Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of the Pulse.
Thank you for being here with me today. I am Stormy,
your host of the show, our hostess, however you want
to say it, but thank you again. It is October, y'all,
so that means that it's Breast cancer Awareness month. Okay,
at least that's the title we're focusing on for today's show.
(00:23):
I've got a special guest in the studio and I
want her to introduce herself. Tell everybody who you are,
young lady.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Hi, everyone, I am Teresa Hall Franklin.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Hey, miss Franklin, missus Franklin.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yes, yes, yes, ma'am.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Thank you for coming Teresa, because it's breast cancer Awareness
month and you are survivor okay, yes, yes, and you
look amazing.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
I remember when you started to share your story, Yes,
when you found out what was happening with you. Do
you want to tell us how you found it? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
So this was around Christmas twenty twenty, and this was,
you know, obviously the pandemic year.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Country had shut down. The year was going great for
my husband and I. We didn't have any issues really, So.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
You were newly married, we were well.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Well let's see all I got to do the math
four years four years married, had just celebrated our fourth anniversary,
wedding anniversary, and I was in the shower and I
felt a lump a sore spot in my left armpit area,
(01:45):
and I said, uh, oh, you know, I think I
know what this is. It was pretty much clears day,
you know, knowing what that was. But there was a
little bit of doubt, and I said, well, you know,
I'm gonna give this a a while to go down.
You know, there's some swelling and tenderness. And I said, well,
I'm gonna give it a while to go down. But
(02:06):
I felt strongly about what it was. And then I
also had a sinus infection. I said, well, it's not
uncommon to have some swollen lymph notes in that region
around the neck area, you know, when you're dealing with
a sinus infection. I said, well, maybe it's that, you know, right,
(02:28):
Maybe it's that or something else.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
So my sinus infection went.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Away, but that didn't go away right, and so I
called my obg y N. And of course it's around
Christmas time and everyone's you know, out of the office,
they're celebrating, you know, they're on vacation. And so when
I did get a callback, which was maybe about a
week later, you know, her secretary, she's like, hey, you know,
(02:55):
she'll be in YadA YadA. Do you want to come
in and see someone else until she comes in. I
was like, no, I can wait, and she's like you sure,
and I was like, yeah, I can wait. And so
anyhow I went in and she's a breast cancer survivor
as well. Yeah, and so she did a manual check
(03:17):
and she says, you know what, I know what cancer
feels like. That's exactly what she said. And I don't
like the way this feels. And so I'm going to
send you over to a really good friend of mine.
She's a surgeon and she did my operation, and I
want her to take one to feel with this, and
then I also want her to run some tests.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
And so she did that.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
So you didn't feel it in your breast?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
No, no, no, I did not, And I'll tell you
and everyone else why I did not. Because I had
dense breast tissue. And I've always had dense breast tissue.
And so, long story short, when I was eighteen, I
started getting yearly memoria and I started getting my annual
PAP smears. Okay, and so my obg y N at
(04:06):
that time, doctor Donald Randolph. She told me she educated me,
and she did a wonderful job at educating me, because
it stuck with me all these years. And she said, look,
she said, you're young, you're eighteen, but I'm gonna tell
you this. Don't ever settle for just a mammogram. She said,
you have dense breast tissue, which means this is going
(04:27):
to make it very hard for you along to determine
if you have anything there. Yeah, and she said, mammograms
are great, but you know they're limited. And she said,
always asks for a diagnostic ultrasound. She said, remember that.
She said, Also, you've got fibril cistic breast tissue, which
(04:48):
means you've got cyst fluid field cysts in your breast.
Now that doesn't mean they are going to turn into cancer.
They're benign. But you know you're gonna need to get
some needle biopsies and ask for I think they're called
needle biopsies, but you're gonna need to get that just
to test right. And so every year I had a diagnostic.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Ultrasound.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Wow, along with a mammogram from the age of eighteen
to forty one. So the year that I did not
have it was twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, was in twenty twenty. And that was the year
of COVID.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Now I'll tell you I did. Why I didn't have
it that year was because of COVID, no one wanted
to really go into doctor's offices. And so what I
did was I went to my ob GYN, doctor Helena Shannon, and.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
She did a check that July. Nothing was there. December
remembers when I felt something.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Nothing was there in July. So it was aggressive and
it was on the move. And so by December I
found it.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
I detected it in my left.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Underarm, waited already spread from my left breast and so
it was stage two B by the time of my diagnosis.
And so it was five centimeters. And so they were
alarmed because they're like, we're glad you felt something, and
(06:41):
we're glad you came back because had you waited that
year and come back July of twenty one, who knows,
this could.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Have been a different story.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Wow, Because it's five centimeters five months later from not
being anything in July, you know earlier, So you know,
it was growing just that fast.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
And that's probably one of the reasons why they tell
people to do self examinations.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Yeah, absolutely, because if.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
You hadn't caught it, and if you hadn't noticed that
something was different.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Yeah, well and you know, and and here's the thing,
here's my gratitude. And and you can look at you
can look at it and say, man, that sucks. You know,
no one wants to go through this. But I have
gratitude that it went where it did because I could
detect it and I could feel it. It could have
gone anywhere else, wow, And I could not have found it.
(07:46):
So I am grateful that it went where it did go.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
You know, in the grand scheme of things you think
about cancer, it can go where it wants to go.
It can travel where it wants to travel. You know,
there's no set guidelines on.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
The pathways of it.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Right, And so you know, for me, it was just
the grace of God that I was able to detect
the detect it in a very noticeable spot, right, you know,
having that sword is there. Even applying deodorant, it's like whoa, whoa,
that's sore, that's tender. Applying deodorant that shouldn't feel that way.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Right, How long did that last?
