Speaker 1: You're listening to I Choose Me with Jenny Garth. Hi, everyone,
Speaker 1: welcome to I Choose Me. This podcast is all about
Speaker 1: the choices we make and where they lead us. October
Speaker 1: is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and I know that many
Speaker 1: of us have been affected by breast cancer, and as women,
Speaker 1: I think it's something that has crossed all of our
Speaker 1: minds at some point. Breast cancer is something that I
Speaker 1: believe every woman thinks about at some point in our life.
Speaker 1: I know it has personally touched my life, and because
Speaker 1: of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I wanted to make sure
Speaker 1: that we had this conversation because if we can get
Speaker 1: one woman listening today to go out and get a
Speaker 1: mammogram or ask for a mammogram, then this episode has
Speaker 1: served its purpose. My guest today is the medical director
Speaker 1: of Surgical Breast Oncology at Christas Saint Vincent in New Mexico.
Speaker 1: Please welcome doctor Amani John Bacar to the I Choose
Speaker 1: Me Podcast.
Speaker 2: What a pleasure it is to meet you. It's so
Speaker 2: nice to meet you too. Who knew we'd be here together? Yeah?
Speaker 3: I never imagined I would meet Jenny Gorth ever, so
Speaker 3: that is amazing.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, it's so funny that you say that
Speaker 1: you'd never imagine that we would meet. But here we are,
Speaker 1: and we're talking about something so so important, and I'm
Speaker 1: really grateful that you're here because we're going to just
Speaker 1: break all of these myths down. We want to know
Speaker 1: all the details, all the things that we need to know.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of women don't get mammograms because
Speaker 1: maybe they think they're too young, or they're concerned that
Speaker 1: it's going to hurt, or they just don't want to
Speaker 1: think about it. But for someone listening today who's never
Speaker 1: had a mammogram before, let's talk about the process. I mean,
Speaker 1: I've had many mammograms at my age, I can I
Speaker 1: can speak to the level of uncomfortability. But from your perspective,
Speaker 1: does that scare women away?
Speaker 2: And what is it like?
Speaker 3: So full disclosure, I'm thirty seven, so I haven't yet
Speaker 3: gotten a mammogram myself.
Speaker 1: Amazing to know. But wait, wait, that brings me to
Speaker 1: this question. What is the age where where women I've
Speaker 1: forgotten it's been so long.
Speaker 2: It's forty.
Speaker 3: It's forty, and so for someone who is of average risk,
Speaker 3: forty is the age that's when you should definitely start
Speaker 3: getting your mammograms. Someone who is high risk, who has
Speaker 3: a high rist family history should come see someone like me,
Speaker 3: a breast specialist and get established in a high risk
Speaker 3: breast clinic and potentially start imaging sooner in the twenties
Speaker 3: even or thirties.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's funny because I was just talking to someone
Speaker 1: who is thirty seven today and she said she hadn't
Speaker 1: gotten a mammogram, and I was concerned. But now I
Speaker 1: know that we don't start this process until we're forty,
Speaker 1: so that is already I've learned something, and I'm very,
Speaker 1: very grateful. But I can sort of speak to the
Speaker 1: comfortability of it. I mean, it's not like I want
Speaker 1: to go get a mammogram. It's not leasant, but it's
Speaker 1: not the worst thing ever either, And it's so quick
Speaker 1: like when they do, yeah, they do put your boob
Speaker 1: in a machine and flatten it down like a pancake.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 1: But it's momentary, and we women have endured way worse.
Speaker 1: So even if you're uncomfortable for you know, five seconds
Speaker 1: while they're taking the image, it's invaluable the information that
Speaker 1: you are going to get and the peace of mind
Speaker 1: that you're hopefully going to get knowing that you're all clear. Okay,
Speaker 1: so we learned already something super super big. How long
Speaker 1: does it take to get results? Like for in my experience,
Speaker 1: it's taken about a week maybe.
Speaker 2: Yeah, usually a week.
Speaker 3: So I'm here in San Fe, New Mexico, and oftentimes
Speaker 3: if patients need a biopsy, the radiologists or one of
Speaker 3: the texts will tell them right then and there, like, hey,
Speaker 3: we see something on your mammogram, you need a biopsy,
Speaker 3: or hey see something on your mammogram, you need another mammogram,
Speaker 3: or maybe an ultrasound, And so usually the.
Speaker 2: Turnaround is pretty quick.
Speaker 3: If it's a normal result, then they may get like
Speaker 3: a letter or a notification through their phones, you know,
Speaker 3: their chart on their phone that everything's normal, within like a.
Speaker 2: Week or so. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I've never had that moment where they say, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: we need to take this again, or I need to
Speaker 1: call somebody and have them come look at this.
Speaker 2: Well that's great, that's awesome news. Yeah, that would be
Speaker 2: a little scarier.
Speaker 1: I want to talk to you about the b r
Speaker 1: C A one and b r C A two genes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, how do we test for those?
Speaker 3: That is a great question, because that's something that I'm
Speaker 3: extremely passionate about.
Speaker 2: Good.
Speaker 3: So we have a blood test that looks at eighty
Speaker 3: one different genes BRACO one in two, as well as
Speaker 3: other genes like CHECK two, PALB two, other genes that
Speaker 3: really increase the risk for breast cancer, but also other
Speaker 3: types of cancers like ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer,
Speaker 3: colon cancer. And that's a blood test that can only
Speaker 3: be ordered by a physician. It's not the same thing
Speaker 3: as a medical you know, twenty three and me or
Speaker 3: something like that that has to be ordered by oftentimes
Speaker 3: a genetic counselor, or it can be ordered by an
Speaker 3: oncologist like myself, a surgical oncologist or a medical oncologist.
Speaker 3: And I see patients for that in the office all
Speaker 3: the time. And people who have a high risk family
Speaker 3: history should talk to their primary care doctors about it
Speaker 3: and say, hey, I have a high risk family history,
Speaker 3: I have someone in my family diagnosed with none of
Speaker 3: those cancers, especially one of those cancers under the age
Speaker 3: of fifty. Where do I go next for testing? And
Speaker 3: it may be different in every community and a lot
Speaker 3: of places. They might say you need to see a
Speaker 3: genetic counselor. But here in Santa Fe, I do a
Speaker 3: lot of that and I moved to Santa Fe about
Speaker 3: nine months ago and I've probably done genetic testing for
Speaker 3: over one hundred and twenty patients so far.
