I always think of it this way - I have been pregnant with two big boys. I had c-sections with both of them. Many of you went even further and did it the hard way (natural delivery). If you can do that, you can surely handle this!
RG - 3 years is too long. I might be prodding you. October is breast health month.....do you think you can get it done by then? I prod you and remind you because you aned every single woman is imortant here at the cafe. So get it done, ok?
I let mine go sometimes too..that's why I wasn't harder on RG....but holy cow - finding a lump and fixing the problem leads to a cure rate nearly 95%. We need to take care of ourselves ladies!
I have an appointment on October 3. The MOM Mobile is coming to the parking lot of my work. It will be really convenient, but it won't be comfortable. Gosh men have it so much easier. I'd rather cough and turn my head. It would be shorter than the time you have to have yourself smooshed between 2 cold plates feeling like it's going to be ripped off.
Being a coffee drinker, I get the fiberous lumps that are nothing, but need to be looked at. I get squished every year if possible, every other if not. Now that I have medicare it will be yearly from now on ...
I keep asking them if they will squish them so once it's over they will be bigger, same with chest xrays, can't there be some advantage for me in it? LOL. Never has worked, so I'm stuck with what I got, unless I ever become rich and buy myself a pair. :P
The only cancer that runs in my birth family is in the cervix or uterus itself. Almost all of the ladies in the family have either had their uterus removed or have had the bad cells laser beamed off the cervix in an attempt to avoid surgery. (My older sis did the laser, I hope it does work for her in the long run, I had to go with surgery like mom and grandmom. No word yet on little sis, but she's quite a bit younger than my older sis and I .. about 10 yrs or so.) There has never been any breast cancer history at all, so that makes me feel good. :)
I worked for almost 9 years for a radiation oncologist who specialized in treating women with breast cancer. Here are some thoughts on those patients:
They were the brave, bald women who sat in the waiting room with knitting, embroidery, and books, chatting and laughing through their fears.
They were the brave, bald women who sent flowers to the doctor and candy to the therapists when their treatment had ended.
They were the brave, bald women who came back with bone mets making them limp, but still smiling and telling jokes.
They were the brave, bald women who held onto hope when hope was all they had left.
They were the brave, bald women who inspired us all to do better, learn more, be better people, and cure this damn thing.
May God hold every one of them, the survivors, and those who did not make it, in the palm of His loving hand.
A few minutes of pain is worth a year or two of intense suffering and eventual death. The technologists who do my mammograms are always so apologetic. I tell them, "It's better than bone mets."
Anyone in the Columbus, Ohio area, I can highly, highly recommend any of the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital's mammography sites.
Get your mammogram every year if you are of the appropriate age/risk factors to do so. Trust me. I saw too much to not go get mine.
I get mine every year. Left work for an hour and got it done last month.
My mom died of breast cancer. She always said she didn't have time to go to the doctor. No amount of begging, offering rides, nice lunches, dinners, gifts, etc would get her to go. Money was never the issue. She always had good insurance and children willing to pay for anything she needed or wanted. She had issues with people touching her. We suspect she was molested when she was young. But that's a whole other sad talk show.
If you won't get this done for yourself, get it done for your loved ones. I would rather give Mom the flowers in person that I have been putting on her grave for the last two years.
And anyone else in Greaseland who knows women who need mammograms but aren't getting them, beg, bribe, or whatever it takes to persuade them to get it done.
Greaseland....sounds kind of like Graceland...like Elvis' place.
And anyone else in Greaseland who knows women who need mammograms but aren't getting them, beg, bribe, or whatever it takes to persuade them to get it done.
Greaseland....sounds kind of like Graceland...like Elvis' place.
My mom died of breast cancer also. Such a sad way to die and sometimes so completely unnecessary. An ounce of prevention, yada yada. She put off going in for the tests and by the time she went, it was too late.
Ooh. That is weird. But, to not be funny anymore, aren't they supposed to do a hands on thing? It just seems like it would simplify things if it were a woman Doc. And, all this is interesting. I didn't know about any "vise like flattening squishing" machine. Youch! You poor wimmin! I just thought that they did an ex-ray and then the Doc felt for lumps. And, the last part of that poem was horrid!! :blink:
It's not a comfortable thing to do. You have to stand up funny, lift your arms, then get your whole breast put between a vice and then they squeeze it. It's not a soft squeeze either. I have to breath myself through it or I would probably have a panic attack. That's the only time I ever feel paniced too.
Ooh. That is weird. But, to not be funny anymore, aren't they supposed to do a hands on thing? It just seems like it would simplify things if it were a woman Doc. And, all this is interesting. I didn't know about any "vise like flattening squishing" machine. Youch! You poor wimmin! I just thought that they did an ex-ray and then the Doc felt for lumps. And, the last part of that poem was horrid!! :blink:
Ask your wife, Jonny. If she has never had one she should get one!!!
