s, it adds up.
Dorothy: It does. It does.
Michelle: It really does.
Dorothy: So, Michelle?
Michelle: Yes ma’am.
Dorothy: What, what did you, when you first were told, what, what did you think? What were your emotions? How did you deal with it?
Michelle: So, I still get a little, I basically just was like, I knew it once I, once they found it. Then I was like, I know it’s gonna be cancer. Then I’m not a glass half [00:10:00] empty kind of person at all, but I just. When they said there’s something here, yeah, and I was like, oh man. But I just had to kind of Like digest it and understand and go. Okay. You know what? I got this. We’re we live in the Texas Medical Center. We have the best treatments. Um, you know, I mentioned when I had a reaction to one of the chemos, the doctor at the hospital was the one who developed the chemo.
I mean, it’s huge to be able to be around such amazing thought leaders, but I guess I worried about my family. Just didn’t want, I didn’t want them to think I was sick or, you know.
Dorothy: You were.
Michelle: I was.
Dorothy: How did you tell them?
Michelle: Uh, Just sat him down. and told them. And it was, I mean, it was okay, but I’m kind of always the [00:11:00] strong one. And I didn’t want anybody to feel sorry for me. So that was a little hard. And that’s why the hair was so important, because I’m like, I don’t want people to think, that I’m sick. So I just told my family and, but I told, you know, we had two girls. We still do, um, at the time and told them that, you know, I’m, I’m okay.
I’m not going to, you know, I’m not, nothing bad’s going to happen. It’s just going to be kind of a journey. And, um, it, it was.
Dorothy: Had they been around anybody else that had cancer?
Michelle: They had, they actually, my husband had had cancer. Um, he had chronic myeloid leukemia and he’s okay now, but it was different. He didn’t do, he didn’t have to have the surgery, had oral chemo, he didn’t lose his hair, but still very much, you know, not a fun experience. But so yes.
Dorothy: So they, they need this word. They.
Michelle: Yes, yes. And they were old enough.
Dorothy: How old were they?
Michelle: Um, so we have, I think my daughter was 19 and then our younger one [00:12:00] was probably I was 14 at the time.
Dorothy: But still.
Michelle: They were young.
Dorothy: Yeah.
Michelle: Yeah. And it’s scary. You hear breast cancer and they, um, but I just, that was my main thing. I’m like, I’m going to maintain, I’m going to be strong. I’m going to be as positive as absolutely possible and cause I don’t want them to worry. That was my biggest concern is family worrying about me. So it was a journey.
Dorothy: How did they care for you?
Michelle: They were great, but I’m a terrible patient. I had friends that would want to like do meal trains and do all this kind of stuff and I’m like, no, no, I got it. And so I really wasn’t very good as far as letting people help me at all.
Dorothy: Looking back, do you wish you had done that more?
Michelle: For me personally, no, because it made me be able to feel like I was still strong. And so, yeah, I mean, I had surgery and then two weeks later, I hosted Thanksgiving for 20 plus people and they all thought I was crazy, but it just, that’s what made me feel better. So [00:13:00] I’m like, I can, I’m strong. I can do this. And so I, as much normalcy as I could, I didn’t want meal trains. I didn’t want, you know.
Dorothy: So who did you have to comfort during that time?
Michelle: Probably my friends and family because they worried.
Dorothy: Yeah.
Michelle: We were super lucky. I have a great support system. And I think when I didn’t let them help me, if I did, it was to make them feel good, versus me. But it’s kind of backwards, but, uh, Hey, if that’s what worked for you, I didn’t even ring the bell when I got done with cancer. I was like, I’m not even ringing that bell. I am so out of here. I don’t want to ring the bell. I don’t want to do any of that. I want to just be done. So, yes. So it’s a little different.
Dorothy: Well, I think that’s important for our listeners to know. Everybody has a different, response and everybody handles it differently just like anything [00:14:00] that we go through but.
Michelle: Yeah definitely.
Dorothy: This is one of the the more challenging ones anyway you go.
