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Test Those Breasts ™️
This podcast by Jamie Vaughn is a deep-dive discussion on a myriad of breast cancer topics, such as early detection, the initial shock of diagnosis, testing/scans, treatment, loss of hair, caregiving, surgery, emotional support, and advocacy.
These episodes will include breast cancer survivors, thrivers, caregivers, surgeons, oncologists, therapists, and other specialists who can speak to many different topics.
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor and not all information in this podcast comes from qualified health care providers, therefore does not constitute medical advice. For personalized medical advice, you should reach out to one of the qualified healthcare providers interviewed on this podcast and/or seek medical advice from your own providers.
Test Those Breasts ™️
Ep. 98: From Fear to Facts: Taking Action Against Hidden Barriers w/ Dr. Cari Croghan
Real talk, no ribbons, no fluff.
Dr. Cari Croghan and Jamie Vaughn dig into the tough barrier topics: fear, cultural dismissal, bias, the absurd hoops we must jump through just to access care, and cultural barriers.
From breast changes to insurance denials, we’re done whispering about it.
This one’s about knowing your body, trusting your gut, and refusing to be brushed off.
Listen in and share it with someone who needs that nudge to speak up and push back, perhaps with a little help!
Episode Summary (Real Talk)
We get honest about what it takes to advocate for yourself in a system that too often says “wait and see.” Dr. Cari, an ER-vet turned telehealth advocate—joins me to talk about the barriers women face every day: lack of education, fear, access, bias, and insurance run-arounds.
You’ll hear practical advice on getting the right tests, when to demand a diagnostic mammogram, how to appeal denials, and where to find care even without insurance.
It’s raw, it’s real, and it’s here to help you move from fear to action.
Contact Dr. Cari: 775-745-9239
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I am not a doctor and not all information in this podcast comes from qualified healthcare providers, therefore may not constitute medical advice. For personalized medical advice, you should reach out to one of the qualified healthcare providers interviewed on this podcast and/or seek medical advice from your own providers .
Hello, friends. Welcome back to the Test Those Breast Podcast. I am your host, Jamie Vaughn. I'm a retired teacher of 20 years and a breast cancer thriver, turned staunch, unapologetic, loud supporter, and advocate for others, bringing education and awareness through a myriad of medical experts, therapists, caregivers, and other survivors. A breast cancer diagnosis is incredibly overwhelming with the mounds of information out there, especially on Dr. Google. I get it. I'm not a doctor, and I know how important it is to uncover accurate information, which is my ongoing mission through my nonprofit. The podcast includes personal stories and opinions from breast cancer survivors and professional physicians, providing the most up-to-date information at the time of recording. Evidence, research, and practices are always changing, so please check the date of the recording and always refer to your medical professionals for the most up-to-date information. I hope you find this podcast a source of inspiration and support from my guests. Their contact information is in the show notes, so please feel free to reach out to them. We have an enormous breast cancer community ready to support you in so many ways. Now let's listen to the next episode of Test Those Breasts. Well, hello, friends. Welcome back to this episode of Test Those Breasts. I am your host, Jamie Vaughn. And today I am so excited to have my new friend. Actually, I've known her now for maybe, maybe a year. Um, her name is Dr. Carrie Krogan. We call her Dr. Carrie. She is a board-certified emergency medicine physician with 25 plus years of experience in high-stakes trauma, stroke, and cardiac care. After decades in the ER, she traded Burnout for Balance, launching Dr. Carrie FFS, a virtual medical practice focused on hormone therapy and whole person wellness for all genders. Licensed in 15 states, her big heart and long arms have a wide reach. With a deep belief that healthcare should be clear, kind, and actually helpful, Dr. Carey blends medical expertise with a straight talk, no-shame approach to aging, sexual health, and mental wellness. She's also seasoned a seasoned health pro with past roles at grand rounds, hymns, and concentra, helping thousands of patients make sense of confusing diagnoses and reclaim their health on their terms. Now a keynote speaker and podcaster, she shares what most doctors won't say out loud, always with warmth, humor, and zero pretense. When she's not talking libido hormones or healthcare reform, you'll find her in the Sierra Mountains, juggling mom life, old dogs, and deep cleansing breaths. Well, Dr. Carrie, welcome. It's so great to finally have you on my show. We've been talking about having you on for quite some time. And I just want to let my audience know that you and I met through, you know, a grassroots organization here in our area. And I immediately took a liking to you, number one, because of your personality. You are a no bullshit person, and I that's who I am. And I got to know you a little more and thought you need to be on my show. How are you doing today?
