breast cancer

Life Is Good Today, And So Are My Boobs

June 18, 2010 By Blonde Mom 6 Comments

Today I had my annual mammogram. I was nervous, but not because it was my first time. Oh no. My breasts? Have been around the block. My breasts are very dense and I have a lot of fibrocystic tissue. Back in late 2006 I found a pea-size lump which led to more than a year of tests and culminated in a surgical biopsy.

The bottom line? My breasts are just difficult to read…just like a woman!

I’m ashamed to even admit I was nervous. I think I was just more apprehensive in anticipation of the appointment, which went fine. No news is good news so if I don’t hear anything next week I’ll go back again in one year for a smashogram.

Last night at bedtime I asked Miss C if she’d like me to read from her Bible. We don’t read the Bible nearly as often as we should but she’s been attending Vacation Bible School this week and asking lots of questions and I’ve been feeling fairly inadequate in the theology department (this parenting thing is hard!) I opened directly to Matthew 6, verse 25, which is an entire section about not worrying. Pretty good timing on God’s part as I was already dreading this morning’s appointment.

Sitting at a red light on the way to the hospital this morning I glanced down at my iPhone to see that my best friend had e-mailed me after I had asked her to say a little prayer for me. And then I looked up at the car in front of me and there was a Life Is Good sticker on the rear window. Suddenly I was overwhelmed with thankfulness. It was all I could do to hold back the tears.

I was also extremely thankful I wore a black skirt this morning as the driver’s side seat in my SUV was completely soaked because I forgot to roll up my windows yesterday during a thunderstorm. I’m sure no one noticed my wet backside because I was too busy lookin’ sexy in my hospital gown!

Filed Under: A Tale of Two Titties 6 Comments

Let’s Hear It For The Girls

June 3, 2009 By Blonde Mom 9 Comments

I had a routine mammogram yesterday after rescheduling it and avoiding it for several months. Even though I’m just turning 40 this summer I’ve had to go in since 2007 when I found a pea-size lump in my right breast. I’ll spare you all the details because I’ve written about it quite a bit, but ultimately I had two walnut-size masses removed that were, thankfully, just fibrocystic tissue.

The technician who had the honor of booby smashin’ my girls was friendly and put me completely at ease. The first mammogram I had in 2007 was already a nerve-wracking experience and to add to my uneasiness, the technician had zero personality. I’m a talker by nature and I’m a nervous talker and really is there anything more awkward than another woman putting your boob in a giant vise and then photographing it?

The technician made the comment that I had cone-shaped boobs. “I bet that’s the best kind, right?” I joked with her.

“Well, I’ve seen everything under the sun. Really. You don’t want to know,” she quipped. “You know when Madonna wore that cone-shaped bra on stage? Yours are shaped like that. Larger on top and smaller on the bottom.”

I honestly think my boobs are NOTHING like that, although I am pretty happy they have held up fairly well after breastfeeding two babies. The celebrity comparison could have been unflattering.

Now if I can just get my arms to look like Madonna’s.

madonna-blonde-ambition-tour

p.s. The technician sent me on my merry way yesterday with my plastic bag containing my shirt and not cone-shaped in the least bra and said my doctor’s office would call me if they saw anything of concern. I’m fairly confident that since I have had my girls thoroughly analyzed over the past two years that I should have routine mammograms from now on. Yea!

Filed Under: A Tale of Two Titties 9 Comments

She Was Nervous, I Hope She Was Okay

July 23, 2008 By Blonde Mom 10 Comments

She was nervous.

She joined us in the waiting area. We were the mammogram brigade, sitting in our shapeless hospital gowns (open toward the front) and waiting to be called back or told we could go home, flipping through old issues of In Style and Better Homes and Gardens.

She told us she had found a lump, but she didn’t think it could be anything. Her nervous laughter, however, revealed her hidden angst.

Her daughters, especially her oldest, weren’t worried, she said. Her son, though, had been acting out and had been unusually quiet lately. Her face lit up when she spoke of her children.

“He’s worried about you, bless his heart,” the grandmotherly lady to my right commented.

We all nodded our heads and smiled. I told her I had found a lump almost two years ago and that everything had been just fine.

I told her in all likelihood she was just fine, too. Most lumps are nothing to worry about, I reassured her.

“It’s better to get checked out,” I said. “But it’s hard to wait.”

She was nervous.

“Breast cancer doesn’t run in my family…and I breastfed all three of my babies.”

A nurse walked around the corner and called my name, interrupting our ladies chatter: a group of women diverse in age and race. She told me I could go home and that I didn’t need to schedule another mammogram for another year.

I drove home and I thought about her off and on all weekend.

She was nervous.

I hope she was okay.