Ep. 101: Listening Saved Tiffany Williams's Life; Speaking Saved Her Heart

We sit with Tiffany Williams, a survivor who found her lump, fought for results, chose surgery and radiation, and carried private grief after losing her daughter on day one of treatment. Strength, vulnerability, and self-advocacy weave through a candid talk about silence, support, and speaking up.

• life before diagnosis as a mover and shaker
• finding the lump and insisting on answers
• staging surprise and surgical choice
• why radiation without chemo for lobular cancer
• working through treatment and hiding fatigue
• losing her daughter and processing grief alone
• learning to share, not shoulder everything
• lessons from her mother’s cancer and caregiving
• practical tips on lymphedema and radiation limits
• younger patients, dense breasts, and ultrasound
• the caregiver’s role in appointments and anxiety
• trusting intuition and acting quickly

Sit back, grab a cup of coffee, or enjoy while driving! 

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Mission Of The Show
• 1:26 Meet Tiffany: Life Before Diagnosis
• 3:28 Finding The Lump And Pushing For Answers
• 5:40 Staging Shock And Surgery Decisions
• 7:06 Radiation Without Chemo: Why And How
• 9:10 Myths, Treatment Paths, And Confusion
• 11:23 Working Through Radiation And Staying Silent
• 13:09 The Day Everything Broke: Daughter’s Passing
• 16:00 Grief In The Treatment Room
• 17:40 Why We Hide Pain And How To Share
• 19:16 Lessons From Mom’s Cancer And Caregiving
• 21:03 Strength, Vulnerability, And Permission To Feel
• 23:05 Speaking Up Lightens The Load
• 24:28 Know Your Body At Any Age
• 26:04 Caregivers Matter: Sean’s Role
• 28:10 Practical Tips: Pools, Lymphedema, And Limits
• 30:05 Becoming An Advocate In Everyday Life
• 32:00 Trust Your Intuition And Get Checked

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

Hello, friends. Welcome back to the Test Those Breasts 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 have a fellow breast cancer survivor friend, Tiffany Williams, on my show. Tiffany is a breast cancer warrior and survivor whose strength runs deep. Before her diagnosis, she was the bubbly, hardworking woman who lit up every room and balanced life with being a dedicated Nana raising her grandson. Everything changed the moment she was diagnosed, facing the fear of not beating cancer and the heartbreaking question of how to explain it to her family. Through treatment, she pushed forward because her family needed her, and she refused to give up. Today, as a survivor, Tiffany describes herself as more compassionate, more patient, easier to talk to, and profoundly thankful. Her story reflects resilience, love, and the transformation that comes from fighting for your life and the people who depend on you. Well, hello, Tiffany. Welcome, welcome, welcome. How are you doing today? Beautiful. How about yourself? I'm doing good. I um just have had such a busy morning and seems like I'm I'm a retired teacher, so you feel I feel like I shouldn't be so busy, but I am. Um, and I am just so excited that you and I are meeting today. You and I met at a breast cancer event at Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas just last month. And we just sort of resonated with each other, had a conversation. Uh, you told me some deeper stories about your life and your treatment and your diagnosis and all the things. And I'm just grateful that you have decided to share your story with the breast cancer community. I think your story will resonate with quite a few people. So, what I would like to start with is the question that I always ask survivors because it's so it's it's a deep question and it makes people think about who they were. I want to know who was Tiffany before breast cancer.

SPEAKER_00: 3:31

I was a mover and a shaker. Like my days off were filled with let's go bowling, let's take the dog for a walk, let's go to lunch, like I kept my days busy and things like that. I was always doing something, doing a project. I I was always going somewhere, doing something all the time. Sounds a lot like me.

SPEAKER_02: 3:53

Right, exactly.

SPEAKER_01: 3:55

I mean, it's like, how do we how are we so busy all the time? Right. Well, would you describe Tiffany as being an open person? Talk you talk to a lot of people. Always you are an easy person.

SPEAKER_00: 4:09

I was always open. If you wanted an opinion, I will definitely give it to you. I was always there for everybody. I had all kinds of friends, and you know, I was I was living a good life.

SPEAKER_01: 4:21

Yeah. Well, you I will say that having met you and talked to you a couple of uh more times, you still seem to be that bubbly, fun, very open, compassionate person. So just to put it out there. Then what happened? You had a breast cancer diagnosis. Can you tell us what your diagnosis was, how you found out, what your treatments were, and just tell us all the things, Tiffany.