Speaker 2: Amazing. Yeah, Yeah, I think it's so important because you
Speaker 2: need to know what your risks are. You need to
Speaker 2: know what you're what you're starting with, I.
Speaker 3: Mean exactly, and what you're inheriting from people.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: I spoke to a patient in the clinic today who
Speaker 3: didn't really have a very convincing family history but then
Speaker 3: ended up having a Braco one mutation, and so it's
Speaker 3: a scenario where we can't guess, and so the only
Speaker 3: way to know for sure is to do the genetic testing.
Speaker 3: And it does get approved by insurance for people who
Speaker 3: meet the NCCN criteria to get tested, and so I
Speaker 3: don't see a lot of problems with insurance coverage not
Speaker 3: being there for that kind of testing. And if you
Speaker 3: do find out you have a mutation like Braco one
Speaker 3: or two, then you could be eligible for things like
Speaker 3: breast MRIs to do more screening and just to make
Speaker 3: sure that if you do develop something that we do
Speaker 3: in fact, catch it early.
Speaker 2: Oh thank god, the insurance is taking care of us
Speaker 2: in this respect. Okay, So, but if you test positive.
Speaker 1: For the BRCA gene, right, what does that mean in
Speaker 1: terms of your risk of getting breast cancer?
Speaker 3: So that risk depends on which Braco gene that you inherit,
Speaker 3: and kind of also on your family history. But in general,
Speaker 3: for the Braco one and two genes, the risk for
Speaker 3: a future breast cancer it can be anywhere between forty
Speaker 3: and eighty percent. And so that's a pretty high level
Speaker 3: of risk. And as you know, you probably know Angelina
Speaker 3: and Joelee had a braco one mutation as well. And
Speaker 3: sometimes people do choose to remove both breasts prophylactically or
Speaker 3: before they develop any kind of cancer. Sometimes they choose
Speaker 3: to remove the ovaries for similar reasons, to reduce that
Speaker 3: risk as much as possible. And like you said, those
Speaker 3: options are only really available to you if you know
Speaker 3: that you have one of those mutations, if you know
Speaker 3: your risk.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's the key. Education. Awareness, advocacy for yourself
Speaker 2: is the.
Speaker 3: Key, absolutely one hundred percent, because it's it's hard enough
Speaker 3: as women right to get get our complaints taken seriously
Speaker 3: and to get heard, and you know, going back to
Speaker 3: your earlier point about mammograms, I know that they're uncomfortable
Speaker 3: and for patients who have had medical trauma, they may
Speaker 3: even be traumatic. And if that was the way that
Speaker 3: we screened for testicular cancer for men, we would have
Speaker 3: something better by now.
Speaker 4: Right, Oh right, that's a good point, it is, And
Speaker 4: so we you know, we have this kind of squishing
Speaker 4: the breast, sort of archaic technology.
Speaker 3: We have mammograms because it's something that mostly women need
Speaker 3: to get done and people women are very strong, and
Speaker 3: so we sort of just we deal with it.
Speaker 1: Do you think there's anything and yeah, do you think
Speaker 1: there's anything in the pipeline of experience better for us?
Speaker 2: Absolutely?
Speaker 3: So I can see that there are some studies being
Speaker 3: done of some new technologies that can work as well
Speaker 3: as mammograms, and then also of things that are a
Speaker 3: little bit more curved, like the human breast, so it's
Speaker 3: a little less of the squishing involved. And so some
Speaker 3: of those technologies are being trialed right now and I
Speaker 3: think are going to come out in the future. Not
Speaker 3: quite there yet. So right now, the a mammogram is
Speaker 3: still the standard of care.
Speaker 2: And it is uncomfortable, you know. It sucks.
Speaker 3: It's not a fun thing to do. No one looks
Speaker 3: forward to it, that's for sure. But you're right, like
Speaker 3: the information it gives you in just like a few
Speaker 3: minutes of discomfort or even pain is so invaluable. And
Speaker 3: it's peace of mind or figuring out what's next and
Speaker 3: if you need some kind of surgery.
Speaker 2: What you need to do, what you need action you
Speaker 2: need to take. I just want to be clear.
Speaker 1: If you test negative for the BRCI gene, does that
Speaker 1: mean that you won't get breast cancer?
Speaker 2: So that's a great question.
Speaker 3: It It doesn't mean that you'll never get a future
Speaker 3: breast cancer. It just means that your risk is average,
Speaker 3: like along with the rest of the population. It's not
Speaker 3: elevated because of a bad gene that you inherited from
Speaker 3: one of your parents. And something else that I hear
Speaker 3: oftentimes about the BRACA mutation is that like women are
Speaker 3: the only ones who can inherit it, and that is
Speaker 3: totally not true.
Speaker 2: You can get that mutation from your dad as well. Really,
Speaker 2: what happens with men when they have it? Same thing men,
Speaker 2: So the men can get breast cancer. Actually, BRACA one
Speaker 2: does increase the risk for male breast cancer. For men,
Speaker 2: we worry a little bit more about aggressive prostate cancers.
Speaker 2: Prostate cancer is typically not a very aggressive thing in men,
Speaker 2: but in people who are Braca mutation carriers it can be.
Speaker 3: And we also still worry about the pancreas as well,
Speaker 3: and as well as like skin cancers like melanomas, and
Speaker 3: so men who have the Braca mutation also need to
Speaker 3: be watched carefully in you know, cancer specific screening clinics,
Speaker 3: so that way an oncologist can keep a closer eye
Speaker 3: on them as well.
Speaker 1: So you heard it here. Men and women are both
Speaker 1: affected by the barca meat and need both men and
Speaker 1: women should get tested.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Wow, I didn't know that. Thank you.
Speaker 1: I'm going to go to a question from one of
Speaker 1: our listeners. This is from re West five to two four.
Speaker 1: Why has there been such a huge increase in breast
Speaker 1: cancer cases in the past twenty or so years.
Speaker 3: That is a great question that I get all the
Speaker 3: time and clinic and I will say, there's a lot
Speaker 3: of different resource that's being done about it. Some of
Speaker 3: it may relate to environmental exposure, some of it may
Speaker 3: relate to microplastics, some of it may relate to more
Speaker 3: processed food because it's not just breast cancer that we're seeing.
Speaker 3: We're seeing it in like colon cancer as well.
Speaker 2: We don't have a really.
