Dorothy: [00:00:00] Jeanne Gregory’s world shifted fast. Her breast cancer diagnosis came from a routine mammogram after a lifetime, believing her family history of no breast cancer kept her safe. Navigating treatment just months after losing her husband to another kind of cancer, Jeanne found new hope because of the support from friends, her daughters, and a caring medical team. Her story highlights the power of being your own advocate, staying open with doctors and leaning on the community through every step of your recovery.
When you subscribe to our show, you help us grow. Someone you know may need to hear this story, so please share with your family and friends and consider supporting our mission at therose.org.
Let’s Talk About Your Breast, a different kind of podcast presented to you by The Rose, a breast center of excellence, and a Texas [00:01:00] treasure. You’re gonna hear frank discussions about tough topics, and you’re gonna learn why knowing about your breast could save your life.
Jeanne, thank you so much for joining us today. This is such a pleasure to meet you and, and I know that you have a lot to share with us.
Jeanne: Thank you. Oh, it’s a pleasure to be here.
Dorothy: So, Jeanne, when you were diagnosed with breast cancer, it was like a total surprise for you.
Jeanne: Yeah. I joke, and I probably shouldn’t joke about this, but I joke that most of my people just dropped dead of heart attacks. I mean, that’s what happened. All the grandparents, the parents, everybody. One day here, next day gone. Thought I don’t have to worry about breast cancer. I don’t have to worry about that. So anyway, but I, I always did my mammograms. And.
Dorothy: Now, is that how it was found on your mammogram?
Jeanne: Yes. Routine and it, and it was um, January of 2024. [00:02:00] And just went in for a routine and they, it was December when I went in and then they called me back in January and I thought, well, that can be right. I have heart attacks. I don’t have, you know, I don’t have.
Dorothy: No family history of anything.
Jeanne: No family history that I know of. Of course, I don’t have any sisters, so I don’t. You know, but no family history, no cousins, nobody. And they found a small DCIS, Invasive and it, it just, it knocked me down. ’cause four months prior, I had lost my husband to liver cancer.
Dorothy: Oh.
Jeanne: After he had a three year battle with.
Dorothy: Oh my goodness.
Jeanne: Liver cancer. So I was just as scared with the treatment as I was the cancer.
Dorothy: You had seen,
Jeanne: because I had practically lived at MD Anderson for three years.
Dorothy: Right.
Jeanne: And I was scared and I, I couldn’t go back to [00:03:00] MD Anderson. It just wasn’t in me. I told my doctor I wanna be treated someplace else ’cause I, I couldn’t walk through those doors.
Dorothy: Well, good for you.
Jeanne: So.
Dorothy: No matter what going through that, it.
Jeanne: It was just, it was too much PTSD.
Dorothy: Yes.
Jeanne: You know, and so he set me up with a great surgeon and I’ve got a great oncologist. It was my surgeon called it, um, early curable problem. Which, you know, you kind of think, am I being dismissed? But you know, she said, no. No.
Dorothy: Oh no.
Jeanne: It’s, it’s early and it’s cure. So, so yeah, out of the blue. So.
Dorothy: So what, what kind of treatment did you have?
Jeanne: I had surgery. They took out, they, they took it out. They did the margins. They took out two lymph nodes. Those were cancer free, thank God.
Dorothy: Oh good.
Jeanne: Um, and then I did nine, no, I did 21 rounds of radiation, so, [00:04:00] um, came through it. Just fine. Um.
Dorothy: No major side effects. No.
Jeanne: No major, no major side effects. Well, I had a little bit of pain from the radiation in my shoulder, but yeah, it went away. No, and then I went to the oncologist and I actually really love my oncologist. He’s, he’s great. And, um, they put me on Tamoxifen. Which I was scared ’cause everybody was like, oh, you’re, you’re gonna get fat and you know, you can’t help but get fat on, on Tamoxifen, and I was like, well, I’m already kind of here. But anyway, anyway, I, I have had no side effects. Um.
Dorothy: Now that, that is, that is good to hear.
Jeanne: Yeah. Some.
Dorothy: Some women do fine. Some women have lots of side effects. You know, it’s. Everybody’s, everyone’s body is different.
