Let's Talk: Breast Cancer Awareness Month with Let's Talk UNLV co-hosts Ailisha and Tanya

This episode has real talk conversation on Breast Cancer Awareness with hosts Dr. Tanya Crabb and Ailishia Vaughn. 

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Unknown Speaker 0:00
You're listening to locally produced programming created in KU NV studios on public radio K, u and v 91.5. A content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 Jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

Unknown Speaker 0:26
All right,

Unknown Speaker 0:27
welcome to another episode of Let's Talk UNLV

Unknown Speaker 0:30
at K und 91.5.

Unknown Speaker 0:32
I'm your co host, Alicia and Tanya, listen, today we are talking about breast cancer, because this month is breast cancer awareness month, Tanya?

Unknown Speaker 0:42
Oh, absolutely. And it's a subject we're talking about. I think we need to talk about it more. Absolutely. So before we kick off on this delightful and informative topic. Can we talk about weekend?

Unknown Speaker 0:53
Yes, you know, we used to start off the episodes with talking about our weekends. And now we just jump right into it. So let's get into it. I have to be honest, and say, I didn't do like anything adventurous like, you know, go hiking like I would normally do, or go out to eat or hang out with family and friends know, happy hours and things like that. But this weekend, I did more of like, what are they called a binge watching TV. There is the episode on Netflix. I'm not promoting anyone. But I did watch this episode on Netflix. And it deals with blue zones where they go out and do research. It's I guess it's more like a documentary. They go out and do research on individuals that different places within the world where people live longer than 100 plus years. And they go in to kind of investigate how are they living so long? Why are they live in so long, and they share with the audience. And so I was thinking man, I might have to get out of the United States and go to some of these blue zones and drink from the fountain of youth because I want to live long. But when you watch it, and I don't want to be a spoiler, spoiler alert, but I encourage if you have Netflix, watch it. It's dealing with blue zones where people are sharing best practices on how they're living 100 plus years or more, and they have several people in the community, not just one, you know, and here and in the United States. We're like, Yay, we have someone who lived 100 years, but these pockets of places within the world were a large population of people are living more than a plus 100 years.

Unknown Speaker 2:18
Wow, that sounds fair. It

Unknown Speaker 2:19
was long winded winded.

Unknown Speaker 2:20
No, no, no. But I have to say this when you described your weekend, you said I didn't didn't didn't mind that was so you had a restful weekend for you. You know

Unknown Speaker 2:28
what time you make that point again? Yes. And I needed a full, you know, sometimes I equate rest with boredom. You know, I'm like, Oh, I'm not doing enough because I'm so used to going from, you know, 100 miles an hour. But no, rest is good. And you're teaching me that my free. You're teaching me the power and resting. So thank you for bringing attention today. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 2:46
that sounds like a wonderful weekend, but about related to self love. So you know, it's so funny. I like you, I I took this weekend to sort of like decompress, calm down and just have a good restful timeframe. So what I did was what I normally do is I had moments where I danced around the house. As always, I went for a walk, like I just like strolled and by walk, I'm in the backyard, and I just walked in circles because I need the air. No adventures walked in, then I kind of took the opportunity to catch up on some of my favorite shows. And I've learned and maybe this was like a COVID 19 holdover situation. But I've learned that I really love watching shows about other cultures. I really enjoy seeing the differences in how we film and what we focus on and so forth and so on. So I've been watching the show called reservation dogs on Hulu, which is amazing. It follows a group of kids on the reservation. And so it's not a documentary it is in fact a show. But the thing that's magical about the show, filmed by starring, produced and directed by a completely native cast.

Unknown Speaker 4:00
Oh, wow. Now that's rare. No, that is so rare.

Unknown Speaker 4:04
And it shows and he shows amazing, and it shows in the ways it's it's beautiful, and it's breathtaking, and there's learned moments, and I'm another new favorite, which believe it or not, was recommended by students and faculty alive was Ted lasso.