SPEAKER_00:I'm doing pretty good, Jamie. It's so good to see you.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you look gorgeous. I love your top. And um, I'm wearing pink today. I don't always wear pink, but it is breast cancer awareness month, which I think is total BS anyway, because every month is breast cancer awareness month. But October just happens to be one of my very favorite months. Number one, because it's my birthday. Number two, I love fall. Uh, number three, I had to throw that breast cancer diagnosis into my life. So I might as well, you know, be part of it. Um, it's also one of the saddest months of my life because my mother died six years ago, October 6th, which shame on her for doing that because it was her favorite season, my favorite season. But I keep celebrating her anyway and embracing the fall because it's so beautiful. So this is a perfect time for you to be interviewing on this show.
SPEAKER_00:Perfect. Well, I have a little pink right on my breast here. So I'm celebrating too.
SPEAKER_01:Did you do that on purpose?
SPEAKER_00:Well, it was funny because I put it on and I was like, this is a total hand-me-down from my friend Patty. Um, and I was like, oh, this is perfect for breast cancer awareness month.
SPEAKER_01:I love it. I love it. Um, I always like to say too that it's important to um to have skin cancer awareness month too. I constantly am having skin cancers removed for me. I just had one up here on my shoulder. And actually, it turned this one turned out to be benign, but I still have to have it covered up. So it's just my little accessory for today. Um, because this is on video as well, like uh most people know. But listen, I really want to talk to you um about a couple of things. I am actually going to Las Vegas and I'm gonna be speaking in front of uh, you know, patients and I uh, you know, caregivers and interested in talking about things that are uncomfortable that is related to breast cancer and really anytime. Um, and I noticed that you have a little background on that, and you don't hold back, which is great. And I'm one of those people who I just don't like to hold back. I think it's important to talk about the hard stuff, talk about elephants in the room, and um, with some humor and cussing at the same time, which you know. So that's I I think that's why I resonate with you so much because you are very much out there. And if any, and I will have your your social media stuff on my show so show notes because I want people to follow you because your videos that you put out there are extremely amazing. So I mean, you just did one recently that had everything to do with uh perimenopause, right? Um, I just your style is is really cool. I would love to actually start by asking you to sort of tell us a little bit more about who you are, um, how you put your personality and your expertise out there into the public and help people advocate for themselves and how you help patients.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so I mean, I've always been kind of a mouthy person, and my dad especially encouraged me to just say it as it is and kind of let it fly. Um and I think as I've aged, and especially spending a quarter century in the emergency department where everything is very irreverent, you've got to be transparent, you've got to be efficient with your words. There's really no time to be beating around the bush. You just have to get straight into it. Um that really I mean, it's kind of fostered what was already natural to me to just say the thing. And so, and then just giving zero fucks through menopause, like I, you know, I'm not here to hurt people's feelings, and I know I'm not everyone's cup of tea, but I am just going to say whatever the heck is on my mind and what is honest. And so sometimes that's helpful and sometimes it creates a little conflict, which is also okay, because sometimes you can get at the deeper roots of things by really getting into the nitty-gritty. So yeah, and with telemedicine, it's you know, a slower pace, which I really needed after spending all that time in the emergency department, where it was just go, go, go, go, go. And now, especially with my practice, I can spend up to an hour with a patient if I want to, which is unheard of in the emergency department. If I'm spending um an hour with you in the emergency department, it's because you're dying. Like that's not that's not a good thing. So um, yeah, I've really enjoyed being able to get deeper into people's patient care needs, having them divulge stuff that they usually wouldn't to a physician because we get to know each other better and have a better conversation and relaxed relationship so they can give up, they can spill the tea. Because I sure as shit am.
SPEAKER_01:Well, that's okay.
SPEAKER_00:My podcast has been very revealing lately. I've been like, whoo, I'm kind of naked out here, but I guess that's what we're doing right now.
SPEAKER_01:What brought you into podcasting? What what what lured you there?
