Dorothy: [00:00:00] Ana Henriquez is with us today and she’s going to share how an afternoon of yard work changed her life. Ana is a wife, mother, real estate agent, and more importantly, she is a young woman who survived breast cancer, and she has many messages for our young women. Ana says if she can get it, anyone can get it, and you need to be aware and be your best advocate.
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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 a frank discussion about tough topics and you’re going to learn why knowing about your breast could save [00:01:00] your life.
Thank you so much, Ana, for being with us here today, and, uh, I’m, I’m just delighted that you’re going to be talking about what it’s like to be a younger woman who’s gone through the breast cancer experience, and I’ve been fascinated by your story ever since I heard it. So tell us a little bit about your diagnosis, how you found the cancer, and what was going on then.
Ana: Well, thank you, Dorothy, for having me. Um, I, you know, I love to share my story just because it sends a message to everyone, to every woman out there. I was diagnosed during COVID, actually. Um, It was November of 2020. Um, I was 38 years old, so very young. It was tough. It was something that You know, unexpected, so it, it, it just, um, it hit differently.
Dorothy: So, how did you actually find you had a lump in your breast?
Ana: We were doing some [00:02:00] yard work, my family, we were out, and, you know, we were, uh, I went out with my son to go buy some bag of mulch, and I accidentally hit my breast. Um, and when I hit my breast, it was, it was pretty hard, you know, the hit that I took.
Dorothy: But you were kind of showing off. So showing yourself that you could pick up that bag of mulch. Yeah. I love that.
Ana: Yes. I was, you know, I was being a little tough, a little baddie. But, um, yeah, I hit myself and, you know, I was like, Oh my God, that hurt. And, um, once I got, you know, Back to the house. I was like, well, that, you know, that was painful. Let me keep an eye on it. The next day, a couple days later, I, you know, I, I started touching myself just because of the hit that I took and there was a lump and I was like, okay, this is weird. I told my husband to touch it and, and [00:03:00] see if it felt, you know, what I felt and, uh. He’s like, yeah, that, you know, that needs to be checked.
You need to go in.
Dorothy: Now did cancer come immediately to mind?
Ana: It didn’t, right there, it didn’t. Throughout the days, I started thinking more.
Dorothy: Mm hmm.
Ana: And, uh, you know, once I had that appointment, It, it was more real and once I, I saw a change in my breast, it was more real. I, and I was Googling and it’s bad to Google all the symptoms because that’s when it hit, you know, like this might be cancer.
Dorothy: Now we always tell women, don’t go Google, but everybody does. I would, you know, it’s just, it’s human nature to try and find out what’s going on.
Ana: Exactly. Yes.
Dorothy: So you’re, you were diagnosed and it’s a definite now. It’s breast cancer.
Ana: Yes.
Dorothy: But you were uninsured.
Ana: Correct. [00:04:00] You know, they, they told me it is breast cancer and I was devastated, of course.
Um, that day, uh, you know, I got in my car and I cried and I got home and I cried even more. It was just, you know, why? Like, I know every cancer patient asks the question, like, you know, why me? Um, And it’s hard. It, that part, I believe was the hardest part for me. Um, the diagnosis and getting through it and learning to accept it.
Dorothy: Yes. Is during COVID— Was your husband allowed to go with you or?
Ana: No.
Dorothy: You were mostly alone.
Ana: Everything. Throughout the treatment, he wasn’t allowed to go. He would just drop me off, pick me up. That was it. And yes, I was uninsured, back to your question. So I was just, at the beginning I was just [00:05:00] trying to find my way to because it was so much being diagnosed and then being uninsured.
It was just like, how am I going to do this? How is this going to work for me? And trying to find somebody that could help me or some type of foundation.
Dorothy: So how did you find out about The Rose?
Ana: I did so much research online and it’s just so weird how at that point, you know, at that time it wouldn’t, I wasn’t, I was not getting to The Rose at all.
Um, So I would go to, you know, there’s an address that it sent me to. Um, and I went there and I believe it was a hospital. So I went to go ask how, how can I get, you know, insured? Was there a foundation that I— can call me? What’s, you know, what can I do? Um, so that’s when they directed me to The Rose. Yes. So [00:06:00] thankfully, by the grace of God, I, I came here and I mean, y’all guided me through the whole insurance process.
