Wow. I’d have nothing left if they did mine again. I’m glad you’re happy with yours, I’m still thrilled with mine!
There’s a point where worrying is pointless. And I’m a world-class worrier. But I’m not going to panic about this, either.
There are some things in life that we can do something about – like eating right, exercising, not smoking, not drinking to excess, etc. And medically, that means getting regular checkups, especially for areas where you’re considered in a higher risk group.
So I’ve been doing self-exams for many years and getting regular mammos since I turned 40, and to date, except for one where they did a follow-up ultrasound (and detemined it was just a fluid-filled cyst, completely harmless, that has apparently since disappeared), all have been normal. So what more can I do? Frankly, I’m far more likely to die in a car crash than from cancer.
Plus there’s the fact that sometimes you do everything you should and luck enters the picture. I know one person who, because she developed pneumonia and got a chest x-ray, was discovered to have very early lung cancer. It appears she’ll be successfully treated and recover completely. Another friend reports that a coworker woke up last week discovering she couldn’t walk – it turns out she has lung cancer that went uncaught until it spread throughout her organs and into her spine; needless to say, she has little chance of survival.
So my philosophy is: Do what you can to help yourself, and then be prepared to deal with whatever happens. Sometimes it’s just a crapshoot, pure and simple.
Oh yeah. PMS and all. Which could, come to think of it, be one reason this bit of medical news affected me more than things usually do.
“The nurse then said, ‘Vicki, mammograms are difficult to read at your age, because your breast tissue is so dense.’ And I thought, ‘THIS is DENSE?! You mean it gets WORSE? Already when I lie on my back they turn into PANCAKES. What are they going to do when I get older? Turn into crepes?!!’” - Vicki Shaw