And yes, there is a physical exam as well that is usually done at the physician's office. Personally, I'd rather undergo the vice than have a strange man give me a breast exam.
I did see a cartoon for a "man-o-gram" one time at work. The patient did not look happy. Jonny, imagine your external genitalia being placed by another's hand on a 1/2 inch thick plastic tray. An identical plastic tray is brought down upon them until they are approximately 1/4 inch thick. You are then told not to move and to hold your breath as the technologist casually saunters behind a screen to click a button and make the x-ray.
One time I had a technologist clamp down really really tight on me and then LEAVE THE FREAKIN' room to talk to someone! By the grace of God, she didn't die that day.
I was met with, "Hi! I'm Belinda!" This perky clipboard carrier smiled from ear to ear, tilted her head to one side and crooned, "All I need you to do is step into this room right here, strip to the waist, then slip on this gown. Everything clear?"
I'm thinking, "Belinda, try decaf. This ain't rocket science. "Belinda skipped away to prepare the chamber of horrors.
Call me crazy, but I suspect a man invented this machine. It takes a perfectly healthy cup size of 36-B to a size 38-LONG in less than 60 seconds. Also, girls aren't made of sugar and spice and everything nice....it's Spandex. We can be stretched, pulled and twisted over a cold 4-inch piece of square glass and still pop back into shape.
With the right side finished, Belinda flipped me (literally) to the left and said, "Hmmmm. Can you stand on your tippy toes and lean in a tad so we can get everything?"
"Fine," I answered. I was freezing, bruised, and out of air, so why not use the remaining circulation in my legs and neck and finish me off?
My body was in a holding pattern that defied gravity (with my other boob wedged between those two 4" pieces of square glass) when we heard and then felt a zap! Complete darkness and the power went off! "What?" I yelled.
"Oh, maintenance is working. Bet they hit a snag." Belinda headed for the door.
"Excuse me! You're not leaving me in this vise alone, are you?" I shouted.
Belinda kept going and said, "Oh, you fussy puppy, the door's wide open so you'll have the emergency hall lights. I'll be right back."
Before I could shout "NOOOO!" she disappeared. And that's exactly how Bubba and Earl, maintenance men extraordinaire, found me, half-naked and part of me dangling from the Jaws of Life and the other part smashed between glass!
After exchanging polite "Hi, how's it going" type greetings, Bubba (or possibly Earl) asked, to my utter disbelief, if I knew the power was off. Trying to disguise my hysteria, I replied with as much calmness as possible. "Uh, yes, yes I did thanks."
"You bet, take care" Bubba replied and waved good-bye as though I'd been standing in the line at the grocery store.
Two hours later, Belinda breezes in wearing a sheepish grin and making no attempt to suppress her amusement, she said. "Oh I am soooo sorry! The power came back on and I totally forgot about you! And silly me, I went to lunch. Are we upset?"
And that, Your Honor, is exactly how her head ended up between the clamps.
OMG Belle! Too funny! In after thought that is. No doubt you were NOT laughing! Did you really stand there for two hours on your tippy toes with your breasts all clamped in, or did you "improvise, adapt, and overcome" and extricate yourself until until Belinda got back? You've left us with quite a mind picture ya know...
And ya know, I don't think Mrs. Lingo has had a mammogram in a long while. We have always known that women who breast feed their kids have a much lower risk of breast cancer, and since all four kids were breast fed until they were 5 years old, we have never (no wait-just kiddin about the five years-only 18 months per kid) worried about breast cancer, in that we have always trusted that God won't let that happen to her/us. But, I 'spose a mammogram is a good idea...
Jonny, I have also heard that breast-feeding can REDUCE the risk of breast cancer. However REDUCING does not equate with ELIMINATING. In other words, there is still a present risk.
Genetics plays a role, so does diet, so do hormone levels, etc. etc.
Even if your wife thinks she is very low risk, it doesn't hurt (okay, it does but the pain is temporary) to get it done.
I don't know, personally I really didn't find it to be that painful an experience. I've had dental appointments that were worse.
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RainbowsGirl
Thank You (((((((((((Abi))))))))))),
That is a reminder that I surely need: I keep putting it off...at least for the past three years...Thanks for the wake up call and the laugh!
I Love You Abi, RainbowsGirl
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Abigail
Go get it done, RG!!!!!!!
I always think of it this way - I have been pregnant with two big boys. I had c-sections with both of them. Many of you went even further and did it the hard way (natural delivery). If you can do that, you can surely handle this!
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krys
RG - 3 years is too long. I might be prodding you. October is breast health month.....do you think you can get it done by then? I prod you and remind you because you aned every single woman is imortant here at the cafe. So get it done, ok?