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Oh? That lasted until chemo killed it. Uh, that's soreness.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
From the time that you found it though to the
time that you saw the doctor. How long did that
did that last? The soreness?
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Oh yeah, so the I started chemo therapy immediately, but
the swordiness was there until the chemotherapy began to take effect.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
The swordiness was there.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Uh. And obviously, you know, inflammation is your body's way
of letting you know something's wrong, right, So until the
medication began to treat it, and the inflammation then subsided
and says, okay, all right, medicine is on the way.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
It's treating it.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
You know, I can calm down now, you know medicine
is here. It was still sore until you know the
medicine was administered.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Okay. Yeah, so the journey for you was almost right away.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Hey, I told my oncologist, doctor Sonya being and I
had an all female team rock stars. You know, I
love them dearly. I keep in touch with them. I
send them gifts, we talk, we text. You know. Unfortunately,
I have you know, my I know everyone isn't the same,
(09:36):
but I have my physicians cell phone numbers.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
We text and talk and.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Communicate and we're very close and so I'm very honored
and privileged to have that connection with them. But yeah,
so it was right away and I told doctor Bean.
I was like, hey, let's go. You know, when do
we start? She's like, well, do you want some time
to think about? It's like, oh, absolutely not, I'm ready now.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
You know, that's not something. It wasn't something I felt
I needed to sleep on, you know.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
It was like, yeah, no, let's go.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
She said, Well, for you and your type of cancer,
you're gonna need chemotherapy and do you want to have
a lumpectomy In terms of surgery, do you want to
have a lumpectomy or do you want to have a
mess sectomy.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Okay, let's back up a little bit. Now, what type
of cancer did they tell you you had?
Speaker 3 (10:37):
So I had an aggressive form of cancer. Only twenty
percent of people women are diagnosed with it. And it's
her too positive breast cancer, which is a type of
protein based cancer, not a protein that you eat or anything,
(10:58):
but the genetic makeup of it is a protein based cancer.
So it's very different from the hormonal based cancers, the
estrogen based cancers that you hear a lot about. So
mine did not originate from the ovaries or anything like that.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
And so I didn't need to suppress.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
My estrogen levels or anything, which was, you know, good
for me. So my ovaries were still intact, no issues
there at all.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Wow. Is there a her too negative as well?
Speaker 2 (11:35):
There is there's a herto negative? And you know that's
the thing for me. I had no idea. I thought
it was breast cancers, breast cancer.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Yeah, me too, until I started meeting women who had
breast cancer. And then I started learning about you know
that there were different types.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Yeah, and you know what, and even the same type
of breast cancer presents very differently in women.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Wow, so her too positive?
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Now, the reason that you started getting mammograms at eighteen?
And what else did you say you were getting at eighteen?
Speaker 3 (12:10):
You start a diagnostic ultrasound because of the dense breast tissue?
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Okay? Yes? And was it because there was breast cancer
in your family history?
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Absolutely not. Wasn't even on my radar.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
That was not part of the lineup of family history
of illnesses whatsoever, what.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Not at all?
Speaker 3 (12:30):
And so I know my mother's and paternal maternal and
paternal family history very well, and so breast cancer was
not one. And so that was a complete surprise and shot.
And so I was much more expecting cardiovascular stuff than
(12:50):
you know, because that's just pretty prevalent. But no, not
breast cancer whatsoever. So it's like, what, you know, I've
had pretty much a sinus infection, you know, a cold,
never had a flu shot ever, never had the flu.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
But you know, that was it.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
So, you know, whenever I went into doctor's offices prior
to that, I was expecting a perfect bill of health.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
I'd never had any issues whatsoever.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
And so in fact I told doctor Ben, I said, hey,
I wouldn't have known I had cancer unless you told me.
It was just it was, you know, I had a
case other than having soreness, there was you know, there
was nothing wrong.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Wow, it's the Paulse Ladies and gentlemen, I am stormy
with you. And Teresa Franklin is on the show today.
Many of you may know her already. She's rock star
in the city. She's a local therapist and thank you.
Is that your title therapist or yes.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Yes, therapist, psychotherapist, counselor.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
All the above, but your story. How many times have
people invited you to come and share your story with
people in the community.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Oh, many times, because it's one in eight women, you know,
one in eight women are diagnosed with breast cancer, and unfortunately,
women of color, we unfortunately die from breast cancer just
from you know, lack of resources and knowledge and access
(14:26):
to care. And so we need to hear about it,
and we need to hear survivor stories, and we need
to know that treatment and chemotherapy and medical interventions are
not what they used to be. In fact, my chemotherapy
was not around five years ago.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Oh wow, No, it was not around.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
And so you know, and that's something you know, because
I hear so much about, Oh my gosh, I don't
want to take chemotherapy because you know, my great grandma
she had it, or my my grandma had it, or
my aunt Sally had it, and it was horrible and
you know, they were this, they were that, they were
sick all the time.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
And it's not like that anymore. Yes, you're not going
to feel your best on it.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
But medical intervention has changed drastically. I still worked, of course,
you know, my first you know, my regiment for chemotherapy.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
My husband and I we had it down to the science.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
So I would have chemotherapy on Friday, and because I
wanted to have the weekend to kind of recover a
little bit or to get a lot of the symptoms out,
and so Friday I would have my chemotherapy. Sunday night,
by six pm, that's when the symptoms would start. And
so we had Friday night, we had Saturday night to
(15:47):
have a ball to have a great time to go
and party, to have just a rock star type of
two day weekend. And then Sunday night, I'm balled up,
you know, just curled up. He's buying and barf bags.