SPEAKER_00: 4:51

So to start with, when I was like in my 20s, you know, I was kind of wild and I got my boob pierced and it got infected. So I had to go to the hospital and all. And so I had a scar in there. And this was in my 20s, and I'm now 51. And so it was always there. And my mother had breast cancer. So it was always in the back of my mind. Make sure, you know, you go get your mammograms and all that. And I'm like, oh, I'm in my 40s. I'm not gonna worry about that right now. And I always did the check in the shower. And one day, just I was in the shower after work and just decompressing and just something felt off. And I come out the shower and I'm real quiet. My husband goes, What's wrong? And I'm like, nothing. And he's like, tell me. And I, and so I tell him, and so I make an appointment immediately. I go to the doctors and I tell her, I said, I think it's scar tissue. I'm not sure. She tells me, I don't think it's anything. Let's check. I go to get the mammogram, it's abnormal. So now it's the biopsy. So then I have the biopsy. And in the back of my head, I just knew. I knew in the back of my head, and I had to fight for my results because my doctor was out. I had to keep calling. And finally, I was like, I need a supervisor. I need to know if this is cancer. I said, somebody has to tell me something. So finally I get the diagnosis and they're like, yes, just point blank, rip off the band-aid. You have it. And I was like, okay, reality. So now we start with. Now I go to see the oncologist. I ask him, Hey, can you tell me what stage do you think this is? Where am I at? And he goes, Well, looking at this, it could be a one, maybe a two. I think you just caught this on time. Let's get you to a surgeon. So within a month or two, I'm already, you know, go to see the breast surgeon. She goes, Do you want the lumpectomy or the mastectomy? I said, free moves. And then I was like, no, let's get this out of me. Let's, let's, let's, we'll deal with that later. Let's just get this out of me. I am so glad that I did because I had surgery the very next week. My tumor was nine and a half centimeters and was already spreading into my lymph nodes. So that makes it stage three. And it was already spreading through my body. So we went with radiology. And so I did six weeks of radiation therapy, and we're on the mend right now. Very good. Did you go through chemo as well? I didn't do chemo. They said when I was asked, he said on a scale of one to 15, I would say you don't need it, but I was right at 16, between 15 and 16. He goes, I have lobular cancer, which he says grows sideways. Oh. He says, so the chemo might not even help that. And I said, You're the doctor. Tell me. I said, Do I need to have it? Because very vain of me. I was like, I don't want to lose my hair. But I said, if I need it, please tell me because I want this out of my body 100%. And he goes, Let's try radiation. And so we did six weeks of radiation, and so far, so good. You know, we I just saw the breast surgeon and had my mammogram last month, and we're looking good.

SPEAKER_01: 7:49

That's awesome. Um, you know, it's just so confusing. Uh, when I was diagnosed, there were, I mean, I just went into a whirlwind of things I just didn't know. I mean, there were so many myths, and I couldn't figure out why it was that other people who had breast cancer didn't have chemo or had surgery first and then chemo, and I was doing chemo first and then surgery, and then I didn't have to do radiation. It's like, why what makes it that some people have some treatments and some people don't? But it's interesting because I've never, I you're the first person that I've spoken to, at least that I know of, who was at stage three with that big of a tumor who didn't have to have chemo.

SPEAKER_00: 8:36

Right. Very bad. My mom both times she had breast cancer twice, and my mom had to have chemo both times. So I think if they would have known in the beginning what they knew at the end, I think it would have went a different way.

SPEAKER_01: 8:48

And so you had to to watch your mom go through all of that, and you probably you saw her lose her hair and all the things, and you didn't want to go through that because it's traumatic. It's traumatic. Um I remember when I found out I had to have chemo, and and I knew I asked my oncology, like oh, am I gonna lose my hair? And she's like, Yeah, you're gonna lose your hair. And I was sorry, fucking devastated. Yeah. I was like, because I always had long blonde hair like you. Um I, you know, I mean, I just could never picture myself with short, short hair. And um, and so my friends took me to go get this badass haircut. Um it was like this A-line that shaved the whole side of my head. It was awesome. Yeah, there were like three, three or four of my friends that took me. And I and I ended up really loving the haircut itself. But then my first week of chemo, it started falling out that week, and then my husband um shaved it. And by that time, I had already accepted that I was going to be bald and all of that. And so, and now I just keep my hair short just because I I like it now. So it was like I was forced into it and I'm okay with it. So um anyway, so okay. How old were you when you were diagnosed? 49. 49. Okay. I am wondering, you said something just a little while ago about how you had to fight for your results. You had to, you know, I'm kind of advocate for yourself, essentially. 100%. Is that is that something that Tiffany would have done in her younger years in her 20s or 30s?

