| Jan 4, 2007 @ 2:43 AM |
Not a Torture Device...well not any more
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dark_moon
Posts: 158
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Men, you probly don't really want to read this one. I'm gonna get chick stuff personal in hopes that I can help a few more women.
I always have dreaded the day I would have to have a mammogram. I'd heard the scary stuff from other women...mostly older women...especialy my mother....how it hurts because they squish the hell out of you. My mother usualy used the fraze "having your tit put into the wringer". What I had seen a couple of times on TV reinforced this immage.
Getting older (passing 40)...I knew the clock was ticking. But I'm a pro at putting things off. But then one of those life altering things happened, as they usualy do, when I wasn't expecting a thing.
Near the end of September, I was doing the couch potato thing when I absentmindedly scratched my right breast and noticed a very large lump.
Of course I immediately went into a cold sweat panic. The media campagn had not fallen on deaf ears here. The problem though with the pink ribbon PSAs is what they don't tell you........that 80% of the time a lump is not cancer, only a harmless fluid filled cyst. (but that doesn't mean you shouldn't have it checked out, only that you don't have to be scared)
I was scared of so many things all at the same time it was overwhelming. Scared I would die of course....not of dieing itself but of my life being cut short....of not getting to do the things I look so forward to, like being a gramma. More than anything, scared of there being needles and surgery and needles and more needles. Worried about my hair falling out from chemo.....deciding I could handle that if I had to. Sick to the stomach thinking about needles. Having no one to turn to emotionaly, no one I could count on, when things got tough. And worried about the inevitable mammogram.
Well I determined at the very least I could not let everthing I had heard scare me sick. Maybe for no reason.
When I was not very old at all...maybe 5...I started avoiding the groups of women at most social occassions. Why? Because the stories they told about surgeries and childbirth etc were enough to give you nightmares. It was like a contest of who's gone through the most gory painfull medical experience. (It is horrible that women do this to each other!) Women in groups of more than three seem to create a vortex of negative energy that feeds on itself.
So anyway....I was feeling pretty ok the day I went to get my first mammogram. And OH CRAP! You won't even believe how horrible it was!!!
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.........It wasn't about shit
Ya ok, it wasn't the most fun thing. And it was uncomfortable. But not as bad as say...spending the weekend with your in-laws. I had to get squished 3 times on the left breast and 5 or 6 on the right (the one with the lump). Ruitine mams are only two each. So I had several times more, and it wasn't that bad. The last one was the worst. It was directly squashing the lump from the side (a lump about the size of an aggie marble). And even that I wouldn't say was painful. Extreemely uncomfortable would be a good description. And it only took a few seconds. I mean I could, and did, hold my breath from the time the tech started the machine squeezing to the moment it began to release. Seconds
I called my mom later and told her she was a big wimp, lol. Then me and my sisters found out that it had been about TWENTY YEARS since Mom had had a mammagram. She was scared to death to have one, from prior experience. One of my sisters was very worried that Mom had not had one in so long. And I was a bit concerned too, so I talked her into it. I told her, and this was the truth, that I was just sure it was not even the same machine they used 20 years ago.
Mom tried to back out a week before her appointment. I went with her for courage. Even went in with her when they did it. Guess what? lol When first "the tit went through the wringer" she said, "Hey, that wasn't near as bad." And afterward she was glad she had gone through with it, because now she won't ever be afraid again. She said it was nothing at all like they used to be.
Well then the other day Mom told me that she had told my sister's mother-in-law all about this, and come to find out she hasn't had a mammogram in years and years for the same reason Mom hadn't. But now she's not afraid and is going to go.
And that is half of why I am posting this long ass thing...so that older women who read or hear about this can not be afraid. Go tell ya mamma.
The other half of why, is so that young women can get the word and not be scared by old wives tales.
(I was sore afterward. I didn't notice until I layed down to go to sleep. But it was not much worse than the usual cycle tenderness, and it was gone the next night.)
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| Jan 4, 2007 @ 2:57 AM |
Not a Torture Device...well not any more |
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TRS1958
Posts: 481
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OK...I'm a guy and don't know squat about the proceedure myself. But I would like to convey a little info. My ex had a mamogram done 2-3 years ago and ended up with a very bad staff infection in her nipple a few days later(I don't think that's spelled right but you get the picture). She said after that she will always insist on seeing the nurse sterilize the machine before hand. Just FYI
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| Jan 4, 2007 @ 3:53 AM |
Not a Torture Device...well not any more
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Always_Striving
Posts: 8,794
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Has anyone else besides me thought that a mammogram was a lady that came to your door dressed in a tutu delivering a singing telegram?
Maybe I am the only one? 
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| Jan 4, 2007 @ 5:20 AM |
Not a Torture Device...well not any more |
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daisy315
Posts: 4,946
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 omg! Only you Striving.. only you !
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| Jan 4, 2007 @ 5:31 AM |
Not a Torture Device...well not any more
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luvmycats
Posts: 10,208
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I'm going...I'm going! I have an appointment for all the nasty women examinations March 8th. Its been nearly 12 years since I had a mammogram, not because it hurt, just denial I guess. About 7 years since I had a pap. Dr. told me I didn't need one after having a hysterectomy.  Ok, so I Wanted to believe him.  Just wish they could make that more comfortable! 
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| Jan 4, 2007 @ 6:02 AM |
Not a Torture Device...well not any more |
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Luckygem
Posts: 3,531
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You must have these done ladies......We have had 2 nurses and one of the Doctors wives diagnosed with Breast Cancer in the last 2 months...one Nurse just found out on Dec. 22nd. I myself have one every year because Cancer runs in my family and I am not taking any chances of not being around to see my children grow up and to see my grandchildren of the future......So PLEASE go and have this done.......no matter how uncomfortable it is....it can save your life.
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| Jan 4, 2007 @ 8:34 AM |
Not a Torture Device...well not any more
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twotall911
Posts: 13,048
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yes ladies please have it done we like haven you around 
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