You know, he's doing all this stuff for me, and
you know, right there by my side, I'm sleeping on
the floor because you know, I don't want to keep
(16:08):
waking him up. And then I'll wake up and he's
sleeping on the floor next to me because he's concerned about,
you know, me and my health and all that kind
of stuff. But those symptoms would last maybe seven or
eight days or so, and then day nine, it's like
my immune systems like, hello, you're back.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
You can go to work now.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
And so then I would be I would work from
day nine until maybe day twenty one, and then I
would get chemotherapy again, you know, day twenty two, and
then you know, And so that's how it went. And
all of my clients would say, oh, I didn't know
you were going through. No one knew unless I shared.
And I did share with certain clients who I had
(16:50):
worked with for you know, several years or so, I
would let them know. But because you have chemotherapy brain,
and so there were sometimes where I would forget some appointments,
and I remember having to let sometimes know, like, hey, girl, look,
if I'm late, it's probably because I forgot.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
But I'm on my way.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
But for those who are listening who know about chemotherapy brain,
it is a real thing. Wow, you know, so you
can become a little bit forgetful. But yeah, it was
one of those things that I did not allow to
stop me or control my life.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Wow. Yeah, you just kept going.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
And I remember seeing you during this time and seeing
you at church in different places, and just seeing how
bubbly and beautiful you always were. You were so graceful,
and you know, I've noticed that with a lot of
women who've gone through this. Yeah, that a lot of
them don't tell you until they are through the battle,
(18:03):
through the storm, and then they share the story and
you're like, oh my goodness, we never knew.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Well, you know what. That was one thing that I
refused to do. I refuse to go through it alone.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
I refuse to keep it a secret. And I do
respect everyone's you know, right to choose right, but I said,
you know what, I didn't do this to myself and.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
I'm not going to keep it and hide it or
you know that sort of thing.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
And so I had a sign up sheet for my
chemos therapy and my husband was like, hey, look, one,
I'm going to all of your appointments with you. But
if you want to have a sign up sheet with
all your friends to kind of take turns coming, you
can do that. But just no, I'm going to be there,
right And so I did, you know, I had six
chemotherapy appointments, and so I would text all my you know,
(18:48):
sorority sisters and friends and family and say, hey, which
shift do you want to take?
Speaker 1 (18:52):
You know?
Speaker 3 (18:52):
And so they would come and sit and we would
chat and laugh and talk and you know, have a
grand time. And so it was it was fun with me.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
You know, I'm like, hey, come on in, you know,
come sit, and and so it was.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
It was a life we did life together, and that
was just that was just a stop along the way.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Yeah. Yeah, your story is a testament to you never
know what people are going through. Yeah, because most people
are only going to share with you what they feel
comfortable sharing. Yeah, and a lot of people will go
through and never tell you a thing.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Yeah, you know, I had a It was funny. I
had a dinner with a lot of good friends and stuff,
and I called the dinner say bye bye to the
tatas because I chose to do a double mastectomy with
reconstructive surgery, and so it was, you know, it was
a goodbye. It was saying goodbye to the you know yeah,
(19:54):
genetic tatars and and you know, it was a a fun, uplifting.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
You know time. And hey, you know, I had my time.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
I love how you celebrated you.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Know, well, you know, hey, you know for all the listeners,
they were good to me for those forty one years.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
I had a grand time with them. In my twenties
and thirties, Oh my god, I had a lot of
fun together.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Oh my goodness. Teresa Franklin. You guys on the show
today she is a breast cancer survivor. And you're listening
to the polls for those of you that may have
just joined us, and we're talking about breast cancer because
October is breast cancer Awareness month. And so well, thank
God for the grand time. And you had the party
(20:43):
and how to thin go?
Speaker 3 (20:44):
It went well, but you know what it was. It
was embracing something new. And I said, Hey, this this
is my journey. This is what I gotta do.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
So you know, I'm not.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Going to rebel or fight kick and screamed, I'm just
gonna embrace it, right, And.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Was that difficult to do?
Speaker 2 (21:03):
You know? Not for me?
Speaker 3 (21:06):
And I'll say not for me truly, because I feel
as though God did give me some did give me
some information that this was somewhat coming. He did not
tell me it was going to happen. But I'll tell
(21:28):
you why. In twenty thirteen, I was cleaning my house.
And this is before I was married. I remember distinctly.
I was cleaning my house and I was moving from
room to room, vack to me, cleaning, you know.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
All that good stuff.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
And I had the television on and Angelina Joe Lee
came on and she talked about doing a preventative double
mastectomy with reconstructive surgery, and that was so wild at
the time, it was unheard of. It was like groundbreaking.
I was like, who in the world. And I remember
thinking to myself, I said, who in the world would
(22:03):
do an elective double masseectomy without having any sign of cancer?
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Who was just go and asks for that?