Jeanne: Different.
Dorothy: And I think that’s, uh, one of the things about breast cancer that makes it a little different kind of cancer. ‘Cause there’s so many different [00:05:00] kinds of breast cancer.
Jeanne: Yes.
Dorothy: And then the point that you find it can alter so many different things. So.
Jeanne: I mean,
Dorothy: yeah.
Jeanne: It could have grown. I have a friend who was diagnosed the same week I was. Um, she found the lump. In October, but they did not do the surgery. They didn’t do the final investigation until January. And by that time she ended up having to do Herceptin and chemo and the whole thing. But she had also skipped her mammogram for the last three years ’cause of COVID.
Dorothy: Oh.
Jeanne: So.
Dorothy: We heard that story so many times.
Jeanne: Yeah.
Dorothy: Well, you just couldn’t do it during COVID. There’s, I mean, you know, it, it was such a, a difficult time for so many, and you know, women have a tendency not to remember when that last mammogram was anyway. Or we [00:06:00] think it, it had to have been done just last year.
Jeanne: Yeah.
Dorothy: Yeah.
Jeanne: So Solis was very good. I mean, they send me texts and they.
Dorothy: Really got onto you about getting it done.
Jeanne: Yes. They’re like, it’s time. It is time. It’s time, it’s time. I was like, okay, it’s time. Okay. You know?
Dorothy: So, so did she do well?
Jeanne: She did really well. She is, she’s come out on the other side, but you know, she’s, she went through more treatment than I did. So, um.
Dorothy: So it does make, make a difference when it’s.
Jeanne: It makes, it makes a huge difference. I’m just so grateful.
Dorothy: So, Jane, with your husband gone, who was your support system during that time?
Jeanne: Um, my friends, my kids. I’ve got two daughters. Um, you know, a lot of friends pitched in. Um, I’m real independent. I like to do things on my own, so I drove myself to radiation for 21 days. From Richmond to the medical center.
Dorothy: Goodness.
Jeanne: You know, I didn’t feel bad. It gave me something to do, you know, to, [00:07:00] to feel like, okay, I am fighting this thing every day. It was like, I’m fighting this thing.
Dorothy: So, so now let’s go back to Jeanne, the career woman. You’ve always worked.
Jeanne: Yeah.
Dorothy: And been in real estate, right?
Jeanne: Yes. Yes.
Dorothy: Had your own company or you were a.
Jeanne: No, I’m, I’m an agent. I was an agent with Remax for 27 years. And, um, before that I was with a couple of other smaller companies. And then, um, the, I guess, catalyst during this, um, during this fight, during this breast cancer, um, I just decided. I, I need a smaller company. I need somebody who’s more there for me. It’s a long story, but anyway, I went with a small boutique agency in Sugar Land, and it was, it’s the best thing I’ve ever done. So.
Dorothy: Isn’t it interesting how sometimes these life-threatening.
Jeanne: Right.
Dorothy: Events force us to do what we knew we needed to do anyway?
Jeanne: We knew we needed [00:08:00] to do it. That was the thing.
Dorothy: Yeah.
Jeanne: I knew I needed to do it even while my husband was sick. I needed to do it. I needed to do it. I needed, but you know, you just, you’re just like, oh, well, and then, you know. It, it was just like, oh, I need to do this. So.
Dorothy: Well, that is, that is one of the. I, I’ve heard patients say this, gifts of cancer, even though nothing would please us more
Jeanne: No.
Dorothy: Than if we, if we had a cure and we could just say, oh, this is gonna be done, and all of those kind of things. But I’ve heard many patients say, there is a gift to this because it, it helps you to prioritize in a very different way.
Jeanne: You just. I had a friend, we, we do reunions every year with a certain number of friends, and one of ’em was like, well, maybe we’ll just put it off this year. And I’m like, we don’t have that many years left. No, we’re not putting it off. We’re, we’re going to do this reunion. So.
Dorothy: Yeah, life gets very different.
Jeanne: It does.