Speaker 3: Great answer for it right now. We're still trying to
Speaker 3: figure that out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I've heard a lot of discussion about
Speaker 1: microplastics lately, and then you start thinking about moment to
Speaker 1: moment in your life and how much you're exposed to plastics,
Speaker 1: like all day long. I just literally yesterday throughout my
Speaker 1: plastic cutting boards that I've had for a minute because
Speaker 1: I saw that when you chop into it, it releases
Speaker 1: little microplastics and then you cook that up with your
Speaker 1: sautee vegetables.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's I mean, I think the research on the
Speaker 3: microplastics is pretty compelling, and there's a lot.
Speaker 2: Of things that we need to do to be.
Speaker 3: A little bit more environmentally sound that I think will
Speaker 3: help our health as humans, not just with not developing
Speaker 3: cancer and especially cancer at younger ages, but also in
Speaker 3: a lot of other disorders as well. And so I
Speaker 3: think that research is going to pan out and show
Speaker 3: that being climate conscious will help our health in the
Speaker 3: long run.
Speaker 1: I just heard Katie Couric talking about breast density I
Speaker 1: have a question from a listener here, Ashley Holliback. Where
Speaker 1: can women get an ultrasound if they have dense breaths,
Speaker 1: since you now need one when a mammogram isn't enough.
Speaker 3: So this is the question I get a lot in
Speaker 3: the clinic now, as I'm sure you've heard, when you
Speaker 3: get your mammogram results, they have to report on how
Speaker 3: dense your breasts are, and that just happened in the
Speaker 3: last month or so.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 3: So people who do have dense breasts or category C
Speaker 3: or D breasts, they are recommended to also have an ultrasound.
Speaker 3: Sometimes they may even be recommended to have an MRI
Speaker 3: for screening. Usually the same mammography place that does the
Speaker 3: mammogram can also do an ultrasound. It just depends on
Speaker 3: your regional location on if they can also do the MRI.
Speaker 3: The tricky part is getting the insurance to approve it,
Speaker 3: because insurances haven't one hundred percent caught up with those
Speaker 3: recommendations yet, and so a lot of times I see
Speaker 3: patients like this who do have dense breasts, and then
Speaker 3: I order the ultrasound with the mammogram, and I order
Speaker 3: both of them going forward, so that way they can
Speaker 3: just get both done in one visit, but typically the
Speaker 3: same place where you got the mammogram can do the ultrasound.
Speaker 3: You may still need to have a doctor like your
Speaker 3: primary care doctor or your obi juyan order it and
Speaker 3: write that dense breast is the reason.
Speaker 1: Why I have a question going back to the age
Speaker 1: that we should start getting mammograms. You said it was forty,
Speaker 1: but what if breast cancer runs in your family, maybe
Speaker 1: it runs in both sides of your family, should you
Speaker 1: start getting screened earlier?
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely so.
Speaker 3: I have seen many patients who have a risk of
Speaker 3: breast cancer because they have you know, their mom, for example,
Speaker 3: passed away of breast cancer when she was thirty six,
Speaker 3: So that kind of patient doesn't need to wait until
Speaker 3: they're forty to start getting imaging. Usually we don't start
Speaker 3: doing breast MRIs for someone who's higher risked for breast
Speaker 3: cancer until the age of twenty five. That's the earliest
Speaker 3: we typically do those, but sometimes we'll do a clinical
Speaker 3: breast exam with an oncologist like myself earlier than that,
Speaker 3: depending on what the family history is. So if you
Speaker 3: do have young people in your family in their thirties
Speaker 3: and forties who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. My
Speaker 3: recommendation is to check out a high risk breast clinic
Speaker 3: in your area and talk to them about when you
Speaker 3: should start that screening, because you're right, Jenny, it could
Speaker 3: be earlier than forty, and waiting until forty may be
Speaker 3: too late for some people.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean they say that with heart disease too.
Speaker 1: If you're genetically dispositioned to it correct, you need to
Speaker 1: start having checks more frequently. Earlier on you said you
Speaker 1: said twenty five was the age that you usually start.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so twenty five is the earliest recommendation I've seen
Speaker 3: for any kind of breast imaging, even for some one
Speaker 3: with a known BRACA mutation. Usually they'll say start MRIs
Speaker 3: at twenty five, no earlier than twenty five.
Speaker 2: Rarely. I would say.
Speaker 3: There probably are people out there who have had mothers
Speaker 3: and sisters who have had breast cancer in their twenties,
Speaker 3: and for that, I think that we would have to
Speaker 3: take on a case by case basis.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, the statistics are crazy that, you know,
Speaker 1: breast cancer is affecting women much younger today.
Speaker 3: It is, and it is too absolutely and it's it
Speaker 3: is surprising, you know, the youngest patient that I've heard of,
Speaker 3: not that I've personally seen, but that one of my
Speaker 3: colleagues has seen with breast cancer was nineteen. Yeah, and
Speaker 3: it's especially hard at that age because you know, you
Speaker 3: go and see a doctor at nineteen, you may not
Speaker 3: have a primary care doctor. So you go see someone
Speaker 3: at an urgent care and they say you're too young
Speaker 3: for breast cancer.
Speaker 2: This is a cyst.
Speaker 3: And so my recommendation for anyone, really any age, if
Speaker 3: you feel a lump in the breast, no one's physical
Speaker 3: exam is good enough. I'm a surgical oncologist who primarily
Speaker 3: examines patients with breast cancer all day long, every day,
Speaker 3: and even I can't tell the difference between something that
Speaker 3: is a cyst or something that's a cancer, or something
Speaker 3: that's some other type of lump in the breast. And
Speaker 3: so no doctor, no nurse practitioner, no PA, no one's
Speaker 3: physical exam is enough. So if you feel a lump,
Speaker 3: ask them to order some kind of imaging, a mammogram.
Speaker 3: If you're too young for a mammogram, typically they won't
Speaker 3: do a mammogram for somebody who's under thirty, ask for
Speaker 3: an ultrasound, but some sort of breast imaging is needed
Speaker 3: to look at that lump in more detail.
Speaker 2: Don't let anyone.
Speaker 3: Reassure you that by physical exam a lump is nothing.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, such good advice, Such good advice. And listen to
Speaker 1: your instincts too, I.
Speaker 3: Mean absolutely absolutely. And I see it with my young patients.