Speaker 3 (22:10):
And I just thought that that was just the strangest thing,
and it was so strange to me. I sat down
on the sofa and I tuned in to that interview
she was giving, and I remember learning about that, and
I also remember having a conversation with God and I said,
you know what, God, if that, if that's my situation
in life, I'm gonna do the same thing. You know what, Hey,
(22:32):
I've had a grand time with these two, but I'm
not going to allow them to take my life. I'm
not gonna hang on to them just just because you know,
I'm just gonna embrace what I need to embrace and
move on, right, because there's more about my life and
more to my life than just these two breasts of mind, right,
(22:55):
And so I remember that, and I also remember when
Chris and I got married, that was probably one.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Of our first conversations.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
And he's like, okay, all right, and I said, Hey,
if this ever happens to me, this is my plan.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
You know that I would I am going to have
a you know, this is what would happen, right.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
So we had those types of conversations, just very open
and transparent about health right, and not waiting till that
moment in that hour and then you're you know, your
significant others faced with a super hard decision like, hey,
what does that person want to do.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
It's like no, no, no, hey, very clear.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
On what you know I wanted. And so that's why
it was so easy for me to tell doctor ban
I remember her.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
She was heading.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
You know how doctors are still talking to you, and
their heads are on, they're looking at their laptops and
you know, they're holding it and they're talking to you
and they're setting your appointment and all this stuff, and
they're walking out the door at the same time, you know,
because they only spend fifteen minutes with you and they're
walking out and you're still talking. And she stopped in
her tracks when I told her what I wanted. She
(24:01):
was like, you know already. I was like, yeah, I
already know. And she's like, okay, well i'll get that
scheduled with the sergeon, you know. And so she was
even shocked herself, but it was just very clear that.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
I was.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
I had no doubt whatsoever, and it was the best thing,
you know. So the chemotherapy that I was virtually cancer
free by the second round. The chemotherapy that they administered
killed ninety percent of the cancer by round two.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
And so of course me me doing the math, I'm like, well,
doctor ban you you know, you got me set up
for another four rounds? Do I technically need four more rounds?
Because if it's already killed ninety percent, then that means
maybe I only need one more round and I can
be done with this. And she's like, no, you're going
to do all four because that's the regiment, you know,
and that's what's recommended and we want to make.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Sure it gets everything and da YadA. And I was like, okay,
I'll be a good patient.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
But when they went in and did the double mess
actomy for me, knowing that they got every you know,
they were confident that they got every cancer sell anything
that was left that is what gave me peace of mind.
(25:24):
You know. So and my press surgeon, doctor Ashley Hendrix,
love her. She's with Methodist uh Central Regional one. I'm
sorry she was with Methodists when I saw her, but
she's now with Regional one.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Oh my gosh, she's amazing.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
No scar tissue, she's Oh my gosh, her hands are gifted.
Uh So, if you're, you know, looking for a surgeon
and you don't want any scar tissue, you know, I mean, hey,
pretty much perfection. But yeah, and so, so she educated
Doctor Hendrix educated me on saving my hair. I had
(26:04):
no idea you could save your hair through chemo.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
I was ignorant of the on collogy world because it
did not run in my family. So I was just
ignorant of that. And so she educated me on that,
and she said, hey, if you're concerned about that, she said,
there's this new technology out there, this new system called
the Pacsman Scalp cooling system. And what it does is
(26:28):
it freezes your hair follicles. It places your hair follicles
in a dormant phase. It subs zero and so basically
when you use it, like literally you have icicles on
your scalp. And so the theory behind it is if
your hair follicles are frozen, then the chemotherapy does not penetrate.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Those hair follicles.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
So you save it, you are gonna have shedding. And
so I did have some shedding, but I saved like
eighty five ninety scent of my hair, which is why
none of my clients and no one knew I was
going through, you know, And so that was important to me.
Does everyone have to do that? Absolutely not, you know,
(27:13):
does everyone need to do that?
Speaker 2 (27:14):
No, because some chemo therapies do not result in hair loss.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
And even if they do, it's still that person's individual
choice whether or not they want to save their hair.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
But you know, I chose to because chemotherapy. You know,
cancer robs you have a lot.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
You know, it throws your body into menopause, you know,
it can you know, throw your body into an infertility stage,
and so it can take a lot from you. So
I wanted to save what I could save, uh, And
so saving my hair was important for me.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Yeah, well girl, you got a story. It's a lot
a lot, Teresa. We would have to have you come
back and and share more. I hope that that Teresa
Franklin's story today helps somebody that's listening. The one thing
that I will probably not forget that you said today.
(28:13):
One of the things is when you said that treatment
now is not what treatment was maybe even five years ago,
maybe even ten years ago. Treatment is different now. And
that's the story that I've heard from a lot of people.
(28:34):
So let me say thank you to Teresa Franklin, Miss
thank you, Thank you for coming and bring brave enough
to share your story. Yeah, hey, it is what a
powerful one.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Wow, and thank your husband too. I will Christopher Franklin,
thank you. And just hearing you talk about him being
there with you in the throes of all of this,
that's a blessing.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
Yess. Awesome, awesome man.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
Yeah, yes, it's gonna give a lot of people hope.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Yes, yeah, thanks babe, ah and.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Thank you all for being here. It's October, it is
Breast cancer Awareness month, and we're thinking about you. A
lot of women are going through this, a lot of
have gone through it. All the survivors out there and
the people that may have to go through this in
the future. Hope this show blesses you and you can
always go back and listen to it because after the
(29:29):
show runs, I podcasted on the Pulse podcast and you
can always go back and listen to it. And just again,
thank you, Teresa Franklin, thank you.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
Sorry.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
Wow. It is Breast cancer Awareness Month and we are
just making you aware and hopefully and prayerfully you'll still
keep doing your self examinations.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
What other tip do you have?
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Real quickly before we go to women out.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
There, advocate advocate advocate.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
You know your body better than anyone else, so if
you feel like something thing is wrong, keep going to
the doctor until they take you. I get your appointments,
your regular screenings, don't stop until.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
You get answers.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
All right, it's the Pulse.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
I am Stormy. We're keeping our fingertips on the pulse
of our community. Thank you for joining us today. We'll
see you next week, same time, same station. God bless
you have a great week.