Michelle: It is. So, but it was, I mean, it’s still hard to talk about, but I try to talk as much as I can about it because I think that it helps for people to, I mean, your, this podcast is amazing because the more people that can hear things, there might be something that somebody says that really resonates with them and they’re like, Oh, that makes sense. Or, Oh, I feel that same way. And they can relate to.
Dorothy: So do you worry about your girls?
Michelle: I do, definitely do, but I’m excited because I got a job that I get to work for Siemens Healthineers and I sell the first new mammogram machine to hit the market in over 10 years. It can detect cancer that is the size of the tip of a pencil.
So it makes me feel hopeful and positive that my girls will be able to be diagnosed if they happen to have it, um, [00:15:00] way earlier than I was in a much earlier stage. I was still stage one, but I mean, to be able to detect cancer at a size of pencil tip and it to be able to work for a company that is on the cutting edge of this type of technology is it’s a privilege. I’m so excited because I have such a passion for it. So.
Dorothy: Did you do the genetic testing?
Michelle: I did. No genetics for it. Nothing.
Dorothy: You know I think that’s one of the most important messages we can put out there. You had no family history.
Michelle: No.
Dorothy: No genetic testing issues that were detect, that you could have known of. You were young.
Michelle: Yep.
Dorothy: And, uh, the one thing you had going for you was you had that annual mammogram. Did you skip the 2021?
Michelle: I did not.
Dorothy: You didn’t.
Michelle: I did not. And so that was a big year that a lot of people skip because everything was shut down. I did not skip that year. And I’m glad that I wasn’t diagnosed in that year, [00:16:00] because the women that were diagnosed that year, that was horrible, they didn’t get to have anybody with them, they didn’t get to have, it just, I can’t imagine going through that.
Dorothy: So who was with you when you were doing your chemo?
Michelle: Um, my husband, and then my best friend. She came, my husband couldn’t make it to one of them, so she came.
Dorothy: What, what did, I’ve heard so many different stories about when people are having their chemo, and and how whoever was with him helped that time to go by. Did, did you have any special things you did during that time?
Michelle: I, um, gosh, what I downloaded shows on Netflix. I’m trying to think what show it was. It was probably some mindless show that, you know, I just would watch it, but it was a little bit hard because I did the cold capping obviously, but then I also did the mitts.
Dorothy: Oh, that’s right.
Michelle: And the, The ice for your feet.
Dorothy: Mm-hmm.
Michelle: So I couldn’t swipe on my phone, so it made it a little difficult. Um, but yeah, I just, I kept busy doing that. And [00:17:00] I think one of the biggest things is I kept busy and I kept moving. Like when I was going through chemo, there were days where you just didn’t feel good. Or even after surgery.
Dorothy: Mm-hmm.
Michelle: Um. Whether I went walking after surgery, again, I’m not the most compliant patient. I’m like, when can I go to the gym? And she’s like, you cannot go to the gym. You can’t drive. You can’t go to the gym. But I would go to the gym anyways. And I’d sit on, I joke and lovingly call it the grandma bike. You just sit there and you just move your feet. But I was like, I had to do something to move. And I talked to this lady today that’s going to be going through chemo. And I was like, my biggest piece of advice is even when you feel bad, move your body. And it’s so counterintuitive.
Dorothy: But you know, Michelle, that’s true in any situation. If you’re depressed, get up and move. If, you know, go down the list, uh, just moving your body can move your mind. And that is one of the, uh, things I think we’ve lost that knowledge of, [00:18:00] yeah.
Michelle: Yeah. And sometimes it’s hard. I mean, you have days where you were just like, I do not want to go, but, um, you go and then I don’t think there’s anybody that would tell you that they went and walked or worked out or did something and they felt bad after.
Dorothy: Yeah.
Michelle: You know, so.
Dorothy: That’s, that’s good. Good advice.
Michelle: Yeah. So I did that.
Dorothy: So do you have any friends, or even in your job now, you’ve, I mean, you’re a salesperson, you’re selling this machine now?
Michelle: I am.