Dorothy: When, [00:09:00] but, but I think another, uh, message that you have for women is no matter how old you are. You know, you were a little older here when you were diagnosed, but you were still going to have your mammogram. You were still getting it done.
Jeanne: Yes.
Dorothy: And that’s kind of another one of those misconceptions out there of, oh, I don’t really need it anymore.
Jeanne: I don’t need to.
Dorothy: Yeah, yeah.
Jeanne: Yeah. So I have told all my friends, I, I announced it at my Pilates classes. Somebody will say something, I’m like, don’t, don’t. You go get it right now.
Dorothy: Right.
Jeanne: Go get that mammogram. So, yeah.
Dorothy: Well, it’s one way we can take care of ourselves, but it’s also no one wants to find anything. But finding it early can make such a big difference.
Jeanne: Right?
Dorothy: Yeah.
Jeanne: Right.
Dorothy: So what other things did you learn during that time?
Jeanne: Well, and maybe not during that time. It started when my husband was sick. I learned that you have to [00:10:00] be your best advocate.
Dorothy: Oh, such an important. Yes.
Jeanne: Or you have to be an advocate for the person who’s ill because I’m not badmouthing, um, the medical.
Dorothy: No.
Jeanne: Um, facilities at all. But you have to be your advocate. You have to be the one that stands up and goes, wait a minute, I don’t understand this. I don’t understand why we’re doing this. I don’t understand, you know, why I feel this way. I don’t understand, you know, explain it to me. And, um, you know, some of them will and some of ’em won’t. I’ve, I’ve had great people in my journey. My husband had a few people that, yeah, let’s just say they didn’t, they didn’t want to explain themselves because they were the, they were the doctor and you were the patient. And you know.
Dorothy: But now, Jane, that is really part of our history. I mean, yeah, that’s how many of us were [00:11:00] Mm. I don’t wanna say raised, but it, it was.
Jeanne: It’s what we put up with.
Dorothy: Yes.
Jeanne: Yeah.
Dorothy: Oh, that’s a great term.
Jeanne: That’s what we put up with. Yeah.
Dorothy: Wow. Gotta remember that.
Jeanne: You would go to the doctor and he’d say, here, take this pill.
Dorothy: And you’d take it.
Jeanne: Take it.
Dorothy: And you wouldn’t ask it.
Jeanne: You take it and then you’d feel bad and you’d say, this pill makes me feel bad. And then they’d say, well, that’s your imagination. It can’t make you feel bad. So.
Dorothy: You know that. Absolutely. That’s a great example. So did you learn this, uh, advocacy early on or was it with your husband’s?
Jeanne: It was mostly with my husband. Um, it was a long, long journey. He was actually on the transplant list for a while. Um, we actually got a call to go for a liver transplant and we got halfway to the medical center and they said, nevermind, we made a mistake. Um. So, I mean, I can get emotional right now. Just thinking, just going back to all that makes [00:12:00] me anxious. Um.
Dorothy: And we don’t want you to be anxious, but I think it’ss so important for people to understand.
Jeanne: Yeah.
Dorothy: How, what it takes to stand up. You have to stand up and to be an advocate. So.
Jeanne: Especially women, ’cause we’re, we’re, I mean, we shouldn’t be saying this now, but we are dismissed a lot of times.
Dorothy: Well, I, I, I think you’re absolutely right. Think about this here. You’re a career woman. You’ve made your own money, you’ve been with clients, you’ve shaped your own life. But when you go to the doctor, if you feel dismissed, you know what? You probably are being dismissed.
Jeanne: Right? I had one of his doctors tell me I was a white knuckle control freak. And I said, yes. Is there anything else you would like to tell me?
Dorothy: This is my husband, this man I love.
Jeanne: My husband.
Dorothy: Yeah.
Jeanne: I’ve been with him for 48 years. Is there anything else you would like to point out? So.
Dorothy: That’s pretty brave.
Jeanne: I didn’t say that in those terms. I was a [00:13:00] little nicer, but, um, I little, I also requested that that doctor never saw us again.
Dorothy: Oh, he fired a doctor.
Jeanne: Yeah. Well, my husband fired the doctor, so, yeah. Yeah.