Well, hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of the Pulse.
Thank you for being here with me today. I am Stormy,
your host of the show, our hostess, however you want
to say it, but thank you again. It is October, y'all,
so that means that it's Breast cancer Awareness month. Okay,
at least that's the title we're focusing on for today's show.
(00:23):
I've got a special guest in the studio and I
want her to introduce herself. Tell everybody who you are,
young lady.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Hi, everyone, I am Teresa Hall Franklin.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Hey, miss Franklin, missus Franklin.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yes, yes, yes, ma'am.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Thank you for coming Teresa, because it's breast cancer Awareness
month and you are survivor okay, yes, yes, and you
look amazing.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
I remember when you started to share your story, Yes,
when you found out what was happening with you. Do
you want to tell us how you found it? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
So this was around Christmas twenty twenty, and this was,
you know, obviously the pandemic year.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Country had shut down. The year was going great for
my husband and I. We didn't have any issues really, So.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
You were newly married, we were well.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Well let's see all I got to do the math
four years four years married, had just celebrated our fourth anniversary,
wedding anniversary, and I was in the shower and I
felt a lump a sore spot in my left armpit area,
(01:45):
and I said, uh, oh, you know, I think I
know what this is. It was pretty much clears day,
you know, knowing what that was. But there was a
little bit of doubt, and I said, well, you know,
I'm gonna give this a a while to go down.
You know, there's some swelling and tenderness. And I said, well,
I'm gonna give it a while to go down. But
(02:06):
I felt strongly about what it was. And then I
also had a sinus infection. I said, well, it's not
uncommon to have some swollen lymph notes in that region
around the neck area, you know, when you're dealing with
a sinus infection. I said, well, maybe it's that, you know, right,
(02:28):
Maybe it's that or something else.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
So my sinus infection went.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Away, but that didn't go away right, and so I
called my obg y N. And of course it's around
Christmas time and everyone's you know, out of the office,
they're celebrating, you know, they're on vacation. And so when
I did get a callback, which was maybe about a
week later, you know, her secretary, she's like, hey, you know,
(02:55):
she'll be in YadA YadA. Do you want to come
in and see someone else until she comes in. I
was like, no, I can wait, and she's like you sure,
and I was like, yeah, I can wait. And so
anyhow I went in and she's a breast cancer survivor
as well. Yeah, and so she did a manual check
(03:17):
and she says, you know what, I know what cancer
feels like. That's exactly what she said. And I don't
like the way this feels. And so I'm going to
send you over to a really good friend of mine.
She's a surgeon and she did my operation, and I
want her to take one to feel with this, and
then I also want her to run some tests.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
And so she did that.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
So you didn't feel it in your breast?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
No, no, no, I did not, And I'll tell you
and everyone else why I did not. Because I had
dense breast tissue. And I've always had dense breast tissue.
And so, long story short, when I was eighteen, I
started getting yearly memoria and I started getting my annual
PAP smears. Okay, and so my obg y N at
(04:06):
that time, doctor Donald Randolph. She told me she educated me,
and she did a wonderful job at educating me, because
it stuck with me all these years. And she said, look,
she said, you're young, you're eighteen, but I'm gonna tell
you this. Don't ever settle for just a mammogram. She said,
you have dense breast tissue, which means this is going
(04:27):
to make it very hard for you along to determine
if you have anything there. Yeah, and she said, mammograms
are great, but you know they're limited. And she said,
always asks for a diagnostic ultrasound. She said, remember that.
She said, Also, you've got fibril cistic breast tissue, which
(04:48):
means you've got cyst fluid field cysts in your breast.
Now that doesn't mean they are going to turn into cancer.
They're benign. But you know you're gonna need to get
some needle biopsies and ask for I think they're called
needle biopsies, but you're gonna need to get that just
to test right. And so every year I had a diagnostic.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Ultrasound.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Wow, along with a mammogram from the age of eighteen
to forty one. So the year that I did not
have it was twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, was in twenty twenty. And that was the year
of COVID.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Now I'll tell you I did. Why I didn't have
it that year was because of COVID, no one wanted
to really go into doctor's offices. And so what I
did was I went to my ob GYN, doctor Helena Shannon, and.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
She did a check that July. Nothing was there. December
remembers when I felt something.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Nothing was there in July. So it was aggressive and
it was on the move. And so by December I
found it.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
I detected it in my left.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Underarm, waited already spread from my left breast and so
it was stage two B by the time of my diagnosis.
And so it was five centimeters. And so they were
alarmed because they're like, we're glad you felt something, and
(06:41):
we're glad you came back because had you waited that
year and come back July of twenty one, who knows,
this could.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Have been a different story.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Wow, Because it's five centimeters five months later from not
being anything in July, you know earlier, So you know,
it was growing just that fast.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
And that's probably one of the reasons why they tell
people to do self examinations.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Yeah, absolutely, because if.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
You hadn't caught it, and if you hadn't noticed that
something was different.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Yeah, well and you know, and and here's the thing,
here's my gratitude. And and you can look at you
can look at it and say, man, that sucks. You know,
no one wants to go through this. But I have
gratitude that it went where it did because I could
detect it and I could feel it. It could have
gone anywhere else, wow, And I could not have found it.
(07:46):
So I am grateful that it went where it did go.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
You know, in the grand scheme of things you think
about cancer, it can go where it wants to go.
It can travel where it wants to travel. You know,
there's no set guidelines on.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
The pathways of it.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Right, And so you know, for me, it was just
the grace of God that I was able to detect
the detect it in a very noticeable spot, right, you know,
having that sword is there. Even applying deodorant, it's like whoa, whoa,
that's sore, that's tender. Applying deodorant that shouldn't feel that way.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Right, How long did that last?