Dorothy: How can someone sit across the table from you and say, oh, I don’t want that machine. Do you share your story?
Michelle: I share. They know my story. Yeah. I share my story and, um. I share my story to anybody that wants to hear it. Um, I’ve done some stuff with UTMB. They have an event. I’m going to a luncheon tomorrow and I try to stay active and share my story because it’s so important for women to get their annual mammogram and to prioritize themselves.
And I think that we’re really, a lot of us are not super great with that. You know, we prioritize everybody else. [00:19:00] And.
Dorothy: That is so true.
Michelle: We need to prioritize ourselves, but yeah, so no, I, I share my story when I’m selling uh, the machine. And again, it’s such a privilege. I’m so excited that I’m, I’m very new with them. So I’m just so excited to be able to, to do something I’m passionate about that can hopefully detect cancer earlier and, um, and go from there. So yeah, it’s, I’m excited. I’m very excited.
Dorothy: Do, you know, you touched on this, but I just want to be sure, if you had been in a hospital or had a physician who did not recommend a cold cap, what would you have done?
Michelle: um, you have to advocate for yourself. You have to know about it, that it’s there. And then, um, same, like I said, they really weren’t, they were like, Oh, I don’t know, it might not work. And they kind of brushed me off. Um, and so I like, no, no, no, I, this is important to me. And so I, called Paxman directly and they are [00:20:00] phenomenal.
They’ve got a U. S. number. You can call them directly and they will, um, help you walk through the whole process. And so it’s very, yeah, but you do have to kind of, and still even today is like I said, the lady I talked to today, she’s like, well, they kind of brushed me off and I get it. They, their job is to treat cancer, not save your hair. But it makes you feel so much more human when you have hair.
Dorothy: Yes, of course. That’s the thing that most women fear the most is losing their hair. I mean, yeah, you, you can appear to be okay. Even if you’ve had surgery or if you, even if you’re carrying your drains around. But you can’t appear to be okay when, when all your hair is gone. That’s, that’s just hard.
Michelle: That’s why it was so important to me to to keep it. Um, and like I said, the company, they, and I, they were amazing to work with. They really were.
Dorothy: That is good to know. This is a, you go directly to them, get your information.
Michelle: Yeah, you can go to [00:21:00] paxmanscalpcooling.com, I believe, and you can, um, go on there, click on patients. I just did it today again with this lady on the phone and go through and there’s a number you can call and they will walk you through the whole process. And like I said, when I did it, insurance didn’t cover it, but, um, I believe now that insurance does cover it at some of the larger, uh, facilities. So it’s definitely a question to ask.
Dorothy: Right, it’s like you were talking, they’re still very new. This is a very new therapy.
Michelle: Right.
Dorothy: And while the company has focused so much on education, they don’t have that marketing.
Michelle: They don’t. Because originally, yeah. Yeah, no, they don’t. Originally, I, when I was getting back into the workforce, I mean, that’s what I wanted to do. I’m like, I wanted to sell cold caps. And, um, I was actually able to connect with the founder, they’re based over in the UK. So, um, they have a much larger footprint over there. And, um, they didn’t have any openings at the time. And then this job with Siemens Healthineers worked out and I’m so excited. But, um, it’s, um, There’s just not the knowledge quite [00:22:00] yet. I think. So, um, but they’re
Dorothy: It’s there. It’s available.
Michelle: And there’s no guarantee, you know, you still lose a lot of hair. It’s hard you know, you take showers and you see the drain full of hair, but For me personally, it was a hundred percent worth it.
Dorothy: So you’re not that far out, but do you Still can do you consider yourself a survivor?
Michelle: Yes.
Dorothy: And you paused.
Michelle: Yes. No, I definitely do. I just, I don’t know. I try not to think about it. I try to just like, okay, I’m done with that. And that’s off my, like, that’s off my list. I don’t want to have to think about it. Um, cause it is, it’s, it’s emotional. It’s, I tell you what, the first mammogram after having going through all those treatments, it’s like, PTSD, you’re like, oh my goodness, this is when I was first diagnosed. So, but, [00:23:00] so I try just to not think about, I go every three months, I do what I’m supposed to do, but I try to not think about it for me personally. So, um, yeah, so I am a survivor.
