I turned 40 a few days ago and being the type A over-achiever, rule follower, organizer/planner, check it off my list kinda gal, I got my first mammogram the day after I turned 40. You know the rule: Once every year starting 40! I've been hearing for years how painful they are. A dear friend of mine we'll call her Aunty Kay once gave me a blow by blow play of her mammogram, complete with left and right stickers getting stuck on her double d's and her taking them home with her. Well, being that I have triple As I wasn't sure what the whole thing would be like. In all honesty, I wasn't too worried. After two horrifying child births and an exploding fallopian tube I really didn't think that boob squooshing would be so bad. Truth be told, my biggest concern was going through the whole day (my appointment was at 1:00) without wearing deodorant! Really? No deodorant?!! YIKES!!!
Like the good student that I am, I read all the directions 10 times. I didn't want to get all the way to the appointment and find out that I would have to come back another day because I failed to follow directions. The directions said not to drink caffeine (ok, so I didn't follow that direction), it also said to take Ibuprofen for pain (forgot my damn pill box so didn't do that either), and they also said not to schedule the mamo when you're on your period. Strike THREE! Yikers!!! When my name was called I stepped into the "room" and sat down next to the boob squisher. I bared the boobies, put on the gown and waited for the person who would be doing the squooshing to come back.
The squisher was an older woman with a german accent (I think it was german) and I couldn't help but giggle. However, she was extremely kind, caring, soft, and compassionate. She was so gentle in her demeanor that she put me at ease immediately. She asked me a few questions, the funniest being whether I had any implants--hmmm...have you seen the size of my rack? I don't think I paid 8K for these droopy double As! She then continued by explaining everything that was going to happen and had me step up to the machine. Left boobie went on the plate first, straight on. The squooshing plate came down and flattened it like a pancake. I waited to feel some sorta pain but I felt nothing. Seriously, nothing. No pain, no discomfort. If I hadn't been there myself I wouldn't even believe that I was getting squooshed. Left boobie needed another picture, this time angled. I had to lean a little and my boobie had to be stretched to get on the diagonal plate. The other plate came down and squooshed. A little pulling this time but nothing bad.
It was time for the right boobie. Right boobie also took two pictures. The second, diagonal squoosh was a little more painful but in retrospect it was because they had to pull what little skin and fat that was there (not much) really tight to be able to get any photo taken at all. Pictures done it was time to get dressed and go home to wait for a call (if there's problems) or a letter if it's all clear.
Waiting for the results is always the hard part, especially since there's a history of breast cancer in my family. I was hoping not to get a call from the 432 number in the next few days because I knew that no call meant that all was fine.
Well, it's been a week and I got my all clear letter in the mail today. I will continue to do self-exams and schedule a mamo on my birthday every year. And in the time being I'll be running the Susan Komen Race for the Cure run in October this year.
More info about the race can be found here: Race for the Cure 2012
If you are 40 and haven't had a mamo yet I highly encourage you to take the jump. Early detection can save your life. I realize that not everyone will have as pleasant as an experience as I did but when you think of the bigger picture, isn't it better to know what's going on with your body?
Van mommy signing off and reminding you to squeeze those boobies!!!
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