Yes, ladies, once we reach a certain age, we must have certain parts of our bodies squished, poked, prodded, etc, in order to prevent the alternative.
I am speaking of mammograms. I have loads of vacation time and I took advantage of it to take a day off today. I have a mammogram scheduled for this afternoon. I had a baseline done a couple of years ago, and now that I’ve hit the ripe old age of 40, my doctor would like me to start getting them on a regular basis.
I have also hit the ripe old age of 40, and I’m supposed to schedule one this May. I’m going to wait until July, though, when I’ll be covered by hubby’s shiny new employer-subsidized health insurance.
Oh, I have the squish test twice a year for quite a while now. Especially since my mom had breast cancer (survived nicely, thanks) and i had a suspicious lump a few years back. It was biopsied, ruled benign, so I guess I’m one of those statistics cited by people who doubt the necessity for frequent test. I’d rather risk a false positive and a biopsy that turned out to be unnecessary than the reverse.
Thanks for the reminder; our doctor has been out on maternity leave, so I’ve been delaying getting mine scheduled. Not that there’s a history of breast cancer in our family, but it’s definitely one of those “better safe than sorry” things.
I’m scheduled in a couple-3 weeks. Thanks to the stoopit insurance requirement that each one be at least a year after the one before, mine have crept from my birthday in January to (now) mid-March. Criminy, Blue Cross, it’s not like this is an elective, fun procedure. If I can do it near my birthday, it’s so much easier to remember! On the other hand, the radiology folks who do it always send me a reminder well in advance.
Anyway, I’m 54, and I’m guessing this year will be my 16th time. They don’t even bother me any more. Yeah, it’s uncomfortable… for a few seconds… once a year. Considering the consequences of not having a regular mammogram, I think the discomfort is more than worth it.
Some years ago, I thought I’d read an article about some company that invented a bra-like device that one would slip on and it’d check each breast completely without the squishin’. I asked a few radiologists if they’d heard about it, but they look at me like I’m nuts. It must have been a dream. Alas.
Yeah, yeah. I’m going, you don’t have to push.
My husband thinks it’s funny that I don’t want my boobs run over by a truck.
He doesn’t think it’s funny when I say I don’t want to go. So I go. I don’t want to, but I go.
Thanks, Auto. You just made my day. (I’m craving Turkish food…)
picunurse, mammograms hurt you? I do find the left one was more painful than the right, but overall, it was just a few seconds, and fortunately, the ladies bounced right back.
I can’t wait until the second bit of technology I linked to in my OP is up and running. That sounds much nicer and accurate. No squishing!
I have a good bit of extra boobage. They don’t fit into the squisher properly, then they have to use extra rads to penetrate, which means longer time in the vise. It also means 4 extra views, since they don’t all fit into one picture.