SPEAKER_00:Uh I have a group of girlfriends, um, and everyone is really powerful and has been in their particular professions for decades now. And so we have a ton of experience and knowledge, and most of us are irreverent and mouthy. And the stuff that we get solved by opening a bottle of wine and having a charcuterie plate is amazing. And so it's like the CPA and the attorney and the physical therapist and you know, the physicians of different natures, we're all moms and we're all dealing with, you know, male partners for the most part, and um aging parents, and like just getting stuff out on the table and having other people sort through your turds and be like, oh, I've dealt with this. This is who I would call about that, or this is what I would do. Several times we've been like, God, we should have just recorded that. How do other people deal with this? How do other people solve these problems that I mean everyone's dealing with, right? We're all humans going through our can similar conditions. And so it was just funny, like we had said that for years, and then earlier this year, my life has been going through a lot of transitions recently. And I had a partner whose job is essentially marketing salesmanship and launching medical small businesses, especially single and solar entrepreneurs and small groups. And he was like, You should you should do this. Like, you should talk and people should listen to you, and you say stuff as a physician that other physicians are not saying. So you're out there like educating people in a very relatable way, and that should be more public. I was like, Do people really want to listen to me? And he's like, Yes, yes, they do. And so I kind of started down that path, and then I was having my ex-sister-in-law do headshots for me, and I ran into her husband, and he's had a podcast for four years now with his buddy, and they're the dank dads, and they like smoke weed and drink twisted tea and watch sports, and like it's hilarious. It's like the exact opposite of what I'm trying to do. But he had all the equipment in his garage, and I was like, Hey, I need to come over and check that out because I don't know cameras and microphones and all that stuff. And he's like, Well, what are you doing? And so I told him, and he's like, What? He said, Give me an example of a reel you would do. And I was like, Does your Volvo look funny and you're afraid that people aren't gonna want to look at it because it's all like deli ham sandwich, flippy flappy, like, and you think it doesn't meet the standard of beauty? And he's like, You cannot say things like that. And I was like, I already have, and yes, I will. And um, he's like, But you're a doctor, and you you know, you're supposed to be all professional. And I was like, fuck that. Like, people just want to have a chat, like they need to sit down and you know, have a beer with their buddies and listen to some funny educational stuff. And so that's how it all evolved. That now I'm doing a live podcast with the two of them every other Sunday, and then I'm doing podcasting where I'm interviewing other people like yourself, other experts in their own fields, and it's just supposed to be super relaxed, and we give information, but in a real relatable layman's terms kind of way.
SPEAKER_01:So I feel like that's such a breath of fresh air right there, and because it's definitely not boring, and no one wants to listen to a boring podcast, right?
SPEAKER_00:So I mean you can get doctors' lectures all over the place. It's FFS with Dr. C.
SPEAKER_01:FFS with Dr. C. And we can talk about what what does that mean, Dr. Carey? For fuck's sake. Okay, I like it.
SPEAKER_00:Because it so it encompasses so much because I mean, we say it multiple times a day in the emergency department, like, I can't believe I'm looking at this, I can't believe this is happening, why didn't you come three years ago? Why are you here today? You know, and so and then as being a kid of aging parents, as being a parent of aging kids and just dealing with life in general in your 40s and 50s, there's a lot of for fuck's sake moment. So I went for it.
SPEAKER_01:I like it. Yeah, I like it. It's perfect, it's it's very catchy, kind of like Tesla's breasts. You can't you can't miss it, right? So I want to talk, I want to ask you a little bit about um what experience, what um, you know, you've had maybe that in your family or friends or patients or whatever with breast cancer.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it was one of the things that I was thinking about was my aunt, my mom's sister. She was a large-breasted woman. She was a bishop, reverend. Rev. I'm not religious, so I don't know the denominations, but um, I think she was a reverend. Anyways, and she felt a lump, probably, and noticed that bad things were happening, and she left it up to God. And that did not go well. Like, and she didn't tell anybody. She lived with her twin sister and her husband and some adult children, and she just hid it until it was literally like coming out of her skin and smelled, and that was the end of it. Uh and so I often wonder I mean, I've seen people through the emergency department, and then, you know, in my own family who I think fear and or denial is so strong, and it it's strong in all of us, just depending on what the situation is. We can all like freeze deer in the headlights kind of um fashion when it comes to something that seems really super scary, and cancer is really fucking scary. And so I think a lot of people will feel something, notice something, not feel right, and not say anything because they don't want the answers. Um I had a friend who at a very early age in college was dealing with um some tumors, some cancerous tumors that she had, and they never even figured out where they were coming from, but like every three or four years she had to have surgery to remove something new, and she did have one in her breast, but they didn't think it was breast cancer. She had a couple of them in her brain. Um, and so and you know, she was getting chemotherapy all the time, and just she's had a really tough go of it. But I had a conversation with her at one point, and she said, Oh, I don't want to know. I I don't ask for my results or anything like that. I just get the tests that they order on me and they tell me when to show up where and if I can eat. Wow. And I was like, How in the world have you dealt with this for decades where you just don't even want the information? I mean, I that is not at all how I would approach anything, and that was such an interesting point of view for me. And I'm sure it's not rare. I think there are plenty of people who are just like, Don't don't give me the details.