Dorothy: What other techniques do you use though? I mean, that is the scariest time.
Michelle: Yeah, probably that’s why I tear up now. I don’t know. I probably need to like like wrap my head around it more because I just yeah, I feel like—
Dorothy: Here you’ve been there.
Michelle: Yep.
Dorothy: Yeah, it’s got to feel like a nightmare stepping back into it. You know, well, oh my gosh, this could happen again.
Michelle: Yep. Yep, and I try really hard to just realize we’ve got the best hospitals here. And if it did happen again, then okay I can I can make it through I tell you what, I mean it tells you you can do hard.
Dorothy: Yeah.
Michelle: And that some things are out of your control and I’m a big control person, I like to be in control of everything, and cancer taught me that I can’t, so, um, and I think my outreach, I think doing stuff with people and talking [00:24:00] to people and telling my story helps me feel better.
Dorothy: Did you know you were a control freak before?
Michelle: Ah, yes. I did. I did. I’m a, I’m an outside of the box. If you tell me no, I’m gonna tell you, I’m gonna think of a way to make it a yes. Um, but cancer just really is like, okay, you know what? You’re just going to have to come along for the ride. So, um.
Dorothy: Oh, that’s a good way to put it though.
Michelle: To come along for the ride. Yeah.
Dorothy: I mean, what else can you do?
Michelle: You can’t. And you’re just glad that, you know, if you’ve got a support system and that you have amazing facilities that, you know.
Dorothy: And insurance, which a lot of women we serve do not have that readily available to them. So.
Michelle: They don’t. And there’s those out of pocket costs. Like for example, my daughter played volleyball and they did a breast cancer fundraising event and we actually gave the money to, you know, UTMB. ’cause there’s things like a zip up sports broth after surgery, or there’s parking. Or there’s, you know.
Dorothy: Spray the creams. You [00:25:00] may have to use.
Michelle: Spray Aquaphor. There’s all sorts of things and that all adds up. And if you’re having to get, you know, babysitters while you’re going to radiation. Or you’re having to pay for gas to drive wherever. And there’s a lot of costs that people don’t realize they’re associated with it. So the fundraiser, they gave it back to UTMB and help people. They give it out to people that need it for things like that. They, Amazon gift cards, we did, and that helped.
Dorothy: So many things. Yeah.
Michelle: There really are. There really are.
Dorothy: Is there anything that you would wish you had known back when you went for that mammogram and you get that call? You had to go back for what, spot compressions or?
Michelle: I had to go back, so I got the mammogram, then I had to go back for the biopsy, which, that was absolutely no fun. That just was not a fun experience, the biopsy. I don’t know what I was thinking about it cause you know, my husband had offered to go with me and I’m like, no, no, I’m good.
Dorothy: And was it stereotactic or else?
Michelle: Stereotactic.
Dorothy: Those are not fun.
Michelle: It was just [00:26:00] not a fun experience, but, um, but I made it through it. And, um, anything I wish I had known probably just that I had to let go of whatever perceived control I thought I had and just go along for the ride that, but I, as far as, I had great friends, I had friends that were going through it as well, so I reached out to them for any type of advice.
Dorothy: Same age?
Michelle: Same age. Actually my daughter’s preschool class, there were three of us in the same preschool class right around the same time, that all, all different types of breast cancer, but we all were diagnosed. So, it was nice that we had people to talk to and, you know, had.
Dorothy: Because the issues a 40 year old has are so different than a woman in her 60s or 70s. I mean, children and, and all the other things. Yeah.
Michelle: So they were young and there’s more, I think, there’s more and more young people that are being diagnosed with [00:27:00] breast cancer.
Dorothy: And it’s not a think it, it is actually true.
Michelle: Yes, I believe that.
Dorothy: It is, we’ve had some recent studies come out that are just so, um, sobering because they have definitely seen an increase in cancers, breast 40 to 49.