SPEAKER_00: 10:37

Oh no, I might have been like, you know what, the results are what they are. If they were really important, they call me. I'll just wait for them to call me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 10:46

It's amazing how um how much more brave we get when we get older, right? Yes. Start really like, like, I want to know what's going on with my body. I know I learned how to advocate for myself quite a bit when I was diagnosed and um through all my treatments. So awesome. Well, okay, so you're all good now. I know that you told me something when we were in Las Vegas that you really didn't talk about your cancer diagnosis. Can you explain to our audience why that is?

SPEAKER_00: 11:23

I felt that I didn't want no one to feel sorry for me, like, oh, poor Tiffany, you know, I didn't want to burden anybody. So I kind of just took it all and just put it inside and just kept pushing. Like I, the only people that knew were my coworkers, and that was because I had to take time off for surgery. Because my whole time during radiation, I would go to radiation and I'd go straight to work right afterwards. I was straight at work afterwards. So, and nobody knew. I was serving because I'm a server and I was moving and shaking and serving people, and you would have never known that I was just had radiation treatment, and and you know, I was going through something super personal in my life at the very same time. So it has taught me a lot. Right. You must have been exhausted. Yeah. I I remember one day because I do work in the airport and it was super busy, and and I was coming to the end of treatment. And with radiation, that last week you get this like mega dose. And I remember just sitting on the computer like this, going, take a breath, you can do this, you can do this. And my body was just like, oh my God, I'd rather be in bed right now. But I just downed a water and was like, all right. And then my husband picked me up and I was like, I want to go to bed so bad right now.

SPEAKER_01: 12:44

Right, right. So you had mentioned that you were going through other personal things when you were diagnosed. I feel like uh these stories start really, you know, kind of emerging, and we start reflecting on what our life looked like before and what was happening.

SPEAKER_00: 13:06

Do you want to share about that? I can. My um very first day, I accepted, you know, okay, here goes radiation, you know, I'm I'm ready. And I go and you get these little dots. So I have these three little dots right here for direct, you know, radiation therapy. And I'm in an okay mood, and you get this mold that you put behind your head. So I'm like, all right, first day, here we go. I got this. This is painless. So my I drive myself there because I know I'm in and out. And so I come out and my husband gets off work, and I'm like, okay, let's go to the store, very same day, first day of treatment. And we're going through the store and I'm pushing the cart, and my phone rings. And I'm like, I recognize the ring is like through a messenger app. And I'm like, oh, let me just turn my phone off. And it's my ex-mother-in-law, and as soon as I saw her name, I knew it. And she told me my daughter had passed. So all in that same day, I just stood there. And this is where the compassion comes from and the empathy because nobody knew around me what I was going through. Nobody knew I had just come out of radiation or, you know, going to get my dots. And nobody knew that right at that second, I'm just getting smacked with I just I only had two children. So she was my youngest. It was my daughter. And I just stood there with my sunglasses on and tears just going down my face. And I'm like, okay, now what? How do I deal with you're doing cancer and and and your daughter just passed? And I'm like, what do you deal with first? And I just took a deep breath and go, okay, life, here I come.

SPEAKER_01: 14:44

Right, right. That must have been really rough.

SPEAKER_00: 14:47

Yeah. So my radiation, that was my time because I was alone. That was my only alone time. So honestly, my radiation was my time that I could think about my daughter. And and and just the tears would just flow because I was alone and the room was dark and it was low music playing, and nobody would know, the lights click back on, and I, you know, get my arms out and I wipe my tears and I just keep going. And I would go to work and nobody knew. Nobody knew what was going on because I didn't want people to feel sorry for me. And then when I met you and I was like, it's okay, you you can talk about this. There are other people out there that are just like you that have, you know, and so you thankfully, you know, I you came into my life and helped open me up a little bit more. And now I'm able to actually speak about it a little bit more. And I wear my bracelets to work, and so now I've actually been able to talk to a few of my guests. They're like, hey, do you know anybody going through that? And I'm like, Yeah, actually I am, you know. So thank you.