Dorothy: And this was, like, through the state program, right?
Ana: Yes, yes. So, you know, I couldn’t have done it without The Rose. I don’t know what I would have done. Um, but it was tough. Just being COVID, my diagnosis, and being uninsured. It was—. It was bad. It was. I didn’t know a way to get through anything and I was trying my best and I’m so thankful for The Rose to, to have been there for me.
Dorothy: And so the program that you’re talking about is our patient navigation program. And some of our listeners don’t know about that, but it is a program that helps the uninsured woman get into treatment. And like you said, there’s not a lot of programs out there. There’s not a lot of, uh, foundations. Medical care [00:07:00] is very, very expensive.
Ana: Exactly.
Dorothy: And, uh, we are so proud of our, our navigators. But, did they help you with understanding what was going on with you?
Ana: They did. And, um, you know, once I, I, got with the insurance and everything it made a little my life a little bit easier on that aspect. They did it helped me and they had classes to come in with other young women like me. And I think at that time I was just so I just, I wanted my own space.
I, I wanted just to get through it and, you know, and, and just block off everything. But y’all do have that program where, you know, you can talk to other women just like me and, and go through that phase and get more information as well. So that was very helpful as well.
Dorothy: Were you able to talk to your husband easily about what was happening to you?
Ana: Yes. Uh, he was a, big support. He [00:08:00] actually went bald for me.
Dorothy: Oh.
Ana: Yes.
Dorothy: Really?
Ana: Yes, so, um, that part was really hard for me too, just because I knew I was eventually going to have to cut my hair and I was going to lose it all. Um, but I just didn’t want to do it yet. I was procrastinating on doing it. And, um, There was a point where, you know, the day before my first haircut, I was like, I’m just gonna go get my haircut.
I, I was fall, like, my hair was falling like crazy, so I, I had to get it done. This was between my first and second chemo, so it was already falling out. But I, I thought I was Wonder Woman, of course, that it wasn’t gonna fall out and it wasn’t gonna happen to me. Just, you know, It’s just like breast cancer.
I thought it wasn’t gonna happen to me, but it did. It fell off and I actually have a picture [00:09:00] where like my I got out of the shower before my haircut and my hair’s in a big tangle like a big ball of tangle and I Was just so overwhelmed and I am like, oh my god. I’m dead I was about to cry in that face and I was just like, Okay, well, let me just get to my hairstylist and she can shop it off.
So I went and um, yeah, she’s like, “Oh my God, what happened?” And it was just, you know, now it’s just funny because like you see, I have that picture where like my hair is just like in a big, ball of rectangle. And, um, yeah, she, she went and she cut it and she did her thing and it looked really nice. It looked beautiful.
Like the haircut that she gave me. But a couple of days later I did, I shaved it off because it, you know, it was, as it was falling, I, you know, I couldn’t keep it. [00:10:00]
Dorothy: So who helped you with that?
Ana: My husband.
Dorothy: Yeah. Yeah.
Ana: Yeah. My husband, um, there was a day where I’m like, let’s do it. And, and at that point already, I had already accepted, I thought I was going to lose it.
I had already accepted my diagnosis. So I’m like, yeah, I’m ready. Let’s do this.
Dorothy: And so many survivors have told me that that day of realizing the hair is going to go is almost as hard as the diagnosis day.
Ana: It is. Yes. And, um, I tried wearing wigs. Maybe I tried one time. Um, and I’m like, no, this is not for me.
I, I would just wear wraps. I would just wear cute wraps or little hats or caps. And, and that was me. Like, that was the real me. I didn’t want to hide myself from my reality.
Dorothy: And how did your children [00:11:00] handle all this?
Ana: My little one, um, he, he would always hug me, kiss my little bald head. And the other ones, they accepted it, you know.
They, they knew it was going to happen. Uh, we sat down and, my husband sat down and, and talked to them. He probably thought it was just easier for him to do it than me— me to do it.
Dorothy: Oh, interesting.
Ana: Yeah. So they, you know, they sat down and he talked to them and he told them what was going to happen, what to expect and pretty much to make my life easier just because, you know, you know, that whole process was going to be just, you know, bad.
It was going to, it’s going to be, you know, a tough chapter in my life, pretty much.
Dorothy: So what were you most afraid of during that time?