Michelle: Right.
Dorothy: And so more and more we’re seeing those recommendations that had everyone so confused. You said, Oh, you don’t really need it in your forties. More and more, uh, the different organizations are saying, no, start at 40.
Michelle: I just a hundred percent agree with that. A hundred percent. And then if you can catch it early, I mean, that’s, that can be game changing. I was lucky to be able to catch mine at stage one. And even at stage one, I still had to have chemo and radiation and surgery and all of that, but it didn’t spread to my lymph nodes. So that was
Dorothy: good. And that’s, that is it. So. Even in your position, uh, of selling these machines, do you find yourself having [00:28:00] to educate whoever you’re selling it to?
Michelle: I mean, there’s definitely education on the various mammogram machines that are out there, but, uh, the techs and the radiologists, no, I mean, they’re, they’re up on—
Dorothy: What about the people who really buy them, the administrators and that kind of thing? they have to approve the budget.
Michelle: They have to approve the budget and everything. And honestly, I can’t speak to that as much because I’m still so new with this position that I haven’t been able to go through an entire sales cycle yet. So I’m very new. This is like week three. So super new. But again, I’m just, you know, so excited because it’s super important. I’ve got two girls. I want the best machine out there to scan my daughters to see if they have it or not.
Dorothy: So it’s 3d or is it more than 3d?
Michelle: 3d and it has the widest angle. It’s the 50 percent angle. Um, so which can get a much better perspective on a [00:29:00] very, very, very small, cancerous tumor. So, um, again, I’m still, I’m going next week to go work with one of my coworkers to learn more about, um, the different machines that we have. I went to MD Anderson last week, was able to work with some of them where they’ve got, um, the machines up there. So very excited, but it just got FDA approved. So we are, um, very early on. It’s brand new. And the first one in over 10, 15 years?
Dorothy: We had 3d that long Breasts, they’re all pretty much the same. It’s truly not. And with the exception of what you’re talking about. It’s not the machine as much as the radiologist. As much as the tech. As much as you know what you’re taking and most of all listening to the patient.
Michelle: Yes. Yes. And you know, one of the benefits that I found as a patient that I liked about this machine was you don’t have to [00:30:00] hold your breath, which I don’t know why I worried about that as a patient. I get a mammogram. I’m like, she can remember to tell me to breathe. I don’t know why I can totally breathe on my own. But, um, so there’s a few things like that that just make it more comfortable. And that, you know, there’s some, um, technology where the techs, you know, they’re kind of like little gymnasts. They’ve got to get under and position and reach over and all that. It’s, uh, it’s more, uh, tech friendly as far as being able to move to where the techs aren’t having to be as much of, uh, acrobats as, as they have to. So yes.
Dorothy: I’d want to see that.
Michelle: Yeah. Yeah. So it’s, it’s, we’re excited. We’re excited to be able to have it.
Dorothy: Michelle, do you have any final words, especially for young women?
Michelle: Prioritize yourself, take the time to get the mammogram. It’s, it’s a game changer if you can detect it early. Um, if you get diagnosed, social media is wonderful for information, but take it all with a grain of [00:31:00] salt. Uh, there’s lots of opinions. Everybody’s cancer is different. Every treatment’s different. Um, and then just, it’s a journey and you’re not in control. You can make it through it.
Dorothy: And you’re here to tell them they can.
Michelle: Yes. Yep. And be positive if you can because it’s, you’re going to make it through it and it’ll be all right.
Dorothy: Right. That may be the only thing you can control.
Michelle: That’s it. A hundred percent. Yep. Yeah. So, yeah.
Dorothy: Oh, well thank you for being with us here today.
Michelle: Thank you for having me.
Dorothy: This was so good.
Michelle: I am so excited to be here.
Dorothy: Oh, and I, I tell you, I know our listeners heard things they haven’t heard before. And so, uh, appreciate you being willing to share.
Michelle: Sure. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. I think you all do amazing work. Yeah. 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 [00:32:00] 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.