SPEAKER_01: 15:54

Yeah, no, that I love that. Thank you for for bringing that up. What is it inside people who suppress what they're going through, especially something like this, and feel like they are burdening other people. Is that something that is a a woman thing? I mean, I I just feel like people have such a hard time feeling like they don't deserve to be cared for by other people. I don't, I'm just I always think about that and why why we do that.

SPEAKER_00: 16:34

And my husband is the first to tell me. He's like, Tiffany, it's okay. You can not feel good today. You can be sad today, you can be angry today, you could be, and and I know in the shower and I just sit there and I'm like, okay, is today a sad day? Is today a happy day? What is today? And I have to tell myself, because I'm at that age too where, you know, kind of going through the change of life at the same time. And, you know, you're on the medicine that that does your hormones up and down. And I don't know if I want to cry one minute or scream one minute or give you a hug. So I have to embrace that it's okay to have these feelings as well.

SPEAKER_01: 17:14

Yeah, it is. Uh I I was wondering what your mom was like when she was going through her.

SPEAKER_00: 17:21

My mom, and I think this is probably where I got it from as well, is because I didn't know my mom had been diagnosed. I remember taking my kids to school, and the school happened to be right behind her house. And she said, Hey, Tiffany, can you stop? And I'm going to work right after this. Hey, Tiffany, can you stop by the house real quick? And I said, Sure, no problem. And I come in and she takes off her hat and there's bald spots. And I was like, Whoa, what happened to you? And she said, Tiffany, I have cancer. Will you shave my head? And I'm like, Mom, I'm going to work. And I'm sitting there shaving her head and the tears are going. I'm like, why would you not tell me? I could have gone to the doctors with you. I could have been there for you. She said the same thing. You have a busy life. I didn't want to burden you. So I'm now I think about that's probably where I got it from too is I don't want to burden nobody. I don't want to bother nobody.

SPEAKER_01: 18:14

Okay. Yeah, I was kind of curious about that.

SPEAKER_00: 18:17

Um yeah, that would, and how old were you at the time? Believe it or not, me and my mom, I she found out she had cancer at 49 as well. So I caught it at the same age that she did. So I would have been in my early 30s when I found out. And then my mom passed when I was 39. Okay. Did she pass away from her breast cancer? No, she had breast cancer twice and then died of lung cancer. So she had cancer three times in 10 years. Oh my goodness. And I held her until she died, and I told her it was okay. I got this, and you know, just put on my big girl pants, and and yeah, I told her it was okay. And I I watched her pass from lung cancer. There you go.

SPEAKER_01: 19:00

You said you put on your girl big girl pants. Like you felt that you needed to just plow right through and not hold empathy for yourself and any kind of compassion. You just had a life to run.

SPEAKER_00: 19:13

Do you know? I tell my husband when he tells me, You're one of the strongest women I've ever met. And I said, Do you know how many of us are out there? And I said, I have to be thankful that I woke up today. So many people didn't wake up today. I am thankful that I have a cancer that is actually beatable. I am so thankful that I have a roof over my head. I have pretty much my health besides, you know, the the the C thing going on. But other than that, there are so many people that have it so much worse than I do, you know. So be thankful for the same thing.

SPEAKER_01: 19:46

Yeah, there you go again. So I think that two things can be true at the same time. We can be strong and get up every day and go do what we need to do, and we can also feel weak and pissed off and profoundly sad at the same time.

SPEAKER_02: 20:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 20:17

And I think that some people don't think that they are strong if they show the that more vulnerable side. And I will tell you that I understand it, but I will tell you that one of the reasons I started this podcast was it was a healing mechanism for me. And, you know, some people write a book, some people do a blog or whatever it is. I podcast, I like to talk to people. I like to talk to people about their different circumstances, what they've gone through, uh, what their thought process is. And it it it finally at some point clicked for me that when I was showing my vulnerability and pissed offness and deep sadness, I finally realized that that did not mean that I was not strong. So I'm hoping that's something that you can also bring to your life and to embrace all of the emotions and still you get to be strong.

