• BY J.R. ORTEGA - JRORTEGA@VICAD.COM
• Originally published July 1, 2009 at 7:18 p.m., updated July 1, 2009 at 11:02 p.m.

• CHANGES TO LOOK FOR IN YOUR BREASTS

  Any lumps that may be tender or painful

  Thickening of any part of the breast

  A sticky or bloody discharge from your nipples

  Skin changes in the breasts or nipples, ...

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CHANGES TO LOOK FOR IN YOUR BREASTS

Any lumps that may be tender or painful

Thickening of any part of the breast

A sticky or bloody discharge from your nipples

Skin changes in the breasts or nipples, such as dimpling or puckering

An increased size of one breast

One breast begins unusually lower the the other

AT-HOME BREAST EXAMINATION

Stand in front of a mirror and look at your breasts with your arms at your side. Keep looking at your breasts, this time with your arms raised above and behind your head and with your hips while you flex your chest muscle.

Lie down and put a pillow under your left shoulder. Place your left hand behind your head and examine and feel your left breast with the three middle fingers on your right hand. Start on the edge of the breast and work your way in going in small circles. Squeeze your breast and nipple gently to look for any discharge.

Do the same thing to your right breast with a pillow under your right shoulder.

Because cancer can spread to the lymph nodes, feel the area up to your collarbone and out into your armpit.

PORT LAVACA - It started with a promise.

A promise that when Valerie McBee lost her hair because of chemotherapy for treatment of breast cancer, her sister Marissa Trevino's hair would also meet its end.

That promise was fulfilled.

It was almost a month ago when the Port Lavaca sisters shaved their heads together and slipped on their fashionable bandanas and went about their daily lives.

"It's the hand you got dealt and you deal with it," said McBee, a 37-year-old pharmacy technician at CVS Pharmacy, about her recent diagnosis.

McBee's journey began on April 1 when she went for a mammogram after she found a lump in one of her breasts.

"It was a complete surprise that came out of left field," she said.

No one else in the family has had breast cancer, she said.

Despite the news, McBee said she had to push forward.

McBee will undergo her fourth chemo treatment in two weeks. Her last session is set for September.

By the second treatment, her mid-back length black hair began to fall out.

"I was washing my hair and having an anxiety attack," she recalled. "I had just gobs of hair in my hands and on the shower floor. It was awful."

Her sister's promise ensured McBee wouldn't be alone.

The sister-support has helped make an optimistic person more optimistic.

"I would hope that no one would ever have to go through it alone," she said. "It's scary as hell. You don't know what to expect."

Trevino went out and bought colorful bandanas and told her sister they were shaving their heads.

Not giving it a second thought, the 26-year-old Trevino said it was something she had to do.

"(I did it) so she wouldn't be alone," she said. "She's my sister, that's it."

Her first time out in public was interesting, she said.

"I got angry," Trevino said. "People will just stare and it bothered me because I wasn't sick, but my sister was."

Their other sister, Joni Trevino, 31, didn't shave her head, but helps administer a shot every third Monday after McBee's chemo session.

With the chemo, shot and pills, come side effects, McBee said.

McBee's fingernails are turning black, she has loss of appetite, and often times has insomnia.

"I might lose weight on this one," McBee said jokingly.

McBee's joking manner is something Trevino said shows her sister's true character.

"She's strong, extremely strong," she said. "My sister is a fighter. She's got it."

Both of McBee's sisters agreed the only one who could get through the cancer would be McBee.

"If one of us were going to get cancer, it would have to be her because she's the strongest of the three of us," Joni Trevino said.

Though McBee said she is optimistic, there are times when she has to be realistic and look at the negatives.

Her husband, Rodney, has seen her at her worst, she said.

"He's the one that gets to listen to me cry in the middle the night. He gets to hear me whine," she said. "He hears what everyone else doesn't."

His support and love have also helped keep McBee moving forward, she said.

McBee's 18-year-old daughter, Johna, seems to think of her mom as somewhat invincible, McBee said.

"She's at the point where she thinks, 'Oh you're invincible, you can handle it,'" she said.

Though thoughts of not surviving have crossed McBee's mind, she lives firm in her optimism.

"If you start to think negative or start to feel the negative part of it, that's part of where you fail," she said. "You fall, you get up and you keep on going."

McBee is still working at CVS, something she said she has to do to keep herself busy.

"The only other option I have is to sit at home and feel bad for myself," she said. "I'd rather be at work doing something other than feeling sorry for myself."

Though Marissa Trevino did not have to do what she did, McBee said she is glad her little sister went through with it.

"I'm proud of her," she said.

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