Unknown Speaker 4:19
Oh, wow. What's that about? So?

Unknown Speaker 4:20
Ted laughs Oh, it's interesting. So Ted laughs So is about a, an American gentleman who leaves America and comes to to coach soccer, who has zero experience coaching soccer, doesn't know anything about soccer at all. But he comes here with this really beautiful positive spirit and attitude. And the thing that I love so much about the show is that I smile, I love touches my heart. It's beautiful. It's a store. It's a show about people, like loving each other. You know, we can always find conflict, but it's so hard to find shows where good people are being good people love and Ted lasso is good people. for being good people show and has moments of redemption, and joy and kindness sort of like parks and recreation for it went off for the year. That was also one

Unknown Speaker 5:10
of them. I haven't seen I have a lot of catching up to do, don't I?

Unknown Speaker 5:12
Oh my goodness, Parks and Recreation had a bunch of like very different humans who coexisted and loved each other despite the fact that they were very different.

Unknown Speaker 5:23
And that's powerful. Oh, yeah. We need more of that in our society, don't we? Yes, that's

Unknown Speaker 5:27
my midnight. So that's the thing I watched before I go to bed to sort of set my vibe for the evening. My shows here, so

Unknown Speaker 5:34
you had a good weekend as well.

Unknown Speaker 5:37
Oh, it was lovely. laid back. And I decided whether I wanted to eat or buy food, it was great.

Unknown Speaker 5:44
The whole part of the walking in the backyard. I love that. You don't always have to go to the park. You don't always if you have a backyard for that matter. But yeah, just getting out and smelling the roses and bringing in the fresh air. I heard someone once referred to that as getting grounded, you know. So putting my feet in the grass and you know, just kind of taking it all Li and taking my shoes off, put my feet in the grass, and really getting grounded. So all this good stuff

Unknown Speaker 6:08
well, and even just standing outside, like what brought me outside was I saw a butterfly. And I just I was drawn to the butterfly. So even if you don't have a yard, you know, you can go to a park and sit in nature you can stand out in front of your house move movement was what I was trying to achieve. Go to the mailbox. Yeah. Just we're complicated house plants. We need sun we need water. We need love. Say it again, that complicated house plants.

Unknown Speaker 6:35
And listen, for those who don't know, Dr. Tanya, she's always dropping gems. And I'm like, Oh my gosh, say that again. And she she she says it's so casual. Like it's no big deal. So you know, it's just natural. But I just feed off of your words daily. So I'm gonna write it down. But because we're doing the pockets, I'll get it after the fact and write it down. Complicated. houseplant. I have never heard that before. And then also, all right. So I know we want to jump into the topic where we're talking about breast cancer awareness. I have some stats and some information that we're pulling from National Breast Cancer Foundation incorporated online. So just want to give credit to where we're pulling some of these sources. But did you know that one in eight women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. And then it's estimated that over 297,000 women and to almost 2800 men will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. I did not know that. And so today, we're on campus, and we're hosting an event over in the DC dining commons. With our campus. I'm partnered, Debbie, the dietician, who really helped to shed light on that for me as well, she, you know, a lot of times, Tanya, we focus on breast cancer, just strictly in the topic of women. But there are also men who will one day unfortunately, face as well, breast cancer issues. And so Debbie brought that to light during this events, and hey, no, it's not just women, but also men that can be diagnosed and had been diagnosed with breast cancer. So what do you think about those stats? And is this something new for you? Have you heard that before both men and women and what are your thoughts on it?

Unknown Speaker 8:13
I think that's a really important distinction. I think it's really important to acknowledge that it's not just a woman's issue, because then maybe we'll encourage men to also consider screenings. Yeah. So you know, I think one of the things that that's interesting to me is that for myself, and I don't know about for most women, the idea of breast cancer screening wasn't something that was introduced in my house. Same here. No, no, never.