SPEAKER_00: 21:33

Right. You've helped me open up a little bit more. And when I tell you the little bit of weight it takes off of you each time, instead of internalizing everything and just holding it in and not getting any answers because you're not talking to anybody about anything, every time you talk about it a little bit more, it just lightens the load just a little bit more. And I find myself, you know, sharing my story now and helping others because there's other people that are like, oh, I didn't know that. And I'm like, you know, believe in yourself, trust yourself, know your body. You know, there's never an age that is too young. I remember asking who was their youngest patient in the radiology department. I said, Who's the youngest person you've ever had in here? And she said, believe it or not, it was a girl that was 22 years old. So I said, you know, it's it's there, there's there's not an age, you know, limit to to cancer. So, you know, don't think that you shouldn't be checking while you're in your 20s, you know, that that's an old lady thing. You should be, you know, knowing your body when you're still young.

SPEAKER_01: 22:37

Bingo, right there. And that is why I focus on a couple of different types of people. Uh, one, the younger, younger folks, men and women. Right. Okay. So men can get breast cancer. And um, and I know men who've had breast cancer, which, you know, I mean, and I never knew that that could happen. But so younger women in their 20s and 30s that I have interviewed before, but also for people who've never even been diagnosed. And I had a friend of mine one time ask me, why is part of your audience people who've never been diagnosed? And I said, because they need to know, they need to be aware of their body. They don't know what they don't know. They and and when they're younger, it's harder for them sometimes because they really have to advocate for themselves. You know, there are doctors who are fantastic out there, and there are doctors who are dismissive. And so knowing what it what your uh genetics are, and you know, people who have breast cancer in their family, there are more people who get diagnosed who don't even have it in their family. Right. And that would be me. I'm one of those. And so I teach breast cancer classes because that's part of my survivorship. And when I was asked to come and speak to all of you at Sunrise Hospital, that is that is life to me. That is something that I love to do because I know that there are survivors out there who don't talk about the hard stuff. They don't talk about sex, they don't talk about their internal feelings or anything like that. And one of the questions I talked about uh there was caregivers. So your husband, I got to meet him, he was a really wonderful man. Good. So you were one of the people who had a good caregiver. Clearly, you had a good foundation for your marriage because sometimes if the foundation isn't super strong, and even if it is sometimes, it it really can rock the boat of a marriage. How was that with you and your husband?

SPEAKER_00: 24:52

Well, like I said, when I first came out the shower, and I was like, something's wrong. And he kept going, Tiffany, you're fine. I I've touched your boobs. That's that scar, that's what that is. And I'm like, no, I'm telling you. And then he kept on, and I was like, you know what? Let's stop talking about this. I'm gonna go to the doctors, and then they're gonna tell me what's wrong. And like I said, even the doctor said, You're fine, nothing's wrong. Let's still do more testing. I want, yeah, I want a definite answer. But it's a first. He's never dealt with this either. Because I'm a very strong and independent person. I said, let me internalize this for a moment. And when I'm ready to share, and he's like, I'm here, Tiffany. I'm not gonna burn you, I'm not gonna bombard you with questions. But I caught him on his phone, you know, looking up things for me. And he's like, Tiffany, I'm here if you want to talk. If there's and he was at all my appointments, he held my hand as I was going into surgery. He was taking all the goofy pictures I asked him not to take, you know, with my buffont on going, you know, being rolled down the hallway. But he has been there and up at four o'clock in the morning with me when I wasn't feeling well, and you know, telling me it's gonna be okay, and he's still gonna be there. And you know, he's been great. What's his first name again?

SPEAKER_01: 26:05

Sean. Sean.

SPEAKER_00: 26:08

How is your marriage today? Is it even stronger? Oh, a hundred percent. A hundred percent. Because he tells me, he's like, Tiffany, I can't believe you you're you just get up and push through every day. And I'm like, what do you do? Just fall apart. I have a life, I have a family. Like, I'm not gonna let this detour my life, you know. I'm still young, I feel. I have a lot of life ahead of me, and we have a lot of life between us. And like I said, he's in the breast surgeon's office with me asking more questions than I was. And he says, he goes with me, like to the oncologist, he goes, Tiffany, because you're looking at like wah, wah, wah, wah. And he tells me all the numbers when I get back home because I'm so nervous when I go to these appointments. Like, I'm catching every other word that they're saying. I'm like, just tell me, is it is it fatal? Tell me what is it? What is it is something gonna happen to me worse when this is all over? One thing I do want to tell people that they did not tell me. I live here in Las Vegas. First day of radiation treatment, when I'm actually in there and I'm doing it, I say loudly, I can't wait to get out of here so I can go swimming. You can't get in the pool. They didn't tell me this. So anybody watching this, you can't get in the pool while you're doing radiation treatment. Nobody told me that.