I let mine go sometimes too..that's why I wasn't harder on RG....but holy cow - finding a lump and fixing the problem leads to a cure rate nearly 95%. We need to take care of ourselves ladies!
That was funny Abi - - thanks.
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Belle
:P I get smooshed every year. But, then again, I don't have many dates, so I get my thrills where I can.
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RainbowsGirl
Dear ((((((((((((Abi and Krysilis))))))))))))))),
I do appreciate your reminders and care! I will stop post phoning it and make the appointment!
I Love You Both, RainbowsGirl
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Nottawayfer
I have an appointment on October 3. The MOM Mobile is coming to the parking lot of my work. It will be really convenient, but it won't be comfortable.
Gosh men have it so much easier. I'd rather cough and turn my head. It would be shorter than the time you have to have yourself smooshed between 2 cold plates feeling like it's going to be ripped off.
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Bramble
Sometimes they don't get the right pic the first time, and you get smooshed again. :(
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waysider
I know how very serious this subject is so please don't misinterpret my post.
I work in a very small office and we all know each other quite well.
One day, one of the ladies said to me," I won't be in tomorrow morning, I have a doctor's appointment."
Instinctively, I responded, "Is everything alright?"
I wasn't trying to pry, it just came out of my mouth.
"Oh yeah", she said. "I'm just using some vacation time to go to "Squeeze Fest".
Oh, had I a golden thread,
And a needle so fine,.
I would weave the bravery
Of women giving birth.-----------------Pete Seeger
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BikerBabe
Being a coffee drinker, I get the fiberous lumps that are nothing, but need to be looked at. I get squished every year if possible, every other if not. Now that I have medicare it will be yearly from now on ...
I keep asking them if they will squish them so once it's over they will be bigger, same with chest xrays, can't there be some advantage for me in it? LOL. Never has worked, so I'm stuck with what I got, unless I ever become rich and buy myself a pair. :P
The only cancer that runs in my birth family is in the cervix or uterus itself. Almost all of the ladies in the family have either had their uterus removed or have had the bad cells laser beamed off the cervix in an attempt to avoid surgery. (My older sis did the laser, I hope it does work for her in the long run, I had to go with surgery like mom and grandmom. No word yet on little sis, but she's quite a bit younger than my older sis and I .. about 10 yrs or so.) There has never been any breast cancer history at all, so that makes me feel good. :)
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Watered Garden
I worked for almost 9 years for a radiation oncologist who specialized in treating women with breast cancer. Here are some thoughts on those patients:
They were the brave, bald women who sat in the waiting room with knitting, embroidery, and books, chatting and laughing through their fears.
They were the brave, bald women who sent flowers to the doctor and candy to the therapists when their treatment had ended.
They were the brave, bald women who came back with bone mets making them limp, but still smiling and telling jokes.
They were the brave, bald women who held onto hope when hope was all they had left.
They were the brave, bald women who inspired us all to do better, learn more, be better people, and cure this damn thing.
May God hold every one of them, the survivors, and those who did not make it, in the palm of His loving hand.
A few minutes of pain is worth a year or two of intense suffering and eventual death. The technologists who do my mammograms are always so apologetic. I tell them, "It's better than bone mets."
Anyone in the Columbus, Ohio area, I can highly, highly recommend any of the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital's mammography sites.
Get your mammogram every year if you are of the appropriate age/risk factors to do so. Trust me. I saw too much to not go get mine.
WG
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Scout Finch02
I get mine every year. Left work for an hour and got it done last month.
My mom died of breast cancer. She always said she didn't have time to go to the doctor. No amount of begging, offering rides, nice lunches, dinners, gifts, etc would get her to go. Money was never the issue. She always had good insurance and children willing to pay for anything she needed or wanted. She had issues with people touching her. We suspect she was molested when she was young. But that's a whole other sad talk show.
If you won't get this done for yourself, get it done for your loved ones. I would rather give Mom the flowers in person that I have been putting on her grave for the last two years.
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Watered Garden
Scout I am so sorry for your loss.
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Scout Finch02
Thanks, WG.
Just keep telling women to get there mammograms.
And anyone else in Greaseland who knows women who need mammograms but aren't getting them, beg, bribe, or whatever it takes to persuade them to get it done.
Greaseland....sounds kind of like Graceland...like Elvis' place.
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Abigail
My mom died of breast cancer also. Such a sad way to die and sometimes so completely unnecessary. An ounce of prevention, yada yada. She put off going in for the tests and by the time she went, it was too late.
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J0nny Ling0
Do you think there is an opening at a breast exam clinic where a man with gentle hands could do the same thing? :)
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doojable
Actually, when I was 18 a doctor did just that after a mammogram. I was not nice. It was creepy.
