By Judith Roberts
Last year, I hit a milestone in birthdays: the big 4-0.
Truth be told, I wasn’t too upset. This has been a great year, personally and professionally. But with turning 40 came with one request from my doctor that I wasn’t super stoked about.
It was time for my first mammogram.
I had heard the horror stories, the ones about saying that mammograms were super painful, which was bad enough, but then there’s also the unknown – it’s not like you can prevent breast cancer from not knowing. Not knowing is really worse, but it’s like Pandora’s Box – if you don’t know, you can ignore it for a little bit longer.
I have no direct links to any cancer – no siblings with a history of cancer (I’m an only child) and my parents never had cancer, and so I’ve kind of been of the mindset of if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.
But at my last doctor appointment, she suggested I go get a mammogram. So I did the big girl thing and spent a summer morning taking care of it at the Northern Louisiana Medical Center.
Again, I know there are horror tales – that’s why no one likes having this done. But I’m here to share my story, to ease fears, because, thank God, I had a good experience.
I went early last month for my mammogram, and it was probably the easiest, speediest appointments I’ve ever experienced. My appointment was at 8:30 a.m., and I was out by 9 a.m. The only downfall was that I couldn’t wear deodorant before the appointment, and y’all know how these Louisiana summers are. But if that’s the biggest negative, I’d say I’m doing okay.
And it wasn’t painful – I’m not bluffing. I experienced no pain, maybe a little discomfort, but I joked with the nurse the entire time. In all, it was super easy.
Then a week later, I received a call saying I needed a follow-up appointment.
Um….say what?
I was assured that this was very normal, and Google (you know, everyone’s favorite doctor) confirmed the real doctors. And I wasn’t super worried by any means – but I had a little trepidation for the next week while I waited for my ultrasound mammogram.
I went in a week or so later, and that also was an easy experience, and of course, I had to joke around the whole time. The nurse conducted the ultrasound, and then she informed me she was going to share them with the radiologist then and come back to see me.
I experienced a bit of apprehension then, which she definitely sought to ease. Those NLMC nurses that saw me have the best bedside manner. Again, I wasn’t really anxious…but I was a little.
The nurse came back in and said the radiologist wanted to redo the ultrasound and check again, and at this point, yes, I’m spiraling. Total spiral. I’m starting to think about the trips we’re going to have to cancel this summer and what work is going to look like and everything in between.
Again, I can’t overstate how calming and reassuring the nurses were. But this is the reason why women don’t want to go get a mammogram.
We don’t want to hear the bad news.
It’s not going to stop it, of course. It will make the situation worse. But then again, there’s Pandora’s Box. And I had opened and was now waiting for all of the creatures to pop out.
The radiologist came back, and he and the nurse did a second ultrasound. I noticed how my heart was beating so much more frantically this time around than the first time. I tried not to show it – I didn’t want to be a panicky patient – but I’ve never been a good patient anyway, so why start now?
Thankfully, the second ultrasound was over quickly, and the radiologist said everything looked good, adding a reminder that I – along with all women – need to come back yearly to check again to make sure everything still was A-OK.
Everything was good.
Now that I’ve had my first mammogram and understand how they likely will go, I don’t think I’ll be as anxious for it next year.
I share this story to encourage women who are in high-risk categories and/or over 40, like me, to go get checked. You may have a terrible, painful experience; I get it. But you may not. Mine was really easy. I had a friend tell me hers was really easy. They’re super quick, too. Both of mine took less than 30 minutes. They aren’t all terrible. Don’t keep postponing the mammogram because of fear of pain and fear of the unknown.
We aren’t Pandora, and just because we don’t know what’s in the box doesn’t mean that the box isn’t already open. It’s just time to find out what’s inside.
And the actual story of Pandora? What was left in the box?