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and we're gonna talk a little bit about barriers because that is one of the barriers. We talk about barriers as far as being able to get into the doctor and actually get tested and having to jump through hoops and advocate for yourself. But one of the barriers too is to get past that fear, fear of the unknown, so you don't do anything. You just like your aunt. So tell me about your aunt. How old was she? And uh about what uh decade was this?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so she was probably she was probably in her late sixties to early seventies, I would imagine, when it was happening. I mean, who knows since she wasn't telling anything. Um and I think she was in her mid-70s when she passed away. And that would have been the early nineties, early nineteen nineties, I believe. And there were more barriers than just her pious religion uh religiosity or whatever, to be honest. Um, she was a pretty poor black woman in Virginia, and probably didn't have great health care if she had it at all. Um and so I'm sure that there was probably an access to health care problem. Um, and that discrepancy is very well known and very well documented, and it continues to plague women of color, absolutely. And so I'm sure it was like, I don't want to deal with this, and I don't know how to deal with this. Um and the I don't know how to deal with this probably affects the vast majority of the population because who do you go see? Who do you tell? Who do you how do you get help for this in the American healthcare system that is so broken and raggedy and almost impossible to navigate? Um getting worse. It's interesting to me because oh, and getting worse, absolutely. You can actually, I believe at Renown locally, you can schedule your own mammogram if you think you have a problem or if it's that time of the year and you need to go. But the system can push back on you, and how are you paying for that? You know, do you have insurance? If you don't, what is the cost of that out of your pocket? Is it worth it to do that? Are you just gonna put it off for a couple of years because you didn't save up to get your mammogram? And so that barrier to even doing something if you decide that your brain is ready to do something is just like so frustrating to me. Like, if I feel a lump in my breast, I want to get that shit checked out right fucking now. Um, because it's gonna be in the front of my brain, right? It's just like you're looking through it all the time. Um, it's just gonna be this cloud. But I know that I don't deal with it as, you know, everybody's gonna deal with it in their own individual way so their mind can handle it.
SPEAKER_01:Right. And, you know, going back to your aunt, uh happening in around the early 90s, what I have learned is that women really didn't talk about those kinds of things, whether it be, you know, any kind of like cervical cancer or colon cancer or breast cancer, any kind of illness, they didn't really talk about it. Whereas now you have people like you and me and so many others who are outwardly talking about it out loud, in the open, unapologetically, and they didn't really have that, right? So had your aunt had some sort of education and um having other people even talking about it to help her advocate for herself, things may have been different, right? So we don't know, but I mean it it could have been a bit different. And that's why I am so focused on making sure that I reach people, especially those who've never even been diagnosed. That is one of the biggest audiences I want. Because I just remember when I was diagnosed, I knew a lot about breast cancer. I had had two lumpectomies, you know, the, you know, within the 10 years prior that were benign, but I always had my mammograms and also extra screening just because I have dense breast tissue like most women do. And so I knew a lot about it, but shit, there was so much I didn't know when I was diagnosed. I mean, so much. And I'm still learning to this day so much more. And I know though, that my biggest message to people is that, yeah, if you feel something or see something off on your breasts or in your lymph node areas or whatever, you need to make sure that you go get it checked out because the earlier it is detected, the more chance you are going to be able to survive. And you know, I mean, luckily they caught mine at stage two, but had I listened to my intuition and a few uh things that I did feel that spring, I may have been diagnosed at stage one instead of stage two when I went in to get my annual mammogram. So the idea is to get it diagnosed when it's stage zero or one, just to put it out there. It's so much, it's not easy, but it's so much easier uh to go through it then than it is to get it, you know, stage two, three, and four, of course. Um, but those barriers, uh, I have spoken to quite a few women who were, like I said, in the late 20s, early 30s, pregnant, newly met newly married, and they had trouble getting their doctor to actually allow them to get a mammogram or any kind of screening, even though they felt something. And so we need to stop that nonsense. Like it needs to stop. Like doctors need to have more education, you know, gynecologists need to have more education, always have more education and listen to their patients. So it sounds like you're one of those doctors who listens to her patients.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, I I hope so. I I am happy to call bullshit on all sorts of things. Um, but what's the gamble here? Like you're gambling with somebody's breasts and potentially their lives. Like what there's no downside to this as far as being the provider and ordering the tests. Like, okay, so she feels something and you send them in and it looks like nothing. That didn't hurt me. It didn't hurt me at all. Like, she's reassured, the test is done. Now there's a baseline so that when she gets tested later in five, ten, fifteen years, depending on how old she is, now there's something to compare it to. I just don't feel like there's any downside to listening to somebody else's fighty senses, unless they don't make any sense whatsoever. You know, we we should be feeling our boobs. I think that's another thing that, you know, my aunt's generation, that probably was not happening very much, you know. You weren't supposed to touch yourself at all. Right. I totally disagree with that, as we know.
