Hm. Where I go, the tech is pretty friendly and personable. It’s cool, but not freezing. I only have to strip to the waist. It hurts, but not excruciatingly so.
But it also missed the lump. The sonogram was much easier and did not. I’ll let you know tomorrow how the MRI works it, and next week how the biopsy feels. All in all, I’d take a painful but accurate mammogram at this point.
And I’m only 36.
I had a baseline done at 35, then annually from 40 - I’m 52 now. Some have hurt more than others, but none have brought me to tears or screaming. I do wonder why someone hasn’t come up with a better way. I thought I’d read something once about a bra-like device that was being developed, but no one I asked about it had ever heard of it - maybe it was just a dream…
As to why they’re still done this way - because it’s cheaper than other scans?? <shrug>
My wife is a Mammo Tech, and I used to tease her that she had my dream job - playing with boobs all day.
Then, she shattered my dreams when she described what it entails (and the fact that most 50-60 year old boobs are not pert and attractive 
). Girls, I empathize with you.
Regarding why they have to be squished (and I’m recalling this convo from memory), it has to do with the fatty tissue nature of the breasts and the current technology’s ability to accurately picture said fatty tissue.
IIRC, there’s a new advancement coming out for mammograms that uses a different scanning method, and is supposed to be painless. I’ll see if I can dig up a link.
I blame in on the historical male bias in medicine.
Can you imagine that a test that involved squeezing testes flat would remain the standard of care for decades? :eek:
Whiner. Try both!
Ah yes my Mammogram story: One of my lovelies were pressed in machine almost flat. The tech quickley moved around me and tripped on part of my robe( it was too long and it was draging on the floor) She pull me a bit and I looked over to see her on the floor. :eek: She gets up goes behind the screen & does: Don’t breathe hold still bit, takes the pic. I ask are you ok? Yes fine. Takes the other pics, then goes. to delvelop the plates. Sit and wait to see if the pics are good. She comes back and tells me I moved on one! Ya think? She yanked me out when she tripped. She was ok. Or so she told me.
So the lovely had to go through it again, I swear it’s still flatter than the other!
Ahem, I’m a little confused.
And hopefully you’ll find a less painful way to get them from here on out, viva.
… :eek: … :smack: … 
OK. You win. 
Cycle is definitely a factor. For some reason known only to Og, my annual woman check generally falls 2-3 days before my period is due, which is typically when my boobs are so tender that I can barely sleep on top of them, and hubby is NOT allowed to touch, much less squeeze. The vise-like grip of the mammogram device is definitely less than pleasant, but I just close my eyes and remind myself that I survived giving birth to one child without meds, so I can survive a few seconds of extreme torture.
Besides, if they do actually pop a boob, they will have to clean up the mess and explain it to the insurance company. (Hubby likes them more than I do at this point, so I probably wouldn’t care.)
I have been fortunate a few times that the visit occurred the week after my period had started, when my boobs are something less than perky and have no nerve endings in them at all.
However, given that these things have to be scheduled months in advance, I typically can’t just call and say “Can we reschedule this for next week, when I’ll be a little less sensitive?”
That said, a mammogram actually did find a benign cyst in one breast a couple of years ago. After a couple of follow-mammograms and a couple of ultrasounds, they aspirated the cyst, which has reduced my monthly discomfort significantly.
For the record, I will be 45 this year. My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer a couple of years ago (well into her 60s) using a routine mammogram. They caught it early enough that she only needed a lumpectomy and a few weeks of radiation therapy to get rid of it completely.
The room is usually too warm for my tastes, though. I generally go in November, when my body is accustomed to lower temperatures (especially with the price of gas this year), and I was sweating while I was changing into the robe.
It’s a story – in smilies!
(I just had one of the two exams today and a referral for the other . . . )
You know, it makes me wonder-- why not? I talked to an absolutely brilliant patient of a local gynecologist who thought to schedule two appointments for her yearly checkup, two weeks apart. When Murphy and Aunt Flo teamed up forces, she simply cancelled the first appointment (had things worked out, she would’ve cancelled the second, well in advance).
Think real hard Rip, it isn’t that hard to figure out.
X-ray tech here, but I’m not a mammographer. For some silly reason, women don’t seem to want guys to do mammograms.