Dorothy: But even that, that concept is hard for people to understand. You don’t, it is have to continue with a doctor if he, if you just don’t feel comfortable, or does.
Jeanne: They make you feel uncomfortable.
Dorothy: Yeah.
Jeanne: And I, I didn’t know that going into his battle. I mean, you know, you just don’t think about it. You think these guys are all here, same way, same team, but there’s, you know, sometimes, sometimes there’s one, I guess, but you have to be your own advocate for sure.
Dorothy: So having that experience with your husband, you brought that into your own own time.
Jeanne: Probably over brought it into my own time. Much to the dismay of some of my doctors. But yeah, I asked a lot of questions. I still ask a lot of questions.
Dorothy: [00:14:00] Well, good.
Jeanne: Um. And yeah, everybody needs to ask questions.
Dorothy: But you know, sometimes I hear we don’t even know what questions to ask.
Jeanne: Oh, that’s true.
Dorothy: How did you know?
Jeanne: I. I did a lot of Dr. Google, ah, which you’re not supposed to do. I, I have a really good primary care physician, so I was able to reach out to him and ask questions. I had an excellent surgeon. So I was able to ask questions. Um, the radiologist I went to was, was very informative. Um, so I had a good, I had a good team. I felt like. Um. And then, you know, I, there are Facebook groups, I mean i’m on a Facebook group for Tamoxifen, you know, just to see, hey, what’s everybody? You know, my hair’s falling out or my, you know, is this caused by Tamoxifen? And a lot of people say, well, I never, I never had that. So [00:15:00] it was kind of calming to know that other people were going through it.
Dorothy: Right.
Jeanne: You know, like, is this really a side effect or is there something else? You know, so. Is this something I should ask my doctor? Or.
Dorothy: Does this pain mean anything?
Jeanne: Right.
Dorothy: Right.
Jeanne: Because now every time you have a pain, you’re like, oh, the cancer, you know?
Dorothy: Yeah. Yeah.
Jeanne: You know.
Dorothy: So, and that is, that is so true.
Jeanne: Yeah.
Dorothy: It’s just the way our minds work.
Jeanne: Right.
Dorothy: But you brought up something, you know, with, with COVID happening in our, uh, recent memory, so many people lost that contact with other beings. With other people.
Jeanne: Right.
Dorothy: And it’s been a real shift to find those communities of support. But they’re out there.
Jeanne: They’re out there. Yeah.
Dorothy: You just have to be, I think you always have to have discretion, but you also have to realize, you just need to look for ’em and, and how you interact and what you give the group is. Pretty much gonna [00:16:00] reflect what you get out of it.
Jeanne: Yeah, I think. I think so. I think, um, there are a lot of people like on that group that are like, I’m supposed to start taking this pill. And it’s been 45 days and I’m not taking this pill yet because I’m scared. Well, you were scared when you had cancer, so you know.
Dorothy: Right.
Jeanne: This is gonna help you. And maybe some other people telling you, I don’t have many side effects. You know? Yeah. There are some, there’s always gonna be some with a new medication, but take it.
Dorothy: Right.
Jeanne: Take it. It keeps cancer at bay.
Dorothy: Right. You know, that’s interesting that someone would. Postpone that from the medical side, what’s concerning is there’s some medications if you don’t start ’em within a certain period of time, they don’t have the same, uh, impact that on on the body. So yeah, that, that would be concerning.
Jeanne: I was amazed that because when they said, this is what you’re gonna have to do, you’re gonna have to take [00:17:00] this pill for the next five years, I’m like, give it to me. Come on. You know?
Dorothy: Right.
Jeanne: Let’s do it.
Dorothy: Yeah.
Jeanne: So.
Dorothy: So what are some other things that, and, and I think advocacy is so important. Your own being, your own self advocate is just, we can’t stress that enough. And I hear it so many times from our guest who either didn’t know how and wish they had. I learned it earlier or had had someone to help coach them. You know, I think that’s one thing that, that our breast cancer community is very open with. You know, here’s what you need to ask. Here’s how and when you get into a, a group of any kind, then you’ll learn some of those questions to ask and, and how to ask them and.