Unknown Speaker 8:37
Yeah. Never heard my mom said or any anyone else? Yeah, are mentioned the importance of it.

Unknown Speaker 8:43
This and this is despite the fact that I have two cousins who had breast breast cancer and one who died from it. No one has ever had a conversation with me around breast cancer, breast cancer awareness, breast cancer screening, or anything to do with the subject matter. So I'm really glad that, you know, it's a point of conversation. I'm glad there's a month dedicated to it. I'm sad, that the knowledge around it isn't shared more within households and homes, you and I were talking about the fact that a lot of physical, even mental health conditions aren't readily discussed. So when you didn't then discover it in yourself. someone's like, Oh, yeah. You're great. And Jimmy, like, this whole time? Yes. This whole time this laid dormant in my family history. And it wasn't a point of a conversation for you. So I'm glad that we're now talking about and I'm especially glad that we also know that it is not exclusive to women. You hear that men?

Unknown Speaker 9:40
Yeah, they're listening. And I'm sure a lot of people like Oh, really, you know, why do you think it wasn't spoken? Because like you have said, I didn't grow up in a family where they talked about and I did have an aunt that was a two time breast cancer survivor. It wasn't until I started getting well I'm not old but older and I would see questions Why would go to the doctor might just, you know, local physician for what we consider just our yearly physical. And they would ask the question, Has anyone in your family had X, Y, and Z, especially, you know, for breast cancer? And a lot of times I couldn't answer those questions. And now that my mom is deceased, you know, my father definitely doesn't have the answers. But if I were gonna ask someone, it will be my mom. I didn't find out until later on in life with my aunt sharing when she was actually going through it the second time that she had breast cancer. So why do you think we're not? Obviously this is not the subject, we're going to, you know, gather and talk around the dinner table and having dinner. But why do you think for so many of our families and those who are listening who can identify that we don't have these conversations more often than maybe when it's too late?

Unknown Speaker 10:45
I think oftentimes, we don't realize the importance of these types of conversation. I think, you know, we don't, we also didn't necessarily understand the impact of these things going down the line, you know, things like breast cancer, depression, all of those things that show up later. And also, you know, if we're honest, especially in communities of color, we sort of learned to function under a certain level of suffering. And when we may not have even been aware of our own history, until something happened, we may not necessarily have been receiving care for something until something happens. So I think some of it is, you know, a, I didn't think to share this. Or be it was as much as a surprise to me as it was to you. So I think there's there those parts of it that make it difficult.

Unknown Speaker 11:34
Wow. It also says on the National Breast Cancer Foundation website, that chances are, you know, at least one person who's been personally affected by breast cancer. And yet, we're not having conversations as often as we should. The reason why I say conversation, because I believe knowledge is power. If we start to just have conversations and educate ourselves, you know, basic things like mammograms, I can't tell you, you know, all this, we're just gonna be transparent. I don't believe I did my first mammogram. And so I was in my 30s. And it was only because when I went to the doctor and the X, you know, for like a basic physical, they ask you these questions. And they said, Well, you know, anyone in your family who's had breast cancer, like, you know, I answered the question, yes, because at that, at that time, I did know about my aunt, but then they encourage you, because of that, at a certain age to actually start getting mammograms and start doing screenings and testing yourself. You know, I didn't even know where the first start of what, you know, what are you supposed to do? And how does that screening really look? You know, was that something that you were aware of? And, you know, how did you stumble upon, you know, screenings?