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Oh? That lasted until chemo killed it. Uh, that's soreness.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
From the time that you found it though to the
time that you saw the doctor. How long did that
did that last? The soreness?
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Oh yeah, so the I started chemo therapy immediately, but
the swordiness was there until the chemotherapy began to take effect.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
The swordiness was there.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Uh. And obviously, you know, inflammation is your body's way
of letting you know something's wrong, right, So until the
medication began to treat it, and the inflammation then subsided
and says, okay, all right, medicine is on the way.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
It's treating it.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
You know, I can calm down now, you know medicine
is here. It was still sore until you know the
medicine was administered.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Okay. Yeah, so the journey for you was almost right away.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Hey, I told my oncologist, doctor Sonya being and I
had an all female team rock stars. You know, I
love them dearly. I keep in touch with them. I
send them gifts, we talk, we text. You know. Unfortunately,
I have you know, my I know everyone isn't the same,
(09:36):
but I have my physicians cell phone numbers.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
We text and talk and.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Communicate and we're very close and so I'm very honored
and privileged to have that connection with them. But yeah,
so it was right away and I told doctor Bean.
I was like, hey, let's go. You know, when do
we start? She's like, well, do you want some time
to think about? It's like, oh, absolutely not, I'm ready now.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
You know, that's not something. It wasn't something I felt
I needed to sleep on, you know.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
It was like, yeah, no, let's go.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
She said, Well, for you and your type of cancer,
you're gonna need chemotherapy and do you want to have
a lumpectomy In terms of surgery, do you want to
have a lumpectomy or do you want to have a
mess sectomy.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Okay, let's back up a little bit. Now, what type
of cancer did they tell you you had?
Speaker 3 (10:37):
So I had an aggressive form of cancer. Only twenty
percent of people women are diagnosed with it. And it's
her too positive breast cancer, which is a type of
protein based cancer, not a protein that you eat or anything,
(10:58):
but the genetic makeup of it is a protein based cancer.
So it's very different from the hormonal based cancers, the
estrogen based cancers that you hear a lot about. So
mine did not originate from the ovaries or anything like that.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
And so I didn't need to suppress.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
My estrogen levels or anything, which was, you know, good
for me. So my ovaries were still intact, no issues
there at all.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Wow. Is there a her too negative as well?
Speaker 2 (11:35):
There is there's a herto negative? And you know that's
the thing for me. I had no idea. I thought
it was breast cancers, breast cancer.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Yeah, me too, until I started meeting women who had
breast cancer. And then I started learning about you know
that there were different types.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Yeah, and you know what, and even the same type
of breast cancer presents very differently in women.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Wow, so her too positive?
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Now, the reason that you started getting mammograms at eighteen?
And what else did you say you were getting at eighteen?
Speaker 3 (12:10):
You start a diagnostic ultrasound because of the dense breast tissue?
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Okay? Yes? And was it because there was breast cancer
in your family history?
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Absolutely not. Wasn't even on my radar.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
That was not part of the lineup of family history
of illnesses whatsoever, what.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Not at all?
Speaker 3 (12:30):
And so I know my mother's and paternal maternal and
paternal family history very well, and so breast cancer was
not one. And so that was a complete surprise and shot.
And so I was much more expecting cardiovascular stuff than
(12:50):
you know, because that's just pretty prevalent. But no, not
breast cancer whatsoever. So it's like, what, you know, I've
had pretty much a sinus infection, you know, a cold,
never had a flu shot ever, never had the flu.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
But you know, that was it.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
So, you know, whenever I went into doctor's offices prior
to that, I was expecting a perfect bill of health.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
I'd never had any issues whatsoever.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
And so in fact I told doctor Ben, I said, hey,
I wouldn't have known I had cancer unless you told me.
It was just it was, you know, I had a
case other than having soreness, there was you know, there
was nothing wrong.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Wow, it's the Paulse Ladies and gentlemen, I am stormy
with you. And Teresa Franklin is on the show today.
Many of you may know her already. She's rock star
in the city. She's a local therapist and thank you.
Is that your title therapist or yes.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Yes, therapist, psychotherapist, counselor.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
All the above, but your story. How many times have
people invited you to come and share your story with
people in the community.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Oh, many times, because it's one in eight women, you know,
one in eight women are diagnosed with breast cancer, and unfortunately,
women of color, we unfortunately die from breast cancer just
from you know, lack of resources and knowledge and access
(14:26):
to care. And so we need to hear about it,
and we need to hear survivor stories, and we need
to know that treatment and chemotherapy and medical interventions are
not what they used to be. In fact, my chemotherapy
was not around five years ago.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Oh wow, No, it was not around.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
And so you know, and that's something you know, because
I hear so much about, Oh my gosh, I don't
want to take chemotherapy because you know, my great grandma
she had it, or my my grandma had it, or
my aunt Sally had it, and it was horrible and
you know, they were this, they were that, they were
sick all the time.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
And it's not like that anymore. Yes, you're not going
to feel your best on it.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
But medical intervention has changed drastically. I still worked, of course,
you know, my first you know, my regiment for chemotherapy.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
My husband and I we had it down to the science.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
So I would have chemotherapy on Friday, and because I
wanted to have the weekend to kind of recover a
little bit or to get a lot of the symptoms out,
and so Friday I would have my chemotherapy. Sunday night,
by six pm, that's when the symptoms would start. And
so we had Friday night, we had Saturday night to
(15:47):
have a ball to have a great time to go
and party, to have just a rock star type of
two day weekend. And then Sunday night, I'm balled up,
you know, just curled up. He's buying and barf bags.