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J0nny Ling0
Ooh. That is weird. But, to not be funny anymore, aren't they supposed to do a hands on thing? It just seems like it would simplify things if it were a woman Doc. And, all this is interesting. I didn't know about any "vise like flattening squishing" machine. Youch! You poor wimmin! I just thought that they did an ex-ray and then the Doc felt for lumps. And, the last part of that poem was horrid!! :blink:
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Nottawayfer
It's not a comfortable thing to do. You have to stand up funny, lift your arms, then get your whole breast put between a vice and then they squeeze it. It's not a soft squeeze either. I have to breath myself through it or I would probably have a panic attack. That's the only time I ever feel paniced too.
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Abigail
Ask your wife, Jonny. If she has never had one she should get one!!!
And yes, there is a physical exam as well that is usually done at the physician's office. Personally, I'd rather undergo the vice than have a strange man give me a breast exam.
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Watered Garden
I did see a cartoon for a "man-o-gram" one time at work. The patient did not look happy. Jonny, imagine your external genitalia being placed by another's hand on a 1/2 inch thick plastic tray. An identical plastic tray is brought down upon them until they are approximately 1/4 inch thick. You are then told not to move and to hold your breath as the technologist casually saunters behind a screen to click a button and make the x-ray.
One time I had a technologist clamp down really really tight on me and then LEAVE THE FREAKIN' room to talk to someone! By the grace of God, she didn't die that day.
That was NOT at The James. We are professionals.
WG
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Belle
Power outage during a mammogram
I was met with, "Hi! I'm Belinda!" This perky clipboard carrier smiled from ear to ear, tilted her head to one side and crooned, "All I need you to do is step into this room right here, strip to the waist, then slip on this gown. Everything clear?"
I'm thinking, "Belinda, try decaf. This ain't rocket science. "Belinda skipped away to prepare the chamber of horrors.
Call me crazy, but I suspect a man invented this machine. It takes a perfectly healthy cup size of 36-B to a size 38-LONG in less than 60 seconds. Also, girls aren't made of sugar and spice and everything nice....it's Spandex. We can be stretched, pulled and twisted over a cold 4-inch piece of square glass and still pop back into shape.
With the right side finished, Belinda flipped me (literally) to the left and said, "Hmmmm. Can you stand on your tippy toes and lean in a tad so we can get everything?"
"Fine," I answered. I was freezing, bruised, and out of air, so why not use the remaining circulation in my legs and neck and finish me off?
My body was in a holding pattern that defied gravity (with my other boob wedged between those two 4" pieces of square glass) when we heard and then felt a zap! Complete darkness and the power went off! "What?" I yelled.
"Oh, maintenance is working. Bet they hit a snag." Belinda headed for the door.
"Excuse me! You're not leaving me in this vise alone, are you?" I shouted.
Belinda kept going and said, "Oh, you fussy puppy, the door's wide open so you'll have the emergency hall lights. I'll be right back."
Before I could shout "NOOOO!" she disappeared. And that's exactly how Bubba and Earl, maintenance men extraordinaire, found me, half-naked and part of me dangling from the Jaws of Life and the other part smashed between glass!
After exchanging polite "Hi, how's it going" type greetings, Bubba (or possibly Earl) asked, to my utter disbelief, if I knew the power was off. Trying to disguise my hysteria, I replied with as much calmness as possible. "Uh, yes, yes I did thanks."
"You bet, take care" Bubba replied and waved good-bye as though I'd been standing in the line at the grocery store.
Two hours later, Belinda breezes in wearing a sheepish grin and making no attempt to suppress her amusement, she said. "Oh I am soooo sorry! The power came back on and I totally forgot about you! And silly me, I went to lunch. Are we upset?"
And that, Your Honor, is exactly how her head ended up between the clamps.
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J0nny Ling0
OMG Belle! Too funny! In after thought that is. No doubt you were NOT laughing! Did you really stand there for two hours on your tippy toes with your breasts all clamped in, or did you "improvise, adapt, and overcome" and extricate yourself until until Belinda got back? You've left us with quite a mind picture ya know...
And ya know, I don't think Mrs. Lingo has had a mammogram in a long while. We have always known that women who breast feed their kids have a much lower risk of breast cancer, and since all four kids were breast fed until they were 5 years old, we have never (no wait-just kiddin about the five years-only 18 months per kid) worried about breast cancer, in that we have always trusted that God won't let that happen to her/us. But, I 'spose a mammogram is a good idea...
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Abigail
Jonny, I have also heard that breast-feeding can REDUCE the risk of breast cancer. However REDUCING does not equate with ELIMINATING. In other words, there is still a present risk.
Genetics plays a role, so does diet, so do hormone levels, etc. etc.
Even if your wife thinks she is very low risk, it doesn't hurt (okay, it does but the pain is temporary) to get it done.
I don't know, personally I really didn't find it to be that painful an experience. I've had dental appointments that were worse.
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Nottawayfer
5 years old??? You are kidding right? :blink:
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