Hot Mamma

No, not really. I just had my FIRST mammogram today after putting it off for 2 years. I can tell you it was not as unpleasant as I'd imagined. I pictured an uncaring technician who would flatten my breasts suddenly like the slamming of a book while avoiding eye contact all the while telling me not to breathe (or cry). Or, worse, maybe that she'd be something like the sky waitress from our recent trip to Long Beach.

Instead my technician was a lovely woman named Lynn who instructed me to undress from the waist up and don a cute little "cape" with a single snap in the front. There were wipes to use to remove any residual deodorant from my pits. I placed my belongings in the basket she provided. Lynn was very thorough in her explanations and breast exams...there were two, one standing up and the other laying down. She knew exactly where I would be (was) tender and why (coffee, hormones, child, stress). I let her know that my 5 yr old knew the exact spots because her elbows could find them precisely at the peak of my tenderness. After the exams, we carried my basket across the hall to the mammography room.

Lynn told me to push my cape (although she called it something else) over my shoulders and let me know that we'd be putting my right breast on the tray which looked a little high to me. She was great in that she cleaned off the machine before shooting the films so I wouldn't get any cooties. After my breast was resting on the tray, she moved the plexiglas paddle down slowly and explained that I should keep breathing until she told me to stop and that the machine would press down a little more so I shouldn't be alarmed. Things were cool, I breathed until she instructed me to stop, she took the picture and we moved on. We got 2 shots of each breast flattened down, then we used the "bookend" method and got some pics of my breast flattened sideways. Not too bad really. Much more tolerable than the bitewing x-rays at the dentist.

As suspected, I have dense breast tissue so I shouldn't be alarmed if the technician review my pictures calls to chat...and ask me to come in for more invasive pictures. Or possibly an ultrasound. I was a LITTLE disappointed because I had brought a book to read in the waiting room and I had barely read my first page when the technician called me back. ;.( I arrived 20 minutes before my appt to register and Mary Ann was so efficient with the registration and Lynn so efficient with her exams and pictures that I was back in my car in about 40 min total!!