SPEAKER_01: 27:24

Yeah. And sometimes we find out things afterwards, like the whole lymph node removal. There are certain things you cannot do.

SPEAKER_00: 27:32

I I have lymphemia now. So when you go and get your blood work done, don't do it on the same side you had surgery on. Right. Right.

SPEAKER_01: 27:42

No more tattoos, can't sit in the hot tub. I do anyway.

SPEAKER_00: 27:46

Can't have the hot, hot showers.

SPEAKER_01: 27:48

Yep. Yeah, those are all my favorite freaking things. That's what I said. Um, so in your survivorship, I know that you are just real new at really talking about things and and helping others. What do you envision yourself doing moving forward to help the breast cancer community?

SPEAKER_00: 28:15

I actually I am lately trying to speak more about it. And I wear my bracelets and things like that to bring attention to it. So when people can, you know, give them the opportunity to, you know, hey, do you and that's how it happened the other day. Do you know somebody going through that? And then they had questions. And I said, Well, I can tell you from my personal experience. So you can take that with you. And then if you know someone else, you know. So I believe in talking to people and answering questions. And I ask questions now. So I have more questions. So I'm actually able to ask people, you know. So what was your journey like? Because we all have different ones, you know, we all have a different journey, you know. So not everybody's life is gonna be the same. And just because somebody was going through this doesn't mean you're gonna go through this, you know.

SPEAKER_01: 29:01

Right. I love that. I love that you are so much more open now. And we get to have Tiffany in our breast cancer community learning more, helping more, and all of that. And so I feel that you and I are going to be in touch for other things in the future. So thank you. So I I want to end this episode with asking you another important question. What kind of piece of advice, a good, strong piece of advice, would you give to someone who has never been diagnosed?

SPEAKER_00: 29:38

Believe in yourself and your intuition, know your body. And and when you think something's off, it doesn't hurt to just, you know, get it checked. You know, just just believe in yourself and and know that, oh, maybe it's not, maybe it is. You know, just just believe in in in what you feel on the inside. Your body's telling you something, you know. So So I that that's my biggest advice to people is you know believe in yourself and and and what you got going on.

SPEAKER_01: 30:07

That is so extremely important because we being so busy, you know, like before I was diagnosed, I'd had two lumpectomies in the past that were benign. But leading up to the spring before I was diagnosed, I was feeling things. I felt a lump, but I always had lumpy boobs because of my dense breast tissue. And we just, you know, but this one did feel different in hindsight. And I was feeling zingers and hot spots, but I was so excited about retiring. So I was just like, oh, what's that? You know, but I knew yeah, in I knew in my mind though that maybe something was wrong. So luckily I get reminded of my mammogram. So when I got the message, hey, you need to make your mammogram appointment. Luckily, I had gone in um at that time. But the year before that I had the mammogram, they didn't detect anything. And my lump was five centimeters. So it was an aggressive growing tumor. But it was interesting that they didn't detect anything the year before. And I had the mammogram and ultrasound because they'll do that with your dense breast tissue. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 31:20

That's what I get now.

SPEAKER_01: 31:21

I love the advice. I love your story. You have so much to offer our breast cancer community. And I truly, truly hope that you continue to tell your story, talk to people, help people, reach out for resources, share resources. I just think that that is such a good healing mechanism for us. So thank you, Tiffany. Is there anything that you would like? Yeah, is there anything you would like to leave us with before we disconnect today?

SPEAKER_00: 31:50

It was amazing meeting you, and you have opened me up to a whole new world of breasts.

SPEAKER_01: 32:00

The breasty world. Well, thank you very much, Tiffany. It was so good to have this conversation with you, and I will definitely be staying in touch with you. Please thank Sean for being such a great caregiver, and kudos to him and to my audience. Thank you again for joining us on Test Those Breasts. We will see you on the next episode. Bye for now. Friends, thank you so much for listening to this episode of Test Those Breaths. 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.