Ana: Of course, what every woman thinks of not making it.
Dorothy: Right.
Ana: You know, of—
Dorothy: And your children are how old [00:12:00] then?
Ana: Um, well, he, now he’s, I think my little one was three at that time, or four? Yeah, four. He was four. So he was the little one. So, they, I would never talk to them of, you know, my anxiety or my, you know, of me being scared.
I, I always put a tough face on. Never did I let them, you know, see the, the real me. Or I think never did I tell anybody how, you know, to the world I was okay. I was going through my battles inside of me.
Dorothy: That’s hard to do.
Ana: It is. It is. Um, And I, I would cry, of course, on my own. Um, and I would ask God, you know, every time.
And I knew I had to stop saying, “why me? Why me?” [00:13:00] I knew I had to stop saying that. And I got to a point where I was. okay with it. You know, I understood that if he gave me this battle was because he knew I could win it.
Dorothy: Hmm. That is huge.
Ana: Yes. Yes. And, uh, throughout my whole diagnosis, I kept being me. I kept working.
Dorothy: And you’re a realtor.
Ana: I am. Yes. Those were actually my best years of real estate. Yes, during COVID, I was closing one home after another, after another, and I was doing that thing, you know, even throughout everything I, I would get up and I would head out. I would do my workouts. I’ll go to the gym, get home, get ready, go to work.
And I wouldn’t stay home. [00:14:00] I just felt like. I had to be me, and I still had to keep going, and I wasn’t gonna let cancer win.
Dorothy: So Ana, do you think being Hispanic made any difference in how you understood cancer or how you handled it? Or did anyone in your community seem extra concerned? Or We, we always hear different stories, what, it doesn’t matter what community, but there’s so many myths and so many misunderstandings.
And then there’s the, well, this is how I did it. Did you have a lot of that?
Ana: So in, you know, in the Hispanic community, it’s, it’s not com— well, in, in my family, it’s not very common that one of our family members has cancer.
Dorothy: Right.
Ana: So, it took everybody by surprise. Um, and it’s [00:15:00] just that, you know, with Hispanics, we’re, we’re more of, we’re scared of, you know, getting getting, uh, diagnosed with something like that, with a illness like that, because we procrastinate.
We don’t do our yearly exams. Um, we do, don’t do our checkups. So, I feel like it, you know, being Hispanic maybe did have, you know, it, it did make a difference on the way, because whenever I was diagnosed, and I was 38, I, I had no idea. I, like, I wouldn’t hear about cancer. Ah, so I had no idea that this could happen to me.
Dorothy: Right.
Ana: I mean, I knew about cancer. I just didn’t, I never thought,
Dorothy: Mm-Hmm.
Ana: you know?
Dorothy: Mm-Hmm.
Ana: You never think. And, uh, you know, just with Hispanics, we, we really don’t [00:16:00] get, you know, now I’ve seen more Hispanic women of course being diagnosed, but I feel like it’s a lack of us. You know, going out there and getting checked, and even us getting ourselves checked.
Dorothy: Right, and listen, I have to tell you, that’s not just Hispanics. That is being a woman. I mean, you wouldn’t let your child not have their checkups. But if it comes to you, you go, uh, maybe I won’t do it this year, or, you know, things get in the way. It’s always that thing of, you know— Taking care of everybody else, doing what we have to, and putting ourselves last.
That’s a big message that we try to tell women. You know, this is not a time to put yourself last.
Ana: Exactly.
Dorothy: Yeah.
Ana: Now that I see it, of course, you know, I’m like, I wish I could have done this differently. But being the way I found it, I, [00:17:00] I really thank God. I, I know it was a miracle because. I wasn’t getting checked.
Dorothy: Right. You weren’t doing your monthly checks or any of that while you’re— so yeah, that was a miracle.
Ana: Yeah. And, and with life, you know, just work and everything, you don’t, you don’t check yourself. So it’s, it’s not there like as whenever you’re a kid that you’re getting checked up.
Dorothy: So how long were you in treatment?
Ana: So I believe it was a whole year. Um, I was doing, I did chemo and I did chemo for six months. I did one of the toughest chemos that is called the Red Devil. And that’s tough. So that was four treatments of that. And after that it was the rest. After that I finished chemo. Then I went into radiation. I got radiation and you know, then I went to surgeries.