Jeanne: And how to ask. Yeah.
Dorothy: Yeah.
Jeanne: I think so. I think I, maybe because women are. More able to reach out to other women than sometimes men. Men.
Dorothy: Are we more connectors. Yes.
Jeanne: Yeah. because I know when my husband was sick [00:18:00] there, his friends didn’t, he didn’t know what to say. They didn’t know what to do. So, and I feel like my friends kind of gathered around me and said, we don’t know what to do either, but here we are. So.
Dorothy: Well see. That’s the difference.
Jeanne: Yeah.
Dorothy: Sometimes just being there.
Jeanne: Just being there.
Dorothy: Right.
Jeanne: You know.
Dorothy: And was there anything one or two of your friends did that was real special during that time?
Jeanne: Oh, my friend in Alabama sent me cookies.
Dorothy: Oh.
Jeanne: They were delicious.
Dorothy: And they, they can cure most anything.
Jeanne: Yes, they could cure most anything.
Dorothy: Yes.
Jeanne: These were delicious cookies.
Dorothy: Oh.
Jeanne: So, um. Uh, my kids were great. I mean, they just rallied around me and I.
Dorothy: Tell me again, girls, boys?
Jeanne: Girls, both. Girls.
Dorothy: Yeah.
Jeanne: I have, I have one that lives in Austin and one that lives very close to me. So. They were, they were great.
Dorothy: And were they concerned because your mom had breast cancer and their concern for their own.
Jeanne: For their own. And do we, do we carry the gene?
Dorothy: Mm-hmm.
Jeanne: And I don’t [00:19:00] thank God. Um, but that was of course, that was their worry. You know, to do the genetic testing. So.
Dorothy: And did you do that right away, or was that encouraged?
Jeanne: It was encouraged, yeah. It was definitely encouraged just to see. Because like I said, nobody in my family had had it.
Dorothy: Right.
Jeanne: Where did this come from? What. What happened, you know? And, uh, as my oncologist said, I said, what caused this? And he said, living in 2024, I was like, great, thank you. So, but.
Dorothy: But there’s, there’s a lot to that because, you know, I read all the time about the possible causes and none of them agree.
Jeanne: Right.
Dorothy: And you know, what we thought five years ago was a definite cause.
Jeanne: Maybe not.
Dorothy: Maybe not.
Jeanne: Yeah.
Dorothy: So it, uh, someone, a colleague said, getting breast cancer is like walking across the field and hitting a landmine. You never know when it’s gonna happen. There’s no, that’s a great description reason, and I thought it [00:20:00] really is. And, uh, I, I’ve heard so many women feel like they did something to bring this on. And, you know, I, I can’t stress enough.
Jeanne: No, I, I kind of did that too. Well, maybe, you know. I don’t know. I’m drinking too many Diet Cokes. Y’all been on my case about Diet Coke for a long time. Maybe that’s caused it and you know, just crisis stuff.
Dorothy: But you got over that.
Jeanne: I’m still addicted to Diet Coke. Yeah.
Dorothy: Well, but I, but I mean, you, you, you got over the guilt.
Jeanne: Yeah, guilt. I got over the guilt. Guilt, yeah.
Dorothy: Yeah. So well. Seeing your husband, that had to be kind of a double whammy just to, it was a.
Jeanne: It was a mess. It was a mess from 2019 to 20, middle of 2024 was a mess. So, um, he died three years to the day after his diagnosis.
Dorothy: Mm.
Jeanne: So, [00:21:00] um, October, 2019 to October, 2022. So yeah, it was a mess. Um. And just to watch him just waste away, you know? Right. And so then when I was diagnosed, I was more scared of the treatment than I was, you know, like, Hey, he went through all of this.
Dorothy: Right.
Jeanne: You know, but his wasn’t found, it wasn’t found until it was pretty much incurable when it was found.
Dorothy: Right. And that. That’s the case in many cancers.
Jeanne: Yeah.
Dorothy: That’s the, the one good thing about breast cancer, if we can call it good, but.
Jeanne: Yeah. You can take ’em away. You can do without them. Yeah. But you can’t do without a liver.
Dorothy: Right.