You know, he's doing all this stuff for me, and
you know, right there by my side, I'm sleeping on
the floor because you know, I don't want to keep
(16:08):
waking him up. And then I'll wake up and he's
sleeping on the floor next to me because he's concerned about,
you know, me and my health and all that kind
of stuff. But those symptoms would last maybe seven or
eight days or so, and then day nine, it's like
my immune systems like, hello, you're back.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
You can go to work now.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
And so then I would be I would work from
day nine until maybe day twenty one, and then I
would get chemotherapy again, you know, day twenty two, and
then you know, And so that's how it went. And
all of my clients would say, oh, I didn't know
you were going through. No one knew unless I shared.
And I did share with certain clients who I had
(16:50):
worked with for you know, several years or so, I
would let them know. But because you have chemotherapy brain,
and so there were sometimes where I would forget some appointments,
and I remember having to let sometimes know, like, hey, girl, look,
if I'm late, it's probably because I forgot.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
But I'm on my way.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
But for those who are listening who know about chemotherapy brain,
it is a real thing. Wow, you know, so you
can become a little bit forgetful. But yeah, it was
one of those things that I did not allow to
stop me or control my life.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Wow. Yeah, you just kept going.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
And I remember seeing you during this time and seeing
you at church in different places, and just seeing how
bubbly and beautiful you always were. You were so graceful,
and you know, I've noticed that with a lot of
women who've gone through this. Yeah, that a lot of
them don't tell you until they are through the battle,
(18:03):
through the storm, and then they share the story and
you're like, oh my goodness, we never knew.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Well, you know what. That was one thing that I
refused to do. I refuse to go through it alone.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
I refuse to keep it a secret. And I do
respect everyone's you know, right to choose right, but I said,
you know what, I didn't do this to myself and.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
I'm not going to keep it and hide it or
you know that sort of thing.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
And so I had a sign up sheet for my
chemos therapy and my husband was like, hey, look, one,
I'm going to all of your appointments with you. But
if you want to have a sign up sheet with
all your friends to kind of take turns coming, you
can do that. But just no, I'm going to be there,
right And so I did, you know, I had six
chemotherapy appointments, and so I would text all my you know,
(18:48):
sorority sisters and friends and family and say, hey, which
shift do you want to take?
Speaker 1 (18:52):
You know?
Speaker 3 (18:52):
And so they would come and sit and we would
chat and laugh and talk and you know, have a
grand time. And so it was it was fun with me.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
You know, I'm like, hey, come on in, you know,
come sit, and and so it was.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
It was a life we did life together, and that
was just that was just a stop along the way.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Yeah. Yeah, your story is a testament to you never
know what people are going through. Yeah, because most people
are only going to share with you what they feel
comfortable sharing. Yeah, and a lot of people will go
through and never tell you a thing.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Yeah, you know, I had a It was funny. I
had a dinner with a lot of good friends and stuff,
and I called the dinner say bye bye to the
tatas because I chose to do a double mastectomy with
reconstructive surgery, and so it was, you know, it was
a goodbye. It was saying goodbye to the you know yeah,
(19:54):
genetic tatars and and you know, it was a a fun, uplifting.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
You know time. And hey, you know, I had my time.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
I love how you celebrated you.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Know, well, you know, hey, you know for all the listeners,
they were good to me for those forty one years.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
I had a grand time with them. In my twenties
and thirties, Oh my god, I had a lot of
fun together.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Oh my goodness. Teresa Franklin. You guys on the show
today she is a breast cancer survivor. And you're listening
to the polls for those of you that may have
just joined us, and we're talking about breast cancer because
October is breast cancer Awareness month. And so well, thank
God for the grand time. And you had the party
(20:43):
and how to thin go?
Speaker 3 (20:44):
It went well, but you know what it was. It
was embracing something new. And I said, Hey, this this
is my journey. This is what I gotta do.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
So you know, I'm not.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Going to rebel or fight kick and screamed, I'm just
gonna embrace it, right, And.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Was that difficult to do?
Speaker 2 (21:03):
You know? Not for me?
Speaker 3 (21:06):
And I'll say not for me truly, because I feel
as though God did give me some did give me
some information that this was somewhat coming. He did not
tell me it was going to happen. But I'll tell
(21:28):
you why. In twenty thirteen, I was cleaning my house.
And this is before I was married. I remember distinctly.
I was cleaning my house and I was moving from
room to room, vack to me, cleaning, you know.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
All that good stuff.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
And I had the television on and Angelina Joe Lee
came on and she talked about doing a preventative double
mastectomy with reconstructive surgery, and that was so wild at
the time, it was unheard of. It was like groundbreaking.
I was like, who in the world. And I remember
thinking to myself, I said, who in the world would
(22:03):
do an elective double masseectomy without having any sign of cancer?
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Who was just go and asks for that?
