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Saturday, May 16, 2015

Mammogrammed

I expected anxiety, or maybe humiliation. What I got was the boob equivalent of getting your blood pressure checked. Seriously. My first mammogram was no.big.deal. And I was headed home a minute before my actual scheduled appointment. 

Here's how it went: 
In the Radiology department on a Saturday, a lady escorted me back to a changing room, told me to disrobe from the waist up, and put on a gown with the opening in the front. A minute later another woman, presumably the radiology tech, introduced herself and walked me to a dimly lit clinic room with a few unfamiliar contraptions. She asked me some questions about my Kaiser chart, whether or not I could be pregnant (nope), when I last took birth control (4+ years ago), my personal history with breast cancer (none), my family history of breast cancer (mom diagnosed around 40-42 years old), and personal or family history of "reproductive" cancers (none). Then she talked me through the four pictures she would take. Gloved and groping, she shimmied my boob on top of a flat surface at the level of my ribs, then lowered a flat plastic piece - it kind of reminded me of the bottom side of a baking dish - on top of my boob, and went behind the desk to push a button and take my picture. Four photos in total. No pain. It barely even registered as discomfort. All that said, I did avert my eyes because I didn't want to see my boob squished into a dinner-plate. No one needs that image of themselves. 

The referral to the mammogram all came about because I read in Real Simple - you know, my resource for all things female - that women should get their first mammogram or breast ultrasound or MRI at the age 10 years younger than their immediate family member (mom or sister) was first diagnosed with breast cancer. Given my family's lengthy history with a variety of cancers, my primary care doctor first referred me to a genetic counselor (side note: seems like a cool job!) who crunched my numbers and determined no increased risk of carrying the BRCA gene. She then did recommend I obtain a baseline mammogram. And a week later I was scheduled. 

So other than feeling aged (don't old ladies get mammograms and colonoscopies and the like?), my first mammogram was benign (no pun intended) and hardly memorable. My only wish is that they are always so lame. 

1 comment:

  1. Good to know! I suppose some boobies are more durable than others, but why do we always hear that mamograms are the worst?
    Glad your results were just as flat as the appointment!!
    :P

    ReplyDelete

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