Unknown Speaker 12:39
Well, I think actually, you you were fortunate in the sense that you, you, you because of your history, I'm glad that you had the screening, because it was earlier, they typically recommended around age 40 is when they say you have to have a screening, unless, you know, there's certain circumstances, my certain circumstances that I have fibrocystic breasts, so that means that they're lumpy, and like, yeah, it wouldn't look at me like, oh, there's a backdrop Right, right, right. But on the inside, you know, there's a very dense, so it's difficult to see if something is happening in there. So, in my case, my screening, sort of like you started earlier, because they wanted to be sure that they could catch everything as it was happening. And I get screened, maybe twice a year. But the truth of the matter is, if they hadn't told me, Hey, girl, you gotta get screened. I might not have thought of it. And you know, the other interesting part about that, and this is a piece that was really confusing for me is, then they asked the questions, well, do you do you do one? Exam breast exams? I'll

Unknown Speaker 13:41
be honest, I don't

Unknown Speaker 13:42
know. I was like, see what happened was, yeah, I didn't, I wasn't part of something that I thought I needed to do. You know, and then I've had it, I've had at least a couple of scares. Because of my fibrocystic breasts where I've had to have a lumpectomy, I've had to have like, a partial of like a biannual biopsy, I've had to have a few of those things. Because, again, they were uncertain. And I can tell you, then in those moments, when you're having those exams, everything inside me is going I should have done the right, yes. And the everything inside of me, it's like, I should know, I should know my body better than this. You know, because those are, you don't want that to be the thing that drives you to do the thing that you need to do for your body. So yeah, mammograms are important, and now they have even 3d mammograms. Yes,

Unknown Speaker 14:33
and technology is the vast one I understand so much prior to, you know, even in the early 90s, you know, the technology that we have now is so much more advanced, which is such a good thing and then also the resources and places you can go you know, should you have to face some of these complications, but I'm right there with you. You know, the ironic thing just being transparent. I am a bone cancer survivor. And so I started getting mammograms earlier because of that, but also because of My family history. And I don't want to say say anything, but you would think because of my past that I will be a little more alert when it comes to mammograms, and you know, I'm driven to make sure I get the testing and it just the way that my personality is as a whole, if I don't feel anything, and I'm gonna be problems, you know, I'm good with it. And that shouldn't really be the case, because things can lay dormant in our bodies. And we not even know, you know that that's the issue. So I just want to encourage the listener, whoever may have a similar personality as me, or have had a similar history of me to really put emphasis on how important it is to get those mammograms. And as you've said, Tanya, you don't even have to just get it once a year, if you need to double check, you can even get it twice a year. But let's not wait into the last minute, you know, to put ourselves first or to, you know, neglect the fact that this is important issue. And so this is breast cancer awareness month, we want to make sure that we as women and men are doing our due diligence to see after ourselves and take care of ourselves. So I hope whoever's listening to that, that you felt that that you hear me and that you receive it.

Unknown Speaker 16:04
And I also wanted to encourage grace. I want to encourage Grace about the things that we did before we knew better. Mike knew you can be looking back at all you talking about? I wish you had old you didn't know that old you wasn't aware of old you wasn't informed old, you did the best that they could, when they could, you know, and then also this idea of screenings. Um, let's face it, there are a lot of reasons why people don't get screened some of it fear and anxiety. This is true, you know, rather live with what you don't know, then find out what you do know, you know, so that part of it as well is some of the reasons why people don't get screened. Because they have a family history. And they're afraid that something's lurking down the road for them. You know, you mentioned assistive sick a while ago. Actually, you read it to me, I don't think you read it to our audience about survival rates. Yes,

Unknown Speaker 16:56
it's saying that, when caught in its earliest form localized stages, the five year relative survival rate is 99%. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 17:06
that part, that's, that's the reason why we do it, you know, because what we know we can plan for and we can work on handling, what we don't know, remains unknown. And so having that exam, put you in a position to take care of it sooner, before it gets to be this thing that is uncontrollable, and unmanageable. And just know that at every level, there are resources. And we've come a long way, in terms of cancer treatments. So the things that before would have been, you know, the end of the road now are things that they can treat, they can manage, they can help you to increase your chances of living around. So that's another reason to definitely get seen. But yeah, the the younger version of me who did not truly understand any of it, pointing to my chest, the younger version of me that didn't truly understand any of it didn't realize that I needed to check in with my body. And you and I have had conversations about this idea that my body was foreign to me, you know, and as women, our bodies can be foreign to us, because you know, sometimes you're objectified, and so forth, and so on. But even small things like you know, Oh, I feel this thing, is it worth checking out versus probably the bra, right. So this is an encouragement not only to do breath exams, but to get to know every area of your body that's good, so that when things hurt or feel out of sorts, or you move in the wrong way, that that's an encouragement to do a deeper dive. So let your breasts be where you start with that body relationship and expanded to all of your body.