SPEAKER_01:I do too. And I and I have a I have a really hard time believing that people b who believe that actually didn't touch their breasts.
unknown:I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:Somebody needs to. That's what they're there for for Pete's sake. So yeah, I mean, the the whole thing is like, know what your breasts feel like. Your breasts are not going to feel like anybody else's. Like, you're gonna know where your little lumps and bumps are and where your little nodules are and fat globules and all this kind of stuff. So being comfortable with what the topography and geography of your own tatas are, that is a huge that's the first test you have. And that way you can be like, hmm, there's this one thing that doesn't feel the same. And sometimes it is because you've had a cold or you scraped your arm or there are reasons why you have lymph nodes or inflammation on the sides, things like that. So you keep an eye on it for a couple weeks and see if that doesn't go away, just like you would, you know, if you get strep throat or a cold or whatever and things feel weird, you keep an eye on it. Same thing with your boobies. And so, but I don't understand what the what the achievement is for providers going, yeah, we're not gonna order that. Right. I mean, the downside is massive.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it is. And I brought that up because uh just a couple of few weeks ago, I interviewed a gal named Coma McDowell, and um she went into the doctor, and the I think that she learned how to advocate for herself from an earlier situation. If you go back to the podcast to listen, it's very fascinating. But she went to her doctor, she was, I believe she was 29, and her doctor was like, Oh no, you're too young to have breast cancer. It's probably just a cyst. So she went back home and then she came back and it was because it was in pain. And she came back and her doctor kept on pushing her away every single time until finally she said, Fine, we'll do a you know, a biopsy or whatever. And long story short, she would have been diagnosed probably at stage one or whatever at that time that she first started coming in. And by the time they finally she got you know more opinions and and went further down the road, it was stage four. Come on. And this doctor never apologized, never even addressed it. And I just I I was so astounded by that. And um, so yeah, I mean, that's what I'm saying is is that it's really hard sometimes if you go in and you're trusting your doctor, which we want to do because they are the professionals, right? Um, you know, but helping them understand that it is okay for you to use your voice and say, I would like to get a second opinion and go get a second opinion. Um, because that's exactly what coma did, and you know, and she figured it out, but not until it was stage four. So that's what you know she's dealing with because of this doctor. Yeah, yeah. Very heartbreaking and it pisses me off.