Jeanne: So Right.
Dorothy: So from a, from being a caregiver to needing a caregiver, was that a difficult transition for you?
Jeanne: I am so independent to a fault.
Dorothy: Oh, you didn’t let many [00:22:00] people care you.
Jeanne: No.
Dorothy: Jane?
Jeanne: No, I didn’t. Not much. Not much. I’m like, I got this, I got this. It’s all good. So, um, I mean, you know, I’ve just that’s the way I grew up.
Dorothy: Mm-hmm.
Jeanne: I was an only child. I took care of myself. My parents worked. I, you know, you just go do it.
Dorothy: Yeah.
Jeanne: And, yeah. You know, then I married a guy who worked all over the world and was here it, and.
Dorothy: you still had to do it.
Jeanne: Gone and I still did it, so.
Dorothy: Right.
Jeanne: You know, I was like, oh. I mean, when they wheeled me into surgery, I asked my surgeon, I said, okay, I have an important question. She said, what? And I said, I have tickets to see the Eagles on the 16th. Wait, wait, what date was this? Oh, this was February 2nd and I had tickets on the 16th. I was like, can I still go? And she was like, yes, you can still go. So. [00:23:00] That was the most important thing on your, your mind? It was, it was one, well, it was my last question to her was like, wait, can I, I got Eagles tickets, so, so my friend took me to the Eagles concert. So.
Dorothy: Oh, neat. How neat is that?
Jeanne: So, yeah.
Dorothy: Oh my gosh.
Jeanne: We made it just fine.
Dorothy: Well, and, and you know, isn’t that the other part of, of anything in life? There’s always. You gotta have something to look forward to.
Jeanne: Look forward. You’ve got to keep looking forward.
Dorothy: Yes. Yeah.
Jeanne: You’ve got to keep looking forward. Yeah. This sucks, but what’s next? What can we do next?
Dorothy: Mm-hmm. Someone once said, and, and it’s probably a famous author who said the most powerful word, who, and, uh, the English language is next. And I always thought, oh, next.
Jeanne: Yeah.
Dorothy: Yeah. And so you never stay in that. Ugh. You just have to keep going next.
Jeanne: You, you can’t. You can’t. I, I have never been a pessimistic person. I [00:24:00] always feel like there’s something, something good’s gonna happen. Something good’s gonna happen, you know? And when this happened, I thought, well, what can I do to encourage other people? You know? Um, yeah. It sucks. I mean, it sucks getting breast cancer. It really does. Um, but you know. There’s something on the other side, you know, how can I help somebody else, you know, to get through this or.
Dorothy: You know, well, you know, you’re pretty newly out of it when you think of it.
Jeanne: Yeah. Uh, I’ve been on the Tamoxifen a year and a half, almost a year and a half.
Dorothy: So, but, but you’ve become that person to go to for others who are ha who are battling the same thing. Have you found yourself.
Jeanne: Ki kind of, yeah. Um, shortly, well, last year I lost two really well, the year before, and then [00:25:00] a year ago yesterday, I lost two really good friends. Uh, one of ’em had lung cancer. And it had metastasized to her bones.
Dorothy: Mm.
Jeanne: If, if your lung doctor finds something, please go in and get it, because she didn’t, she did not explore it. And until it was way too late. And then I, a year ago yesterday, I lost a really good friend who had stomach cancer and he was 50.
Dorothy: Oh my goodness.
Jeanne: So, so yeah, I’ve tried to reach out to other friends and to, to his, to Chris’s family. ’cause he, he left to kids, they’re 18, but they’re still kids and, uh, you know, trying to reach out to his family.
Dorothy: Right.
Jeanne: And, you know, because Yeah. I mean, how do you, how do you do that? I mean, you just. And in fact, I believe he was diagnosed, [00:26:00] I believe he was diagnosed the same day that I was. And I thought, well, I just, I just have a little breast cancer, you know, he’s got stage four stomach cancer. So you’ve kind of find yourself going, I’m okay. I’m good. I got this. You know, so, yeah. Yeah. He went to an emergency room. For stomach pain and they were like, we’re, we’re sorry. We can’t do anything for you. So.