Speaker 3: I see this really awesome where they are bounced around,
Speaker 3: you know, they see someone at some urgent care. Then
Speaker 3: they go somewhere else and that person says, you're too
Speaker 3: young for breast cancer. This might be an infection, and
Speaker 3: they put them on some me inabiotics. Then this whole
Speaker 3: time things are progressing, the lump is growing, and then
Speaker 3: they finally get established with a primary care doctor and
Speaker 3: the primary care doctor says, oh, and then they get
Speaker 3: sent to me.
Speaker 1: If you have no history with family breast cancer none,
Speaker 1: m h. I have very very little family history of
Speaker 1: breast cancer. And I don't remember what age I must
Speaker 1: I may I must have been forty when they ordered
Speaker 1: me to get my first manmigram. And you're saying that's
Speaker 1: the age if you if you're not worried that you
Speaker 1: have in your family.
Speaker 2: Yeah, forty is the age.
Speaker 3: And they there were kind of differing recommendations on that
Speaker 3: as well. Like one governing body in the US said fifty,
Speaker 3: and one said forty. And now everybody says forty because
Speaker 3: we are seeing, as you commented, the incidents in young
Speaker 3: women rising, and so it's really worth it to start
Speaker 3: it at forty. It's a pretty safe test to do
Speaker 3: very very very small radiation dose that is totally worth
Speaker 3: it for the benefit.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was going to ask you that, Like what
Speaker 1: I get concerned about my exposure to so much radiation.
Speaker 1: One because I travel a lot, so I always get
Speaker 1: worried going through those machines.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And everybody says, oh, it's.
Speaker 1: Fine and don't worry, but I do worry. And so
Speaker 1: getting some sort of a screening can can cause concern
Speaker 1: for people that they're going to get too much radiation
Speaker 1: for sure.
Speaker 3: And I get told that often. You know, people are like,
Speaker 3: what about the radiation and risk with a mammogram. So
Speaker 3: here in Santa Fe, New Mexico, we are at seven
Speaker 3: thousand feet, so we're at pretty significant We have a
Speaker 3: higher radiation risk anyways, because we're a little bit closer
Speaker 3: to the sun.
Speaker 2: Okay, But in.
Speaker 3: Order to actually see a problem from the radiation that
Speaker 3: you get from doing a mammogram, you'd have to get
Speaker 3: a mammogram every single day for an entire really actually
Speaker 3: every day for the rest of your life, and then
Speaker 3: you might might have a slight increase in the risk
Speaker 3: of developing a future cancer due to that radiation. But
Speaker 3: as long as you're not getting a mammogram every day,
Speaker 3: which no one is, it's pretty safe. The scanners in
Speaker 3: the airport are even less radiation than a mammogram, so
Speaker 3: totally safe.
Speaker 2: I mean, okay, thank you, you're making totally safe like those.
Speaker 3: I mean you could get like probably I would say
Speaker 3: you could get like easily ten thousand of those, and
Speaker 3: you'd be fine in terms of your annual radiation dose.
Speaker 3: If you travel like thirteen thousand miles, you know, you
Speaker 3: travel from la to Europe and back in a year,
Speaker 3: then that's about the same amount of radiation that you're
Speaker 3: getting from a mammogram, and mammogram is totally If you
Speaker 3: live at sea level, the amount of radiation you get
Speaker 3: from a mammogram is about the same amount you would
Speaker 3: get from seven weeks of just background radiation just living
Speaker 3: at sea level, So totally totally safe. Not really significantly
Speaker 3: increasing your radiation exposure and worth doing despite that risk.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what you're saying about this, what'd you just call
Speaker 1: it background expiation?
Speaker 2: Yeah, background exposure? Yeah, that is scary.
Speaker 3: Well, it's just you know, it's we all get some
Speaker 3: radiation from the sun, right if we're living at high
Speaker 3: elevation like I am, or if we're living at sea level,
Speaker 3: we also get radiation from minerals in our own body
Speaker 3: breaking down. And that's totally normal, and Okay, it's a
Speaker 3: really small dose. And so there's actually the EPA, the
Speaker 3: Environmental Protection Agency, has a like radiation dose calculator that
Speaker 3: you can use, which I recently used because I was
Speaker 3: making a TikTok on the radiation exposure you get from
Speaker 3: a mammogram, and you can calculate like how much radiation
Speaker 3: exposure do you get in your home based on like
Speaker 3: where you live and how many miles you travel a
Speaker 3: year if you're an avid traveler, and if you have
Speaker 3: veneers and if you have radon in your home and
Speaker 3: things like that, and overall it's the amount of radiation
Speaker 3: you get.
Speaker 2: There are different sources.
Speaker 3: You can get it from your right, but it's a really,
Speaker 3: really really low dose that is not going to increase
Speaker 3: anyone's risk of having problems from the radiation at all.
Speaker 1: I recently decided that I didn't want any of my
Speaker 1: do we have a microwave right that is under the
Speaker 1: cab counter level, it's down below like right where ovaries are,
Speaker 1: And so I recently put a big sign up on
Speaker 1: the floor, nobody stand right here when the microwave is on.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's I mean, that's fair.
Speaker 3: Although I will say in that calculator, how close you
Speaker 3: stand to your micro is not in there.
Speaker 2: So oh my gosh, I'm going crazy. I'm trying all
Speaker 2: the things. Wow.
Speaker 1: Another question I have for the women who are giving
Speaker 1: them mammograms, the technicians, I know they go behind that
Speaker 1: little wall, but they're still right there all day long,
Speaker 1: every single day.
Speaker 2: That is a great question too.
Speaker 3: So they typically for those ladies, they have like it's
Speaker 3: a little badge, a thing on their badge, and it's
Speaker 3: something that their ID hangs from.
Speaker 2: And what that does.
Speaker 3: Is it actually like kind of measures the radiation dose
Speaker 3: that they get exposed to. And that's something that they
Speaker 3: have to like turn in and it gets counted so
Speaker 3: that way we can.
Speaker 2: Be sure that their radiation exposure is safe.
Speaker 3: And then you know, any kind of job in the
Speaker 3: hospital where you're giving X rays of any kind, they
Speaker 3: wear those little badges that will actually help calculate that
Speaker 3: dose and make sure that no one's getting to a
Speaker 3: point where you know, they're getting too much radiation exposure.
