Saturday, December 13, 2008

Think pink

I took my girls and got their pictures taken the other day... no, not of Alyssa, Kourtni, or Lindsay -

I GOT A MAMMOGRAM!
(finally)

I knew several years ago that I should have gotten one when my sister's OB (who I happened to go to high school with) told her to tell me that it was time to get my first mammo because of our family's history. About 5 years have gone by, and I didn't think too much about it. However, after receiving a miserable score on my health profile that I completed a couple of weeks ago, I decided the time had come. I fought back the fear of squishing, flattening, pinching, and humiliation, and made the dreaded appointment.

It was easy really.
Call the number, talk to the nice lady, make an appointment, and fret for the next week until it's time to submit to the torturous feat. I think my anxiety reached its peak when I was told I wouldn't be able to use deodorant, perfume, or lotion...the
3 staples of my "morning routine". Hmmm, I thought, I just might stink as I being compressed into that cold, impersonal machine. Oh, well, serves the technician right, huh?

As it turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong!

The whole experience was not bad. The only painful part was the 8 minute DVD that included lots of different sizes and shapes of women's mammary glands, which demonstrated the "do's" and "don'ts" of self examination. I kept wishing someone else would have been with me to giggle and point...
Anyway, I didn't get squished, I didn't get flattened (but really, how much more flattened can I get???), I didn't get compressed, and I didn't get pinched! In fact, I was told how much muscle I had behind my important parts. hmmm. joy. (At least weights are helping in my digital
mammogram picture...)

So, here's my advice:
Go get a
mammogram, ladies! It's insightful, it's necessary for your health, it's the right thing to do for your husband and children, and you just might save your boobies!

2 comments:

Steph said...

Amen! I've had one, and it's not that bad. Not that great, either, but nothing to sweat. Which is good because of the deoderant thing...

Jenn and Tyler said...

Well I thoroughly enjoyed reading that Kris! Good for you!