Dorothy: Cancer is such a.
Jeanne: It’s insidious.
Dorothy: Yes. That is the best word for it.
Jeanne: Yeah.
Dorothy: There’s just no way around that.
Jeanne: So, you know, in answer to your question, and I didn’t feel like I needed. I needed it. I needed, I’m still healthy, I’m good. I’m made it to the Eagles concert, you know, so.
Dorothy: So.
Jeanne: So lemme go help somebody else.
Dorothy: Right, right. Well, and I think having, like you said, something to look forward to, something meaningful to do.
Jeanne: Yeah.
Dorothy: You’ve, you’ve done that all your life, so.
Jeanne: Right.
Dorothy: You know, it just continues.
Jeanne: You just have to stay [00:27:00] positive. And, and don’t get me wrong, I mean, there was anxiety, there was all kinds of. Emotions and they were all over the place and there was depression and you know, but you kind of think, okay, I’ve, what’s happening here? What’s happening? Because I can still go down that rabbit hole. A little bit. Well, if I hadn’t gotten sick, you know, hadn’t gotten breast cancer, you know, or he hadn’t gotten cancer, I mean, my husband always said we could, if this thing to death.
Dorothy: Mm. Yes.
Jeanne: And I thought that was probably the best way to put it, right. If we’d have done this or if we’d have found it sooner. If we’d have. So you can if something to death. so.
Dorothy: But like you said, and you gave yourself permission to go down that hole for just a little bit.
Jeanne: Yeah.
Dorothy: Before you said, okay.
Jeanne: Yeah, yeah.
Dorothy: All right, Jeanne.
Jeanne: Yeah. Right.
Dorothy: That other part of you comes out and goes, let’s, let’s climb out and go do something else.
Jeanne: And, and I will tell you that that therapy was part of it. [00:28:00] Anti-anxiety, drugs were part of it. Um, but, and you also learned to recognize it.
Dorothy: Mm-hmm.
Jeanne: So, you know, it’s, it’s not like just, oh, magical. Everything’s gonna be okay.
Dorothy: Right.
Jeanne: You’ve, you’ve kind of gotta manage it. And when you’re in that deep hole. Reach out to somebody.
Dorothy: Very, very true. Great, great, uh, advice. I wanna say words of wisdom here. Wisdom. But they’re about wisdom, but they’re, yeah. I, I think all the things you’ve covered are, are many of the things that we don’t wanna talk about. And, you know.
Jeanne: Yeah.
Dorothy: We’re so used to being super women or whatever that we don’t, it’s not easy to say, oh my gosh, yeah, this was, this was a tough thing to do.
Jeanne: Right. I. There. I, I always told my kids and that I’m a positive person. Like if I read somewhere one time that this guy said I’m a positive person. If there’s a room full of horse poop, there’s gotta be a pony in there [00:29:00] somewhere. And so I’ve told my kids sometimes they’ll reach out to me and I was like, no, it’s a no pony day. I can’t find the pony. Can’t find the pony today. So, you know, the room’s full of horse poop and there’s no pony today. We’ll look for the pony tomorrow.
Dorothy: Yeah.
Jeanne: But you know.
Dorothy: That’s a great story.
Jeanne: Just kind of code for, you know.
Dorothy: Right.
Jeanne: I’m feeling all the things today, so, yeah.
Dorothy: Good for you that you had to wait, express it without.
Jeanne: Without saying, I’m just, you know, depressed, you know, there’s just no pony. So.
Dorothy: Well on that, I think we’re going to, to, uh, uh, let Jeanne go. But Jeanne, this has been really interesting.
Jeanne: Thank you very much for letting me do this.
Dorothy: Yeah. And thank you for, I know some of the things you’ve said will be important for our listeners to say because, or to hear because they, we never know who it is that that’s out there hearing this and.
Jeanne: Right.
Dorothy: Needing to know that it’s okay to have a no pony day. [00:30:00]
Jeanne: It is okay to not be able to find the pony. Yes.
Dorothy: Yes. Thank you so much.
Jeanne: Thank you for having me.
Dorothy: Of course.
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 #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.