Unknown Speaker 18:47
And you say something so often to me, Alicia, listen to your body, you know, you were talking about earlier, when we were coming into the studio preparing to record and you were eating, you're bringing your food so that you can eat. And I think you mentioned you know, I was gonna go ahead and power through our interviews today and then eat on the backend. But you said you said well, but you know what, I listened to my body. And then I thank my body for giving me a warning sign that, hey, you need to take a lunch. You know, don't don't power through your day and wait to the end to feed yourself, you know, like many of us do. And in some cases I eat at my desk, if I get to lunch, right? But listen to our bodies, and being respectful to our bodies is so important. And for again, for those who are listening, especially if you're younger and younger and age, then myself and maybe Tanya in the studio, if you learn those best practices now and incorporate that as a lifestyle. Oh, I can only imagine how further you will be as we now you know, we can criticize ourselves on the past and it's learning and we're growing and developing. But if you learn those best practices now, gosh, I can only imagine where you'll be later on in life, right? But I'm so grateful for the lesson. And I'm so grateful that you took time to go ahead and eat them, you know, head to Starbucks and you had a little sandwich that I'm so grateful to get that in front of

Unknown Speaker 20:00
me, trust me, you don't want hangry me. You don't want her showing up in his face.

Unknown Speaker 20:11
So, the other thing that you mentioned in terms of loving and respecting your body, so I don't know about everyone else. But up until like a certain age, my boobs were basically decoration. Yeah, I'm gonna say to be word boobs, right? My boobs were basically decoration, you know, they were things to be held up by Victoria's Secret, my favorite and to make them and to make my outfits look better. You know, I hadn't really thought of them as part of my body in the truest sense of health. That's, you know, and then when I became a mom, there were things to feed other people. So again, I really hadn't thought of them in terms of my own health, they were useful. They were jealous. harrion You know, but they are also part of the system that keeps you alive and healthy. It is true, it's important to pay attention to all parts of you, not just for the purposes they serve to others. Yeah. But for the ways in which they keep you alive and nourished and well. And so, to your point, you know, my stomach, and I had conversations while I was doing my body medicine, training, and my stomach is like, you know, I'm so over you. I'm so done with you, either. You're complaining about me, you're not feeding me like What is your deal, man? And then you act confused. Right? Yeah. Right. So that's just one of a series of conversations that I have with my body about what it needs. So I do I get up in the morning. I'm like, what do you need for me today? How can I serve you today? Because you serve me every day.