And, um, deep flap. [00:18:00] So it, it was—
Dorothy: That’s a healing process.
Ana: Oh wow, yes.
Dorothy: Yes.
Ana: I think out of everything, you know, the chemo, the first chemos are tough. Just because you, your body doesn’t know what to expect from all the medicine.
Dorothy: Well, it’s, it’s an invasion anywhere you go.
Ana: Exactly.
Dorothy: It’s, yeah, yeah, they are tough.
Ana: Yeah, so, um, and you know. Getting a deep flap, it’s, you know, it’s a big decision getting a double mastectomy and getting your deep flap.
Dorothy: Because this was really only in one breast?
Ana: It was only one breast on my left, yes.
Dorothy: But it was a good decision, or you felt like it was a good decision to do?
Ana: I wanted to avoid, yes, not getting it on my other breast.
Dorothy: Right.
Ana: So I went for a double mastectomy, which, you know, I, Got, took out both of my breasts and, um, we did expanders. [00:19:00] So, when we did expanders, um, I got an infection, um, on my radiated breast. Uh, so, that also was another hit, you know, I had to go get it out and, you know, Now it was just like, okay, I don’t have my breasts, but I have expanders, now I have to get this one out, so You know, that, it’s taking away your womanhood with already getting your breasts out, and Um, you know, they gave me two options, either Um, I could do implants or I could do a D flap. Which is your own fat.
Dorothy: Your own fat, yes.
Ana: Which I, I went.
Dorothy: Abdomen area.
Ana: Exactly. You know, doing your abdomen and putting it in your breasts. And just using your own, uh, your own tissue. Which I thought it was a better, um, choice for me. [00:20:00] I didn’t want to do implants just because I had already gotten an infection on, so I just, I didn’t want to do that.
I didn’t want to have a foreign item in my body.
Dorothy: Which is very, very common, uh, the infections and the other things. And I think that’s why I appreciate so much our guest being so honest about here’s what really happens, you know, when you’re going through treatment. A lot of women are totally unprepared.
Of course, you know, they’ve never had that. But I think hearing that someone else had to deal with it. So, Ana, how did you say goodbye to your breast?
Ana: I was ready. I felt like, okay, you tried to kill me. So this is it. Um, I, I didn’t really have a party because I know some survivors do have like a little party for them, but, um, I was ready to just let go.
And, and it was tough, like waking up [00:21:00] and seeing yourself without them. Um, it was tough. Uh, I did cry, um, because I, you know, I told my husband, I’m just, I’m not the same and, you know, he, he motivated me. He’s like, no, I, you’re perfect. You know, you, you did this. This is what needs to be done. So it, it doesn’t make a difference on how I see you.
Dorothy: It sounds like he was a really strong support system for you.
Ana: He was.
Dorothy: Did you ever worry about him?
Ana: In? Uh—
Dorothy: In what he might be going through, what he might be thinking?
Ana: I did. I, you know, I, I told me, I told him that, um, he really, you know, I understood if he wanted to, you know, drop the towel, but he’s [00:22:00] like, no, I’m going to support you.
Dorothy: That’s a hard conversation to have.
Ana: Yes, because it’s, you know, he’s, I know he’ll, he’s, he doesn’t really talk much about his emotions, but I knew just seeing how I looked was not very, you know, appealing.
Uh, but he’s like, no, you know, we’re in this together and we’re going to make it, so.
Dorothy: Big, big, uh, comfort.
Ana: Yeah. Definitely. He was. And throughout the whole, you know, treatment he was.
Dorothy: From start to finish.
Ana: Yes.
Dorothy: As a, as a younger patient, and, and a really younger patient, this is different. It’s not, we don’t expect it.
You know, do you feel like your, your physicians treated you any differently than they might have an older patient?
Ana: Um, they, you know, [00:23:00] they did really good. I, Loved all my physicians. They, my oncologist, the whole, you know, hospital team, they were, they were really great.
Dorothy: And did they help you with alleviating some of your fears?
Ana: Yeah, um, they said this, you know, this is more common because now you’re seeing younger women get diagnosed. I mean, even in 28s, you know, being, so, so they did, you know, um, They did alleviate me with some of that.