Speaker 3: And so it's that's pretty tight regulated by like hospital,
Speaker 3: by memorgraphy centers, and so they are totally safe too,
Speaker 3: don't worry.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's good to know. I was worried what
Speaker 1: you were saying before. We were talking about before about
Speaker 1: the the age being much younger. Now, Yeah, that women
Speaker 1: are discovering that they have is so alarming. But and
Speaker 1: in your right, they get shuffled around and they get discredited,
Speaker 1: and they people don't believe them or want to do anything.
Speaker 1: How and you said that advocating for yourself, But what
Speaker 1: if you're a young girl and you're in you know,
Speaker 1: wanting to know more about your health, even if you
Speaker 1: you know, don't have breast cancer in your family genes
Speaker 1: that you know of, how do I get my voice
Speaker 1: heard as a young woman in a doctor's office?
Speaker 2: Also an excellent question.
Speaker 3: So it is harder for women, right, the things that
Speaker 3: get diagnosed mostly in women, get longer to be diagnosed
Speaker 3: because they get diagnosed mostly in women. So things like
Speaker 3: endometriosis that I'm sure you've heard of, it's basically can
Speaker 3: cause pretty debilitating pain, abdominal pain. It takes an average
Speaker 3: of eight years to get diagnosed in women. Why because
Speaker 3: people will discredit women like what you're saying. They'll say, oh,
Speaker 3: you're just anxious. Oh that pain is just in your head,
Speaker 3: and that we see it all the time with many
Speaker 3: different diagnoses. Breast pain, that's one that I get asked
Speaker 3: about a lot as well. We don't have great answers
Speaker 3: for what causes breath pain or how to stop it
Speaker 3: because it's something that almost exclusively impacts women, and seventy
Speaker 3: percent of women in their lifetime will experience breast pain
Speaker 3: at some point.
Speaker 2: So it's hard.
Speaker 3: It's a really challenging thing. Even for me as a
Speaker 3: female surgeon, going to the doctor and having the doctor
Speaker 3: listen to my concerns as a healthcare professional can be challenging.
Speaker 2: So I think it goes.
Speaker 3: Back to what you said earlier, Jenny, trust your gut,
Speaker 3: listen to your instincts. If you feel like something's wrong
Speaker 3: and no one's listening to you, then find another physician
Speaker 3: that will and right, And studies have shown that like
Speaker 3: patients who are women tend to be heard better by
Speaker 3: physicians who are women. So finding a physician who is
Speaker 3: a woman who is going to take the time and
Speaker 3: listen to you. Studies have also shown that women physicians
Speaker 3: spend longer listening to their patients and are more empathetic.
Speaker 3: I think that will make a huge difference as well,
Speaker 3: if you're able to choose to see women physicians, because
Speaker 3: it will help you be heard.
Speaker 2: It will also help us be heard.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I know, no one really ever talked
Speaker 1: about that, about choosing a female physician that you know,
Speaker 1: that wasn't really a conversation.
Speaker 2: It was just go to the doctor, and it was
Speaker 2: usually a man.
Speaker 1: And yeah, it was even more uncomfortable because it was
Speaker 1: a man and you're talking about sensitive things and it
Speaker 1: exactly what it feels.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 3: Nowadays, we have those options though, because like more than
Speaker 3: fifty percent of medical students are women, and so there
Speaker 3: are more and more women in a lot of different specialties.
Speaker 3: Now surgery is not one of them. Still overwhelming majority
Speaker 3: are men, but more there are more coming up through
Speaker 3: the ranks now, and so I think we'll see those
Speaker 3: those numbers shift soon. And so choosing women physicians or
Speaker 3: you know, women wear nurse practitioners. Women who are PAS,
Speaker 3: like women are more likely to listen to other women
Speaker 3: when it comes to symptoms like a lump in the
Speaker 3: breast that just won't go away.
Speaker 1: That's also very valuable information. So how does eating a
Speaker 1: healthy diet and not drinking alcohol and exercising, does that
Speaker 1: actually decrease the risks of getting breast cancer? Because we
Speaker 1: talk so much about being healthy and eating healthy and
Speaker 1: getting exercise, and I know that all of those things
Speaker 1: directly affect heart disease, But what about breast cancer.
Speaker 2: It's kind of a mixed bag.
Speaker 3: So have I seen patients who follow a you know, vegan,
Speaker 3: plant based, completely organic diet, exercise every day? You know,
Speaker 3: I'm here in New Mexico, as I mentioned, so everyone
Speaker 3: here is in amazing shape because they live at high
Speaker 3: elevation and they're also very outdoorsy. Have I seen lots
Speaker 3: of those patients who do end up with a breast cancer?
Speaker 2: Yes, I have.
Speaker 3: And I've also seen patients who, you know, who didn't
Speaker 3: live a healthy lifestyle at all, who also end up
Speaker 3: with breast cancer. I think living a healthy lifestyle is
Speaker 3: important for as you mentioned, things like heart disease and
Speaker 3: not having a heart attack or a stroke. I think
Speaker 3: it can slightly decrease the risk of a future breast cancer.
Speaker 3: But there's no one diet that can prevent breast cancer,
Speaker 3: because if there was, then we would all be on
Speaker 3: it right and we would have studies that definitively show
Speaker 3: beyond this diet and you'll never develop breast cancer or
Speaker 3: some other type of cancer.
Speaker 2: And I think moderation is really important.
Speaker 3: You know, not drinking alcohol or drinking it in small
Speaker 3: quantities when you do is important.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was going to ask you about alcohol, like,
Speaker 1: does drinking alcohol put you in a higher risk?
Speaker 3: Lightly but not a lot. You know, it's I think
Speaker 3: it puts you at higher risk for things like pancreatic cancer,
Speaker 3: for example, but not as much for breast So I
Speaker 3: mean that's not saying that you go out and drink
Speaker 3: whatever you want. I think it's moderation is key to
Speaker 3: having a good long life.
Speaker 2: With a good quality of life.
Speaker 3: But I don't think that, you know, living the healthiest
Speaker 3: lifestyle is something that can definitively prevent breast cancer. And
Speaker 3: so something I talk about often with my patients and
Speaker 3: the clinic is sugar. You know, I hear the myth
Speaker 3: all the time that sugar feeds cancer, and so some
Speaker 3: multile get diagnosed.
Speaker 2: Oh it's a myth.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's no definitive study that, like, you know, if
Speaker 3: you cut out sugar, it will help diminish the size
Speaker 3: of your breast cancer, help shrink it, help treat it,
Speaker 3: anything like that.