SPEAKER_00:It that's inexcusable. Like you might give a little bit of pushback or an explanation of, you know, hey, the odds of this being something serious are so low right now, like you're so low risk, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Let's keep an eye on it. Like, you know, call me back in six weeks if this isn't. But to just like continue to push it off or to not give that person a fresh set of eyes, I don't have anything for that. We're we're human. We as physicians are human, right? Just like anyone else. We're super highly educated and probably perfectionistic, type A wrapped around the axle, rosebush up our asses, shitting diamonds. Like, okay, I get it. Um, but we make mistakes and we cannot possibly know at all. And being in medicine is constantly a learning process. Like, I mean, I think that's one of the reasons I went into emergency medicine was that I like the unknown, I like the spontaneity, I don't want someone to hand me a list. These are the patients you're gonna see today in your clinic. Like, that to me makes me want to just vomit. It's like I like the adrenaline rush of it all, but part of that is being surprised, being shocked, learning new things. And I think as physicians and providers, it's easy to get into ruts of, well, I've never seen that before, and so it doesn't exist. That's totally not true, and that's really not how you should practice. And frankly, breast cancer and colon cancer and asthma and allergies are all getting worse with time. Like the science, I don't know what's going on. I don't know if it's antibiotics in the chicken. I have no idea why those four issues continue to get worse and worse as the science should be getting better and better. But that's where we're at right now. And so, you know, brushing people aside when they have those concerns does not make any sense. And frankly, I'm gonna bring up insurance companies, they should pay for that shit because right, like paying for someone to get over stage one breast cancer or like paying for them to snip out a couple of polyps and have another colonoscopy in three years is a hell of a lot cheaper and more efficient financially than dealing with stage four breast cancer or dealing with someone with stage four colon cancer. Like, what are we doing? None of this makes sense. Sense. The patient is the one who pays the ultimate price. But if you're going to be greedy about it and look at the bottom line, it fucks up your finances too, to not be working with people to get the answer earlier.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And that's which brings me up to another barrier are the insurance companies and their denials. And um, I was actually, I had my first experience with a denial right smack in the middle of my breast cancer treatments. I had developed this really rare anemia. And it came out when they were doing all my scans, they found this other tumor that was in my thoracic cavity was a it was a thymoma tumor. And uh and it was big and it was sitting up against my heart. And I'm like, well shit, how how would I even have known about this? And it was benign and encapsulated, but I was like, how would I have ever known about this tumor had I not gotten breast cancer? And they're like, you wouldn't, unless it wouldn't all hell broke loose and you know, and it became uh malignant. And so what happened was is that tumor was emitting antibodies that were attacking my red blood cells as they were being produced when I was going through chemo. And it it created this anemia where my oncologist actually thought it was an iron deficiency. And she kept telling me to go home and eat a big steak. And I'm like, and at the time I was sort of more vegan and like, I don't want to eat a big steak. And she's like, you need to go eat a big bloody steak. And so, but it turned out that it was not an iron deficiency. And but I kept on having to go to the emergency and to, you know, that infusion center or renowned infusion center and get these blood infusion, these uh blood infusions. And so I got this letter in the mail that denied my infusion. And it turns out that they just assumed that it was an iron deficiency. They said that it was not life-threatening, and in fact, it absolutely was life-threatening. And so the doctor had to um, you know, send a letter back and I was able to get it covered. But it turned out that it was called, oh my god, what was it? It was aplasia anemia. I can't remember what the whole name was, but aplastic anemia. Yeah, it was apl yeah, and um I found out through UC Davis and then also another doctor that was recommended to me. And he is the one that had set suggested that I get on um, oh God, what was it called? I see, I've put it all out of my mind because it was such a crazy situation. But I was on this medication um for quite some time just to get my uh blood levels back up and my hemoglobin back up. But I had dozens of blood transfusions and I oh, I called them infusions, but transfusions. And but because it was I had the antibodies, every time I went in, they had to test the bloods and get it as close as possible so that I didn't get an allergic reaction. And everybody kept on calling in saying, hey, I'll come down, I'll give blood, because I'm O-positive. I'll come give blood. And I said it's not that easy. They can't just take anyone's blood. So sometimes I had to wait for days at a time to get it approved. It was like the I I learned so much about insurance and the whole system. But that's that's the biggest thing is that insurance, why are we being, you know, why are we being uh denied for certain things? Like if you have breast cancer, why are we being denied for chemo? There I know people who've been denied for that. You know, I mean what because these insurance people, um, I watched a documentary years ago that had these people who used to work for the insurance companies. They said, yeah, when we get um, you know, claims that come in, are for we're trained to actually deny first. Yep. So therefore, I now have two or three people who are in my back pocket. If somebody sends me a message and says, hey, I was denied for blah, blah, blah, I can actually reach out to them and say, okay, how can they appeal this? And the idea is to use the language that the denial letter says to go back and write the letter and appeal it that way. And so I I always encourage people, hey, if you get denied for something, don't just say, uh, okay, they just denied it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You you need to appeal that denial, regardless of what you're doing.
SPEAKER_00:That's absolutely true.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so but that's that other thing.
SPEAKER_00:And the people who are doing the denials, they're not they're not physicians, they're not healthcare providers. They are they're there to be a barrier, essentially. They're clerical, you know, they have some training in what they're doing, but they're not in the medical field. And so no wonder they looked at your, you know, numbers and were saying, you don't need a transfusion, we're not gonna pay for that. Especially since you needed specialized transfusions because you have the antibodies, and so it's way more expensive to like do all the testing to get you the blood that you need so that you don't have an allergic reaction um to the transfusion. Like it's a lot more expensive for you to get a transfusion than for most of us, right? And so, yeah, of course they're gonna be like, oh, we don't want to pay for that. That was way too expensive, and her numbers aren't that bad. But they're not medical professionals to to look and go, why the heck does she need this in the first place? Uh let me look through the chart.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and I didn't even know there was any such thing as any other kind of anemia other than iron deficiency. So they probably don't even know that.