Unknown Speaker 21:37
That was life changing? Will you sit there with me? I was like, oh my goodness, I told you, she dropped gems, and I just be picking them up. I'm just picking them up and I'm storing them in the bag just in case I need to go back to him. And then if I can't pick it up, then I'm like, let me write that down. How can I best serve you? And you know, working on me, for me personally, it's just working on being more kind to myself. I mean, I would like to think that anybody knows me, I'm all about hope, inspiration, empowerment for many people, you know, but I have to be cognitive sometimes how I speak to myself and how I treat myself, I'll give you the shirt off my back. I'll give you the world you know, if you if I'm with you, I'm with you. But sometimes I noticed that you know, we think of cruelty like physically doing something right to oneself or someone else but no being cruel with skipping lunch or skipping breakfast if you know what your body needs that are your you know, your everybody's not the same. Some people can go without a you actually don't need it. But for me, I know that I am a breakfast person, I need food and my stomach is telling me that but I don't go 100 miles an hour and by the time I look up, it's it's nighttime, it's dinner time. So when I say practicing being unkind to myself, just simple acts like that there really are major and they add up you know, simple things as being cognitive my breasts and saying hey, I need to or my boobs scuze me on your boobs, Braves breasts I hope that's okay, since you're us, West, if we're out of out of compliance breasts, boobies as breast cancer awareness. Get your mammogram, stop putting it off where you know, oh, because I have an event and work or I have all these meetings that I don't have time to really schedule in the doctor's appointment, you know, no, make it a priority. Make yourself a priority. And I'm learning those things, just full transparency. And you know, hope that many of those who are listening if you can identify with that, put ourselves first because you know what, we can't pour from an empty cup. If we're not making ourselves and number one priority to get our mammograms, men and women to get our physicals annually, then what good are we to our community? What good are we to our families, we're good are we to our jobs. I don't I can go on and on. But

Unknown Speaker 23:40
can I tell you, I no longer pour from my cup, I direct you to the source. Because if my cup if I'm giving you from my cup, that means I'm gonna have less than my cup.

Unknown Speaker 23:49
Tell them about the investment bank, emotional bank that you told me about this.

Unknown Speaker 23:53
So so so when you do these things for yourself, you're paying into your self esteem bank, you're building self love capital, you're making yourself stronger, and whole and healthy in these ways. So you know, the reason one of the reasons I put off my man and my brand was because I don't like the machines like let's be honest. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 24:12
they smash you like a painting. I mean, it's painful for some of us. Oh, yeah. Well, well, that's really Yeah. Wealth and mass you like a pancake and

Unknown Speaker 24:19
dependent on your endowment construction too.

Unknown Speaker 24:30
So let's, let's be honest about that part. It ain't cute. It ain't fun. But is it worth dying for? No, is a little bit of discomfort with time and a little bit of scheduling a priority. Is it worth dying? Is it worth is it worth your life? You know, as as female bodied humans we do a lot of things that are uncomfortable Spanx high heeled shoes, yeah, come on. Like let's not pretend discomfort, yes. is foreign to us. Uh, you know, but we choose to do the things that are uncomfortable because we think there's some benefit to them. So yes, you know, it is it is uncomfortable. I'm not gonna lie to you, did they? I think they should give you like frequent flyer district tickets and prizes. Yeah, there's certain mileage you

Unknown Speaker 25:16
get through doing that. And I think you did a man event, this mammogram machine, you know, because they didn't meet the heels. And like, who came up with this that you're gonna smash a man cave? Man, we have to do it. Don't we? Had it? I don't know. I'm gonna research and find out for who invented the mammogram machine. And can we you know, advance. And until we have just a few minutes left for this episode. But I do want to kind of leave us on a positive note in the near time, I'll let you close us out. It states here again, on the National Breast Cancer Foundation website that 3.8 million breast cancer survivors. There are over Excuse me 3.8 million breast cancer survivors in the United States. So if that doesn't give us hope, I don't know what it is. So if you happen to be facing a scare or going through the biopsies in the in the screens and things of that nature, just to give you a little nugget of hope is that there are over 3.8 million breast cancer survivors in the United States now currently, and that's a major statistical pair to when we were early 80s and 90s. and things of that nature. So you know, do it

Unknown Speaker 26:19
for you, man, because you're worth it. Do it for you because you're worth it. You know, learn to understand your body so that you can be of service to each other for the rest of your life. You only get the one you only get the one. You know if this were a vehicle you can't be crashing it into walls and driving over books you take care of it. Take care of this vehicle that is your body. Take care of it the wood the way you would anything that is precious to you. You only get the one MC cow.

Dr. Renee Watson 26:54
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Transcribed by https://otter.ai