Speaker 3 (22:10):
And I just thought that that was just the strangest thing,
and it was so strange to me. I sat down
on the sofa and I tuned in to that interview
she was giving, and I remember learning about that, and
I also remember having a conversation with God and I said,
you know what, God, if that, if that's my situation
in life, I'm gonna do the same thing. You know what, Hey,
(22:32):
I've had a grand time with these two, but I'm
not going to allow them to take my life. I'm
not gonna hang on to them just just because you know,
I'm just gonna embrace what I need to embrace and
move on, right, because there's more about my life and
more to my life than just these two breasts of mind, right,
(22:55):
And so I remember that, and I also remember when
Chris and I got married, that was probably one.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Of our first conversations.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
And he's like, okay, all right, and I said, Hey,
if this ever happens to me, this is my plan.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
You know that I would I am going to have
a you know, this is what would happen, right.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
So we had those types of conversations, just very open
and transparent about health right, and not waiting till that
moment in that hour and then you're you know, your
significant others faced with a super hard decision like, hey,
what does that person want to do.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
It's like no, no, no, hey, very clear.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
On what you know I wanted. And so that's why
it was so easy for me to tell doctor ban
I remember her.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
She was heading.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
You know how doctors are still talking to you, and
their heads are on, they're looking at their laptops and
you know, they're holding it and they're talking to you
and they're setting your appointment and all this stuff, and
they're walking out the door at the same time, you know,
because they only spend fifteen minutes with you and they're
walking out and you're still talking. And she stopped in
her tracks when I told her what I wanted. She
(24:01):
was like, you know already. I was like, yeah, I
already know. And she's like, okay, well i'll get that
scheduled with the sergeon, you know. And so she was
even shocked herself, but it was just very clear that.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
I was.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
I had no doubt whatsoever, and it was the best thing,
you know. So the chemotherapy that I was virtually cancer
free by the second round. The chemotherapy that they administered
killed ninety percent of the cancer by round two.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
And so of course me me doing the math, I'm like, well,
doctor ban you you know, you got me set up
for another four rounds? Do I technically need four more rounds?
Because if it's already killed ninety percent, then that means
maybe I only need one more round and I can
be done with this. And she's like, no, you're going
to do all four because that's the regiment, you know,
and that's what's recommended and we want to make.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Sure it gets everything and da YadA. And I was like, okay,
I'll be a good patient.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
But when they went in and did the double mess
actomy for me, knowing that they got every you know,
they were confident that they got every cancer sell anything
that was left that is what gave me peace of mind.
(25:24):
You know. So and my press surgeon, doctor Ashley Hendrix,
love her. She's with Methodist uh Central Regional one. I'm
sorry she was with Methodists when I saw her, but
she's now with Regional one.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Oh my gosh, she's amazing.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
No scar tissue, she's Oh my gosh, her hands are gifted.
Uh So, if you're, you know, looking for a surgeon
and you don't want any scar tissue, you know, I mean, hey,
pretty much perfection. But yeah, and so, so she educated
Doctor Hendrix educated me on saving my hair. I had
(26:04):
no idea you could save your hair through chemo.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
I was ignorant of the on collogy world because it
did not run in my family. So I was just
ignorant of that. And so she educated me on that,
and she said, hey, if you're concerned about that, she said,
there's this new technology out there, this new system called
the Pacsman Scalp cooling system. And what it does is
(26:28):
it freezes your hair follicles. It places your hair follicles
in a dormant phase. It subs zero and so basically
when you use it, like literally you have icicles on
your scalp. And so the theory behind it is if
your hair follicles are frozen, then the chemotherapy does not penetrate.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Those hair follicles.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
So you save it, you are gonna have shedding. And
so I did have some shedding, but I saved like
eighty five ninety scent of my hair, which is why
none of my clients and no one knew I was
going through, you know, And so that was important to me.
Does everyone have to do that? Absolutely not, you know,
(27:13):
does everyone need to do that?
Speaker 2 (27:14):
No, because some chemo therapies do not result in hair loss.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
And even if they do, it's still that person's individual
choice whether or not they want to save their hair.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
But you know, I chose to because chemotherapy. You know,
cancer robs you have a lot.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
You know, it throws your body into menopause, you know,
it can you know, throw your body into an infertility stage,
and so it can take a lot from you. So
I wanted to save what I could save, uh, And
so saving my hair was important for me.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Yeah, well girl, you got a story. It's a lot
a lot, Teresa. We would have to have you come
back and and share more. I hope that that Teresa
Franklin's story today helps somebody that's listening. The one thing
that I will probably not forget that you said today.
(28:13):
One of the things is when you said that treatment
now is not what treatment was maybe even five years ago,
maybe even ten years ago. Treatment is different now. And
that's the story that I've heard from a lot of people.
(28:34):
So let me say thank you to Teresa Franklin, Miss
thank you, Thank you for coming and bring brave enough
to share your story. Yeah, hey, it is what a
powerful one.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Wow, and thank your husband too. I will Christopher Franklin,
thank you. And just hearing you talk about him being
there with you in the throes of all of this,
that's a blessing.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
Yess. Awesome, awesome man.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
Yeah, yes, it's gonna give a lot of people hope.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Yes, yeah, thanks babe, ah and.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Thank you all for being here. It's October, it is
Breast cancer Awareness month, and we're thinking about you. A
lot of women are going through this, a lot of
have gone through it. All the survivors out there and
the people that may have to go through this in
the future. Hope this show blesses you and you can
always go back and listen to it because after the
(29:29):
show runs, I podcasted on the Pulse podcast and you
can always go back and listen to it. And just again,
thank you, Teresa Franklin, thank you.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
Sorry.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
Wow. It is Breast cancer Awareness Month and we are
just making you aware and hopefully and prayerfully you'll still
keep doing your self examinations.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
What other tip do you have?
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Real quickly before we go to women out.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
There, advocate advocate advocate.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
You know your body better than anyone else, so if
you feel like something thing is wrong, keep going to
the doctor until they take you. I get your appointments,
your regular screenings, don't stop until.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
You get answers.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
All right, it's the Pulse.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
I am Stormy. We're keeping our fingertips on the pulse
of our community. Thank you for joining us today. We'll
see you next week, same time, same station. God bless
you have a great week.
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