July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Don't put off getting yearly mammogram
As I See It
I’m going to get smashed today and I’m not looking forward to it. It’s time for my visit to that place that houses a diabolical machine that will take a sensitive body part and squash it flat as a pancake. The procedure is called a mammogram.
I understand that mammograms save lives but it doesn’t make the process any more pleasant. Several studies have indicated that yearly mammograms reduce breast cancer deaths by 23 percent or more due to the cancers being caught early enough be treated.
It is too bad that my Aunt Barbara never heeded the recommendations to have yearly mammograms. Her breast cancer was not found until after it has spread to her spine and by then it was too late to save her. In her defense she died before the recommendations for annual mammograms were as convincing as they are today.
My great-great grandmother also died of breast cancer but that was way before mammograms were invented so at least she had an excuse.
My mother is a breast cancer survivor. She found the cancer through self-examination and it was confirmed by a mammogram followed by a biopsy. She opted for a mastectomy because it was the right decision for her.
I have another friend who is a long-term breast cancer survivor. She chose reconstructive surgery after her cancer was removed.
It is because of all these people that once a year I bare my breasts and offer them to the torture chamber.
It all started way back in 1895 when William Roentgen, a German physicist, discovered X-rays. Then in 1956 Robert Egan, a radiologist in Houston, introduced film created especially for mammography and in 1966 the first dedicated mammography machine was developed by Patrick Panetta and Jack Wennet.
So for all you women who are convinced that this procedure was invented by men — you’re right. It gives new meaning to the term, “breast men.”
If my friend and my mom had avoided the mammogram machines they might not be here today. My mother is convinced that the mammograms caused her cancer. Statistics and study after study says she is wrong. I believe in science and am grateful that she did what her doctors told her even though she thought they were wrong.
The actual procedure doesn’t take all that long. The hard part is the waiting: waiting for the appointment; waiting in the waiting room; and worst of all waiting for the results. I am lucky enough to go to a place that offers preliminary results within hours. I have also learned to take along a book to read.
I have found that if I am armed with a good book the time passed more quickly and my mind does not have time to dwell on all the “what ifs.”
Thanks to the advances in modern medicine a dreaded diagnosis of breast cancer is not the death sentence it once was. Women have more choices today. The invading cancer can be conquered and vanquished. My friend and my mom are here today because they subjected themselves to that annual ritual that most women dread.
It is in their honor that I am going to get smashed today.[[In-content Ad]]
I understand that mammograms save lives but it doesn’t make the process any more pleasant. Several studies have indicated that yearly mammograms reduce breast cancer deaths by 23 percent or more due to the cancers being caught early enough be treated.
It is too bad that my Aunt Barbara never heeded the recommendations to have yearly mammograms. Her breast cancer was not found until after it has spread to her spine and by then it was too late to save her. In her defense she died before the recommendations for annual mammograms were as convincing as they are today.
My great-great grandmother also died of breast cancer but that was way before mammograms were invented so at least she had an excuse.
My mother is a breast cancer survivor. She found the cancer through self-examination and it was confirmed by a mammogram followed by a biopsy. She opted for a mastectomy because it was the right decision for her.
I have another friend who is a long-term breast cancer survivor. She chose reconstructive surgery after her cancer was removed.
It is because of all these people that once a year I bare my breasts and offer them to the torture chamber.
It all started way back in 1895 when William Roentgen, a German physicist, discovered X-rays. Then in 1956 Robert Egan, a radiologist in Houston, introduced film created especially for mammography and in 1966 the first dedicated mammography machine was developed by Patrick Panetta and Jack Wennet.
So for all you women who are convinced that this procedure was invented by men — you’re right. It gives new meaning to the term, “breast men.”
If my friend and my mom had avoided the mammogram machines they might not be here today. My mother is convinced that the mammograms caused her cancer. Statistics and study after study says she is wrong. I believe in science and am grateful that she did what her doctors told her even though she thought they were wrong.
The actual procedure doesn’t take all that long. The hard part is the waiting: waiting for the appointment; waiting in the waiting room; and worst of all waiting for the results. I am lucky enough to go to a place that offers preliminary results within hours. I have also learned to take along a book to read.
I have found that if I am armed with a good book the time passed more quickly and my mind does not have time to dwell on all the “what ifs.”
Thanks to the advances in modern medicine a dreaded diagnosis of breast cancer is not the death sentence it once was. Women have more choices today. The invading cancer can be conquered and vanquished. My friend and my mom are here today because they subjected themselves to that annual ritual that most women dread.
It is in their honor that I am going to get smashed today.[[In-content Ad]]
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