Speaker 2: And so there's some studies that have been.
Speaker 3: Done that will show some kind of association, but it's
Speaker 3: not a very strong one. And so I see patients
Speaker 3: all the time that have been diagnosed with a breast
Speaker 3: cancer and their family members will say, well, you have
Speaker 3: to cut out all sugar right now, Like that's it.
Speaker 3: You know, you're you have to be done with it
Speaker 3: because it's going to feed your cancer and then your
Speaker 3: cancer is going to grow. And that's that's really that's
Speaker 3: it's that's a very simplistic way of looking at it,
Speaker 3: and that's not it. There's no definitive causal uh causal
Speaker 3: relationship where if you eat a lot of sugar, then
Speaker 3: you're definitely going to get cancer, because otherwise then you
Speaker 3: would see a higher incidence of cancer and people who
Speaker 3: are diabetic, for example, And that's we don't see that.
Speaker 3: And so if I have a patient who's asking me like, hey,
Speaker 3: how should I change my diet after getting diagnosed with
Speaker 3: breast cancer, I say, a healthy diet is important. But
Speaker 3: you know, if you have something that you really love eating,
Speaker 3: you know, you love ice cream, you love flawing, whatever,
Speaker 3: I'm never going to say don't eat that. Don't eat
Speaker 3: the things that are going to bring you joy while
Speaker 3: you're going through treatment, because treatment is hard enough as
Speaker 3: it is.
Speaker 2: First of all, who would ever say I love flawn? Sorry, I.
Speaker 3: Love it that giggly texture. I am right, Okay, yeah
Speaker 3: it's great.
Speaker 2: And in New Mexico here we have like really really
Speaker 2: authentic flawn.
Speaker 1: So okay, maybe I just need to go to New
Speaker 1: Mexico and try the good stuff.
Speaker 2: What about soy? What about soy?
Speaker 1: Because I've always heard I mean, I fed my babies
Speaker 1: once they were off breast milk. I gave them the
Speaker 1: only option back then was to give them a soy formula, right,
Speaker 1: and I wasn't sure if I was doing the right thing.
Speaker 3: Also a great point. I hear that one too, Like
Speaker 3: soy and the estrogen link is there. You know, people
Speaker 3: will say, well, if you eat a lot of soy,
Speaker 3: then it might increase your risk for an estrogen related
Speaker 3: breast cancer, and really the studies are not definitive about
Speaker 3: that either.
Speaker 2: So I don't tell I don't advise you to cut
Speaker 2: out soy.
Speaker 3: I think if you like soy, great, enjoy SOI I
Speaker 3: don't think that there's a real reason to cut anything
Speaker 3: specific out of your diet if you've been diagnosed with
Speaker 3: the breast cancer to keep it from growing or spreading,
Speaker 3: or you know, to keep to prevent breast cancer. I
Speaker 3: think if you want to prevent breast cancer or catch
Speaker 3: it early, really the most important thing to do is
Speaker 3: to get your mammogram once a year.
Speaker 1: Okay, So speaking of estrogen, let's talk about hormone replacement
Speaker 1: therapy HRT. Yeah, does it increase your chances of breast cancer?
Speaker 1: And what do we need to know associated with that?
Speaker 3: It does increase the chance very slightly, based on pretty
Speaker 3: large studies that have been conducted. So when I'm talking
Speaker 3: to patients, I have patients who are even in my
Speaker 3: high risk clinic because they have a family history that
Speaker 3: I do think that HRT is worth trying for them.
Speaker 3: I think that menopausal symptoms are like many other things
Speaker 3: that are almost exclusive to women, not talked about enough,
Speaker 3: and sometimes they can be extremely miserable and really alter
Speaker 3: the quality of your life, right, And so it's a
Speaker 3: risk versus benefit situation, like, Okay, the risk of breast
Speaker 3: cancer is slightly higher, but the benefit is that, you know,
Speaker 3: I'll get to sleep at night, I won't have these
Speaker 3: terrible night sweats. You know, I won't wake up in
Speaker 3: the middle of the night and wonder what it is
Speaker 3: I'm doing. I won't have menopause brain those kinds of things.
Speaker 3: And so oftentimes I think that the benefit.
Speaker 2: Of HRT really outweighs the risk.
Speaker 3: The only patients that I really say should not be
Speaker 3: on HRT are the patients who have already been diagnosed
Speaker 3: with breast cancer, and it is a breast cancer that
Speaker 3: responds to estrogen. In that case, not a good idea
Speaker 3: to be on hormone replacement therapy. But for others, I
Speaker 3: do feel that in general, the benefits outweigh the risks,
Speaker 3: and I think that it's something that more women should
Speaker 3: be on. Mm HM.
Speaker 2: I agree.
Speaker 1: Breast implant illness has been getting talked about more openly.
Speaker 1: More and more women are having their implants removed. Are
Speaker 1: there any correlations between breast implant illness and breast cancer?
Speaker 2: Not that I know of.
Speaker 3: I have not seen any correlation between breast implant associated
Speaker 3: illness and breast cancer. Breast implant associated illness is kind
Speaker 3: of You're right, it's getting a lot more traction in
Speaker 3: these last few years, but it's still a diagnosis that
Speaker 3: they will do a full work up and make sure
Speaker 3: that there's not something else that's causing these symptoms before
Speaker 3: removing implants. But I think there's a growing body of
Speaker 3: evidence that it's its own thing and should be considered earlier,
Speaker 3: you know, before doing the whole million dollar workup in
Speaker 3: women who have implants.
Speaker 2: I can't believe. I was told.
Speaker 1: I would remember hearing messaging when I was younger that said,
Speaker 1: if you get breast implants, it reduces your chances of
Speaker 1: get breast cancer.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I I've heard that as well from a few patients.
Speaker 3: It really it doesn't change.
Speaker 2: The risk at all.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you know it doesn't, right, And when
Speaker 3: someone has an implant and then they get a mammogram,
Speaker 3: they sort of move the implant out of the way
Speaker 3: and then get the native breast tissue in for the
Speaker 3: mammogram and they're still able to see what's going on.
Speaker 3: Sometimes having an implant, you know, that was placed for
Speaker 3: an augmentation purpose, can change the treatment options that are
Speaker 3: available to you if you do get diagnosed with breast cancer.
Speaker 3: But it's not that's not a reason not to get
Speaker 3: an implant for someone who wants one.