SPEAKER_00:Right. Yeah. A plastic anemia, they're not gonna be like, oh, well, of course, this is you know immune-mediated, blah blah blah. They're not gonna have any idea because they're not hematologists, they're not oncologists, they're not even physicians. And so they're you're literally there just to push back.
SPEAKER_01:I could do a whole TED talk on it. That's right. Like I really, by the time I got done with all that stuff, I was like, but but as you noticed, just a few seconds ago, it's like I'm trying, I I put it out of my mind. I sometimes I can't even remember anything, but I I do attribute that to a little bit of um chemo brain. They do say that chemo brain is real and it does last. So sometimes I can't even come up with the words anymore. Um, well, I, you know, I just think that um, you know, having someone out there like you with your expertise and your personality and, you know, just your overall interest too in making sure that we find things out. If you don't know something, you strike me as the type of person to go find out, learn about it, and you know, help advocate for people. How do people reach you? How do like I would love for people to be able to reach out to you if they need any kind of services or if they want to listen to your podcast or all the things. Tell us all the things.
SPEAKER_00:Well, my website is dryfs.com. So D-R-C-A-R-I, which is my name, and FFS.com. And that has all my socials on all of the pages. You can book an appointment to see me. And again, I'm licensed in 15 states, so I can see a lot of people outside of my home state of Nevada. Um, and I, you know, most of the stuff I'm doing is hormone stuff for all genders, actually. And but I've had a lot of people who just say, like, I've had all this testing done, and I can't get in to see anybody to go over the results or what the plan should be. Can I just give you all that stuff and have a conversation with you? Heck yeah. That's what I used to do at Grand Rounds, which I absolutely loved. It's kind of detective work, which I dig. And so they'll just like get on my system, make an appointment, upload all of their studies and labs, and book like a 50-minute um appointment with me, and I'll go over every single thing. What does this mean? What does what does this say? How do I even pronounce that? Um, why did they draw this? Is it low? So now what do I do? Um and so I can really be a good consultant in that way to just kind of do a care coordination. Um it's weird because in the emergency department, we ended up doing that quite a bit because we might see somebody who has been seeing their general practitioner, you know, saw a specialist, got a bunch of studies, and now they can't see anybody for like three months because everybody's understaffed, right? And they're freaking out and panicking because there's a bunch of language and you know, red letters and arrows and stuff like that, and they're like, what the heck is going on? I can't live like this for another 12 weeks before I see my primary care provider and get an answer. Yeah, okay, well, let's go over that. And that's not a great use of the emergency department at all. But if that's your emergency today, I'm gonna do what I can. And I love that kind of detective work. And so you're right. I and I'm I've been working here for so long that I have so many specialists that I can just like, you know, kick them a text message. Hey, what do you think about this? And that's another thing my girlfriends and I used to do all the time, and we still do like, hey, who's the who's the best knee guy in town? Um, you know, you know who to ask about. I need a new knee, I need a new hip, I have a lump in my boob. What am I supposed to do? And so we're really good about ferreting out how to get that information because I know I don't have it all. I'm not expected to have it all, but I will find the people who do have it all.
SPEAKER_01:So if somebody were to ask you, you know, being breast cancer awareness month, um, you know, a lot of people get their mammograms, all their screening done in October just because it is October and that I used to, and because it was my birthday also, but then it changed during COVID. If somebody were to come up to you and say, look, I don't know what to do, I have a lump, uh something doesn't seem right, I don't even know where to go, I don't have any insurance, how can I get, you know, screened? What would you tell them?
