Boobies

I went in for my first mammogram yesterday... My appt was for 8:15, so I was hoping they wouldn't be busy that early... but they were... I get the feeling that place is always busy.

I took a Jennifer Crusie book with me. I love Jennifer Crusie, she's very comforting to read: she writes such funny, cute, romantic novels. I hate those stupid romance novels! Except for Jennifer Crusie.

I had to wait in Waiting Room 1 for about 20 minutes before they took me back to the locker room/changing area. They gave me a mauve wrap, told me to take off my shirt and bra, and they gave me a grocery-store type basket to carry my clothes, purse and book around in.

Then it was out to Waiting Room 2 for about 30 minutes. It was kind of nice, they had coffee and cookies. It was just so crowded with women (all older than me) sitting around in their hideous mauve wraps.

I was nervous by the time they finally called me. The technician lady was very nice, and I was as comfortable as I was going to get with a stranger grabbing my breast to position it correctly between two cold machine parts to squish. She did two -- one vertical and one horizontal -- on each breast. It did hurt, it wasn't unbearable pain but it was painful. She kept telling me to try to breathe.

Then it was back out to good old Waiting Room 2 for another half hour before they called me back for my sonogram. That wasn't painful, just cold.

I had thought that someone would sit down with me to go over the results, but the sonogram technician just told me, as she walked me back to the locker room, that everything looked fine and I could go.

The whole thing took about an hour and a half. I wasn't having any particular scary problems, but it was a pretty emotional experience. I kept thinking about my mom, who had breast cancer twice. I remember the first time, they found a small lump that she hadn't been able to feel. They kept her for a long time trying to get a better picture of it -- she had about 7 separate mammograms done. They couldn't get it clearly, so they sent her to have an MRI done, which did show it clearly, and a week later she had a mastectomy.

Then, about 6 years later, it happened again. She's okay now, after a second mastectomy.

So overall, it was stressful. Even with my Jennifer Crusie book (Welcome to Temptation) to keep me company. I'll have to have it done every year, so I guess I'll eventually be an expert in mauve wraps and boobie squishing.