Speaker 1: Speaking of moving the implant around, if someone's considering or
Speaker 1: having to face being considering a mass sectomy or a
Speaker 1: double mass ectomy, can you walk us through that process
Speaker 1: and what that entails and the recovery. I mean that
Speaker 1: sounds very scary.
Speaker 2: Yeah, sure, I'm happy to do that.
Speaker 3: So I do see a lot of patients who have
Speaker 3: chosen to remove one breast or both breasts, and that
Speaker 3: decision is really a very personal decision, you know it.
Speaker 3: I think that there's some patients that have a larger
Speaker 3: cancer for which it would be a good idea, But
Speaker 3: there's some who have small cancers that just, you know,
Speaker 3: they don't want to get a mammogram on that side again,
Speaker 3: or they don't want to get mamogram on either side,
Speaker 3: and they just want to, you know, for their own
Speaker 3: peace of mind. They tell me, you know, doctor Jambacar,
Speaker 3: I'm going to be awake at night thinking about potentially
Speaker 3: having to get another biopsy sometime in the future, and
Speaker 3: I want to remove both breasts. And if that's the case,
Speaker 3: then you know, that's your decision now, you know.
Speaker 2: For me, I have a lot.
Speaker 3: Of different tools to help my patients have the best
Speaker 3: recovery possible, and one of them is something called an
Speaker 3: experal peck block, which is like a numbing injection that
Speaker 3: gets done to the muscle, the peck muscle, which is
Speaker 3: the muscle that's behind the breast, and that medication lasts
Speaker 3: for like seven days, and so typically my patients go
Speaker 3: home the same day after a two to three hour
Speaker 3: surgery and they're able to do their normal activities shower,
Speaker 3: wash their hair, et cetera. The next day, and most
Speaker 3: of them take zero opioid pills at all because of
Speaker 3: that medication.
Speaker 2: It blocks the pain receptors.
Speaker 3: It blocks the muscle, it numbs the whole muscle, and
Speaker 3: so it numbs the breast tissue in front of the muscle.
Speaker 3: And it's really something that's been used that most places
Speaker 3: in the country, but not everywhere it should be used everywhere.
Speaker 2: In New Mexico.
Speaker 3: Mine is actually the only hospital and the only surgeon
Speaker 3: who's doing it, and I'm hoping to spread that message so.
Speaker 2: More people do it. I know in La quite a
Speaker 2: few people are doing it, but I think.
Speaker 3: That it is It's something that has been a huge
Speaker 3: game changer, especially in the last couple of years since
Speaker 3: the pandemic started, to make the recovery better for patients
Speaker 3: who have breast cancer. And then you know, the next
Speaker 3: day you could be walking around, showering, moving your arms,
Speaker 3: doing all of your normal stuff. Usually you will feel
Speaker 3: kind of sore for probably two or three weeks, but
Speaker 3: this helps tremendously because it really takes the edge off
Speaker 3: the first few days, and patients do sometimes need ice
Speaker 3: pads or tilenyl and advil to kind of get them
Speaker 3: through that.
Speaker 2: And then the.
Speaker 3: Reconstruction process, which sometimes can be started at the same
Speaker 3: time as removing one or both breasts, sometimes needs to
Speaker 3: be done in a separate surgery. It just sort of
Speaker 3: depends on what type of reconstruction the patient chooses.
Speaker 1: I see, so in some cases, if you have to
Speaker 1: have your breast removed, you can have the reconstruction done
Speaker 1: in that same operation.
Speaker 2: You can.
Speaker 3: But something I always counsel patients is, even if you're
Speaker 3: able to start it at the same time, oftentimes there
Speaker 3: is a second surgery or maybe in an office procedure
Speaker 3: or something that's needed because remaking breasts is a work
Speaker 3: of art and making sure everything's symmetric, either with the
Speaker 3: side you still have left or making both sides of the
Speaker 3: same like this not like this right, Like that's that's
Speaker 3: a work of art, and it takes it takes a
Speaker 3: very skilled plastic surgeon who's extremely dedicated to reconstruction to
Speaker 3: do a good job.
Speaker 2: And sometimes it can take.
Speaker 3: You know, up to a year to do all the
Speaker 3: procedures that are done to where the patient and the
Speaker 3: plastic surgeon everyone's happy with how things are.
Speaker 2: And so it's an art.
Speaker 3: We don't want to rush that process, but sometimes it
Speaker 3: can be started and most of it done, you know,
Speaker 3: at the time of the mask stept tomy.
Speaker 1: Wow, so interesting. Well, first of all, how often should
Speaker 1: we be giving ourselves self exams, which means feeling around
Speaker 1: the breast for any unusual lumps that are new.
Speaker 3: Right, I'm kind of like, I'm not a huge proponent
Speaker 3: for self breast exams. I think that it's important to
Speaker 3: be kind of aware of what your breasts feel like,
Speaker 3: you know, once every few months, kind of examine yourself
Speaker 3: in the shower. But you know, I think that the
Speaker 3: old teachings that you should be doing a self breast
Speaker 3: exam once a month isn't really what we follow now
Speaker 3: because self breast exams don't catch cancers very often, and
Speaker 3: more often than not is the imaging that catches it.
Speaker 3: So for me, you know, with my patients, I really
Speaker 3: stress the importance of regular mammograms and if you are
Speaker 3: high risk, getting enrolled in a high risk breast clinic
Speaker 3: where they can watch you more often. But just in general,
Speaker 3: having an awareness of what your breasts feel like, you know,
Speaker 3: once every few months, I think is totally okay. And
Speaker 3: I also often have patients that come seeing me after
Speaker 3: having being dinosed so the breast cancer say, you know, Douc,
Speaker 3: I didn't feel anything. I don't really do breast exams,
Speaker 3: And I tell him, you know, no reason to feel
Speaker 3: bad about that, Like that's okay, you went and got
Speaker 3: your mammogram and now we're here, so I'm really happy
Speaker 3: that you got your mammogram.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because sometimes it is an indicator to someone that
Speaker 1: something might be awry, so it is the impetus for
Speaker 1: them to go into the doctor. What are some other
Speaker 1: warning signs, say, we're not checking our breast warning even
Speaker 1: if we do, we didn't feel Are there other signs
Speaker 1: that women should be aware of.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so nipple discharge, like new onset nipple discharge on
Speaker 3: one side in particular, especially if it's bloody, that's something
Speaker 3: that you need to get some breast imaging for. And
Speaker 3: oftentimes breast pain. You know, if you feel a new
Speaker 3: pain somewhere, especially if it's just in one spot not
Speaker 3: the whole breast. Whenever I see patients with breast pain,
Speaker 3: I go ahead and order an ultrasound just to check
Speaker 3: it out and make sure there's nothing going on as well.