SPEAKER_00:Uh there are plenty of um screening opportunities throughout town, and I'm sure in most places. And so they'll have um drives where it's like, hey, this week we're gonna have the trailer at blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And they'll have a certain amount of appointments for that. I know you have to get on it early because a lot of people use those resources, which is awesome. But you can get on waiting lists, you can get on cancellation lists, and I love that it's uh breast cancer awareness month, but frankly, I was like, I don't want to swim through all the people in October. I'm just gonna do it in February. I don't know why I chose February, but that's my month. Um so if you do have a lump, then you need that's the other thing people need to understand is there's screening where you just do like the six squishes and they just kind of look at it and see what that looks like. That's for people who are not experiencing any concerning symptoms. So usually, you know, you start in your mid-40s, depending on what your family history is, and you just do a screening. If you have a lump or your nipple looks weird or your skin on your breast looks weird, something where you're concerned about it, then that is a different test. That's a diagnostic test, meaning you're looking at it way more closely. And oftentimes they'll do an ultrasound of the breast after they do the squishing of the particular concerning part. Um, and so you probably do need to have a practitioner order that for you. Sometimes you can do that via telehealth. Um, you can also go to Planned Parenthood. They are freaking amazing and they follow up on everything, and I do love them so much. Um, and those are some resources that you can use if you can't get into your primary care person in a timely fashion, or if you don't have one. So I would say if you just need a screening, go through Planned Parenthood, or you can go directly to the resources that have the vans that go all over the place. But if you have an actual lump, then I would hit up your primary care provider, your gynecologist, or Planned Parenthood to have somebody feel that with you and then order the appropriate test.
SPEAKER_01:Right. And then they can lead you into the direction that you need to go to. So if you are out there and you feel a lump or you something seems off, you know, the the visuals, you know, of your breast, you know, Planned Parenthood, you can even call probably renowned, and they would be able to help, you know, guide you to a, you know, a resource that can help you if you don't have insurance or whatever it is. I don't know if I told you, Dr. Carrie, that I'm a lemonista. Do you know what a lemonista is?
SPEAKER_00:No, tell me.
SPEAKER_01:Oh well, let me tell you. So I um am partnered, test those breasts is partnered with an organization called Know Your Lemons. And Know Your Lemons was started by this wonderful gal named Corinne, and she is a doctor. And she was interviewed on my podcast probably, I think it was like last year, and her one of her best friends died of breast cancer. And she really went on a mission to help people know your lemons. And she used lemons instead of breasts for the visualization. And people like me can uh become certified to become a lemonista. And I teach breast cancer classes for free. I mean, you know, people want to learn the 12 signs of breast cancer. And I also break down the myths of breast cancer, one being that um you're gonna get breast cancer if you have it in your family only, and you know, which more people who get diagnosed with breast cancer don't even have it in their family, a larger percentage. I didn't have it in my family, and the percentage of men that can get breast cancer. Um so I teach breast cancer classes. So that's what we should do, is we should get a bunch of people together and I'll come and teach a breast cancer class. And it's really it makes it, it makes it kind of a fun way to recognize the visuals of uh of what to look for, but also on top of that, not you know, just feeling around your boobs isn't enough. We need to make sure that we're going around into our lymph nodes and even know where your lymph nodes are. And so I actually teach people how to do that as well. So I'm a lemonista. Oh my goodness. So seriously, we should get a a group of people together so that I can do that. Well, I I just really love our conversation here, and I think that we're gonna continue this conversation down the road. I'm gonna be on your maybe your podcast or go live with you at some point soon. And I will put all of your contact information in the show notes. And I just I just love this conversation about breast cancer and health care and insurance. And is there anything else you'd like to leave us with before we disconnect today?
SPEAKER_00:Jamie, you are a total gem. I'm so glad that you have been dropped into my life. You bring a lot of positives in a pretty dim place right now. And so I just want to extend my appreciation. You're really holding up a lot of pillars and providing a lot of historic times.
SPEAKER_01:Well, thank you very much. And I feel the same way about you. I feel like uh, you know, people are brought into our lives for a specific reason. And I just uh and they're and people are magnetic. They they really come together and they recognize that they have something to share with each other, and I really am grateful that I got to share that with you. So thank you. And I will be seeing you very soon and to my audience. Thank you for tuning in again on this episode of Test Those Breasts. Dr. Carrie's information will be all in the show notes. And until next time, we will see you on the next episode of Test Those Breasts. Bye for now.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you, Jamie.
SPEAKER_01:Friends, thank you so much for listening to this episode of Test Those Breasts. I hope you got some great, much-needed information that will help you with your journey. As always, I am open to guests to add value to my show, and I'm also open to being a guest on other podcasts where I can add value. So please reach out if you'd like to collaborate. My contact information is in the show notes. And as a reminder, rating, reviewing, and sharing this podcast will truly help build a bigger audience all over the world. I thank you for your efforts. I look forward to sharing my next episode of Test Those Press.