Dorothy: Right. And if you, I know I’ve, I’ve, I know that you have a message for young women, but what would be the most important thing that you would want any young woman to know that’s facing this?
Ana: Just to pay attention to your body. To check yourself. Um, you know, life [00:24:00] is, is busy as it is. But you have to pay attention to your body. That’s my biggest message because, um, cancer had been with me for a while. And, you know, as my doctor said, uh, it’s probably been two years that you’ve had it. I was diagnosed with stage three.
So it had been there. And, uh, I just. I hadn’t paid attention to myself. I hadn’t checked myself.
Dorothy: Which was not uncommon. You’re young. You’re invincible. I mean, you have other things happening in your life. Right, superwoman. I mean, that’s, uh, that is not, that’s our normal way of being. And you had so many other responsibilities.
Has, have your priorities [00:25:00] shifted any since you’re, you’re now how many years out?
Ana: So that happened in 2020. So yeah. Two years.
Dorothy: Yeah. And has your priorities changed? Have you found yourself looking differently at life or?
Ana: Definitely. I, I live life more. I enjoy life more. I, you know, before I was skeptical and I would think twice of having, going on a trip and, and now it’s like.
You know what? I, I’m gonna go. You know, I’m gonna see the world and life is not promised and a blink of an eye your whole life can change as it did to me. So now I, I want to enjoy, I enjoy my kids more. I spend time more with my kids.
Dorothy: And you find yourself still working though?
Ana: I do, yes.
Dorothy: But it’s not your whole life.
Ana: Correct. Right. It’s, I, I don’t, [00:26:00] you know, I, I don’t say, you know what, no, I can’t go on a trip. I say, you know what, let me work it with my work schedule and, Let’s go.
Dorothy: Yeah. So many, so many people work their time off around their work schedule and it really could be the other way around. Here’s my time off and my time out of here and we’ll make the work schedule work.
Ana: Yeah. So, and you know, luckily I’m in, I’m in real estate so I can do that. You know, I, I have, um, I have that opportunity to, to, work it with my schedule.
Dorothy: But you still have to be there, and you still have to show up, or you don’t sell any houses.
Ana: I know. I don’t make money.
Dorothy: No.
Ana: No.
Dorothy: And that’s so important.
Ana: Yes.
Dorothy: I think having the kind of work that you have, where you had to be out, and you had to be in front of people, may have been a blessing.
You know, because you, like you said, you had to put on your tough face.
Ana: I did.
Dorothy: Yeah.
Ana: I did. And, uh, you know, [00:27:00] clients that, um, you know, repeatedly clients that I had, you know, now would see me with a scarf on my fa—, you know, in my head, and it was, you know, like, what happened? And, you know, and they would always motivate me too.
So, my clients understood.
Dorothy: What was the best thing they said to you?
Ana: You’re strong. You can beat this and more.
Dorothy: Ah. So many times people don’t know what to say. You But those are important words. Yes. And you’re still under surveillance? I mean, you still have regular testing?
Ana: Yes.
Dorothy: Every six months now?
Ana: Mm-hmm.
Dorothy: Okay.
Ana: Every six months, yes. I, I am. Um, they did give me five years. Um, so after five years, I’m, I’m on the clear.
Dorothy: You’re almost there!
Ana: I know!
Dorothy: Yeah. And are you anxious any time you go for your follow up?
Ana: Um. Not, I don’t want [00:28:00] to, you know, I, uh, I try to stay positive and I’m staying positive.
Dorothy: Yes.
Ana: Because I see it as, you know, if God gave me another opportunity at life, then he did it for a reason.
Dorothy: That’s such a good message, Ana. Yes. Thank you so much for being with us today. Thank you for being so candid and sharing your story. I know there’s going to be other women that hear this that are going to be motivated just to keep going.
Ana: Yes. Thank you, Dorothy. And, you know, like, when I tell every woman, just keep going, it’s, it’s gonna all pass.
You think that life is still at, at that point of your diagnosis throughout treatment, but four years later, you’ll look back and, and it’s going to be gone.
Dorothy: Cancer did not define you.
Ana: Not at all.
Dorothy: You weren’t going to be. Always dealing [00:29:00] with that cancer. Yes, that is so important. So important here. Thank you again.
Ana: 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 social media using #Let’sTalkAboutYourBreasts. 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.