Speaker 3: And then also if you have any kind of skin changes,
Speaker 3: so skin looks kind of stick in one spot, nipples,
Speaker 3: kind of itching and scaling, all of that stuff should
Speaker 3: be checked out with breast imaging.
Speaker 2: Such a good information. I didn't know any of that.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: What is the one thing you would say that you
Speaker 1: hope our listeners take away from this conversation that we've
Speaker 1: had today.
Speaker 3: I think you've already sort of touched on it, which
Speaker 3: is that it's so important for women to advocate for themselves.
Speaker 3: So if you have a high risk family history, ask
Speaker 3: your primary care doctor to refer you to a hig
Speaker 3: risk breast clinic so you can talk about genetic testing,
Speaker 3: maybe get diagnosed with something like Bracco one and two
Speaker 3: if that's running in your family.
Speaker 2: Or just be watched more closely.
Speaker 3: And if you feel a lump, advocate for yourself to
Speaker 3: get some type of imaging, a mammogram, an ultrasound, something,
Speaker 3: because no one's physical exam is good enough. So it's
Speaker 3: really important for women to use our voices because we
Speaker 3: already don't get heard enough. So advocate for yourself, educate yourself.
Speaker 3: And that's really my mission. I try to post a
Speaker 3: lot of stuff on social media so that way I
Speaker 3: can help women advocate for themselves.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it's so easy. I've been in this
Speaker 1: position to be in the doctor's office and them to
Speaker 1: tell you whether something's wrong or something's not wrong. Either way,
Speaker 1: I think to myself, well, they're the doctor, they must know.
Speaker 1: I guess I'll just go with that.
Speaker 3: Well, here's the dirty little secret we don't know. And
Speaker 3: as a doctor, like we you know, physical exam and
Speaker 3: looking at how a patient looks and trying to put
Speaker 3: the pieces together with what they're telling you. It's those
Speaker 3: are great tools, but they're not everything. And if you,
Speaker 3: as someone who's seeing a doctor, feel in your gut
Speaker 3: that you know they're not hearing me, they don't know
Speaker 3: the whole story, something must still be wrong. Like, don't
Speaker 3: be afraid to get a second opinion. You know what
Speaker 3: we talked about earlier. Find a female physician that will
Speaker 3: be willing to listen to you.
Speaker 2: Yes, go, ladies. We need more female doctors, more female surgeons,
Speaker 2: more females everywhere we do.
Speaker 3: We absolutely do in every field, we will benefit from
Speaker 3: having more women.
Speaker 1: Before I let you go, doctor Amani, I want to
Speaker 1: know what was your last I choose me moment.
Speaker 3: I would have to say that it was today doing
Speaker 3: this podcast. So I spoke to my clinic team and
Speaker 3: I was like, listen, I have this really exciting opportunity
Speaker 3: to be on Jennygart's podcast. I'm really excited about meeting her.
Speaker 3: So if you can just make sure that I can
Speaker 3: get home on time so I can participate. And that's
Speaker 3: how I'm choosing me. And they made it happen and
Speaker 3: I was able to be here today. So I'm so
Speaker 3: excited for this opportunity. Thank you so much for having
Speaker 3: me on.
Speaker 2: Oh I love that.
Speaker 1: I love that because this is the greatest opportunity for
Speaker 1: you to educate more women, and I know that that's
Speaker 1: so important to you.
Speaker 2: Yes, it is.
Speaker 3: That's definitely my mission, not just in my clinic, but
Speaker 3: also the women out there on social media to try
Speaker 3: to help them, help empower them to advocate for themselves.
Speaker 1: As the mother of three women, I thank you from
Speaker 1: the bottom of my heart for all that you do
Speaker 1: and the education that you're dispensing to people.
Speaker 3: Well, I really appreciate everything you're doing and all of
Speaker 3: the information you're providing through your podcast and helping me
Speaker 3: have this platform to talk to women and so we
Speaker 3: can get more women to get their mammograms.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, thank you so much for your time. I
Speaker 1: hope you have a great night you too. All right,
Speaker 1: take and enjoy your flown.
Speaker 3: Oh, thank you, just delicious. You got to give it
Speaker 3: another chance.
Speaker 2: I'll come and see you and we can have some
Speaker 2: flawn together. I think that'd be a good idea.
Speaker 3: That if you haven't been to Santa Fe recently been
Speaker 3: to Santa Fe.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, you're missing out. It is such a
Speaker 2: magical city.
Speaker 3: I got to tell you I moved here from Houston,
Speaker 3: and I was like, oh my god, I strongly recommend
Speaker 3: you come.
Speaker 1: I love that of ringing endorsement. Yes Santa Fe, yes okay,
Speaker 1: and mammograms yes both okay.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, thank you for having me on.
Speaker 1: I want to thank doctor Ramani John Bacar for coming
Speaker 1: on our podcast today. I know none of us like
Speaker 1: to talk or think about cancer, but it is important
Speaker 1: for all of us to understand the warning signs and
Speaker 1: understand why it's crucial for us to get our mammograms.
Speaker 1: As we continue to choose ourselves each week, I want
Speaker 1: to challenge you this week. It's going to be an
Speaker 1: obvious one, but maybe this conversation has inspired you. I
Speaker 1: want to encourage you to have that I choose me
Speaker 1: moment and get your mammogram. Or maybe you and a friend,
Speaker 1: or you and your sister, or you and your daughter
Speaker 1: go get them together, make a mammogram date out of it.
Speaker 1: I encourage you to share your story and your mammogram
Speaker 1: experience on our social media and use the hashtag I
Speaker 1: Choose Me. Let's all inspire each other and be brave
Speaker 1: and look out for each other and for our bodies.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to I Choose Me. You can check
Speaker 1: out all of our social links on our show notes,
Speaker 1: rate us, review the podcast, give us your comments, tell
Speaker 1: us everything you want to tell us, and don't forget
Speaker 1: to use the hashtag I Choose Me. I'll be right
Speaker 1: here next week. I hope you choose to be here too,