Anyway…regarding the pressure…
The harder the squeeze, the better the image. I believe that most places average about 20 pounds of pressure (I haven’t checked lately). Uncomfortable, no doubt. But just remember, the machines can go up to over 40 pounds of pressure. :eek:
They get great images at 40 pounds, but oddly enough, they don’t get as much return business.
The images they’re trying to resolve are tiny–sometimes less than 1/50th of an inch. That’s the reason for the squeezin’–to be able to view the image as distinctly as possible.
Heh. When I was in rad tech school, and they mentioned the amount of pressure applied, one of my classmates said, “That’d be like Devon standing on 'em!” Devon was her little boy. Kind of put it into perspective for me.
Bless ya, ladies. I hope they come out with something better soon.
cervaise asked about IBTCers. The machine pinches all the way back to the muscle. In fact,at least a “fine edge” of muscle must be seen on the edge of the film, or else that means the exam is incomplete and must be repeated. So, small breast size isn’t a problem.
Cowgirl Jules mentioned an MRI. I just want to pass on that, if it’s done like I’ve seen before, it’s another one of those “check your modesty at the door” things. First, you lie on your back for the first series of images. Then you roll over and place your chestal appendages dangling through a couple of round holes (breast coils). (You’re generally wearing a paper gown and reverse it after the first series of images.)
I think this process was devised by Dr. Aaron M. Out.
I had my first annual physical in some time (er, more than annual - I had been insuranceless for awhile). I’m 26. My doctor told me that by the time I’ll need to get mammograms, she thinks chances are good that they’ll be breast MRIs instead. I was all thrilled about that until I thought, hey, I sure hope that “breast MRI” is a whole more advanced than “lay down in the claustrophobic tube MRI and take your body jewelry out”, because I don’t know if I can do that. Not the piercings, the tube. Sigh.
HELL YES!
Last December we got my mother one of these T-shirts (they’re put out by former former board member lisabethnyc as a fundraiser for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer), because she had been putting off getting her mammogram. Soon thereafter she got one of the darn things.
Though she had no family history and her previous exams had been normal, they found three spots which they wanted to further investigate. After needle biopsies and other tests, one of them was found to be malignant.
Because they found it at an early stage, she was able to have a lumpectomy and radiation treatment, with very few side effects and an excellent prognosis for virtually no problems down the road.
We’re very fortunate that mom didn’t put off getting a mammogram any further and they were able to catch her cancer very early. Though it is a pain, getting your boob squished can save your life.
I shall attempt to relate the clinical experience that is the Mammogram to the male half of the species … let us consider the … Testagram.
Imagine a metal plate, cold, articulated in the middle, so it can fold in … just like the pages of a book … only the book is made of metal … really cold metal.
Ok, imagine mounting this device in the center of a chair… the seat of the chair is open, so as to permit the positioning of the metal book thingy immediately below one’s testicular containment unit (TCU).
Next, once seated in the chair, nude, at least in the groin area, with one’s TCU hanging freely due to the gentle ministrations of gravity.
Next, position the metal book on one side of the TCU. Isolate the left testicle. Gently, but firmly, “fix and squeeze” the left testicle by “closing the metal book.” While maintaining the “TCU Squeeze”, take some X-rays.
Repeat the process for the right testicle.
Wondering why a nice MRI or fMRI wouldn’t just as good at detecting those calcium thingies … maybe the breast tissue doesn’t allow for a good contrast.
Permission to ask an intrusively personal question, Eve? Any reason not to have the prostate whipped out? (Given the nature of the question, some variation on “Fuck off, Malacandra” is an acceptable and justified response.)
How about a gynecological exam where the doc is not only checking out both (larger) lower orifices at once but then pushing down on your uterus to check for abnormalities? Not particularly fun, I can tell you, though at least I’ve only had to deal with that a couple times.
Wow, only a couple of times? My doc does that everytime I have my annual exam, just after the fun speculum/scrape PAP smear.
I had my first mammogram in several years in February (they don’t bother when you’re breastfeeding–too many odd lumps then). It didn’t hurt much; it was just really uncomfortable and cold, but they want me back for a 6-month retest because they spotted something that they are sure is benign, but want to see again. I spent the weekend worrying about that until my doc assured me that it wasn’t a big deal.
Funny, a friend had both the mammogram and breast ultrasound and wound up getting hurt more by the ultrasound. She wound up stressing a muscle in her arm from holding it up in a painful position and was in pain for a week.