Yesterday was my first time wearing pasties.

For many women that are approaching 39 again this is the year for the baseline mammogram.  I’d heard horror stories from “it feels like they’re running  your boob over with a tire” to “the platform is as cold as concrete.”

While this is usually a private thing and not something I’d normally blog, my experience was so pleasant that I wanted to say something to assuage some of the fears women my age may be having.  Take a very deep breath, it was not that bad.  There were no tires and the platform that they place your breast on is not cold. It does not “smash” down and I did not see stars.

I went early in the morning.  The office staff at Desert Valley Radiology could not have been more wonderful.  I filled out a few forms and was taken to a room with nice lighting and they even had chocolate.  There was a cute little passage about how chocolate calms your nerves and cards you could fill out if you wanted them to send you a reminder for next year.

The tech had me put on a smock from the waist up.  She then proceeded to put pasties over each of my nipples.  They were…they were cute and they had little silver pinpoint balls at the end.  Kind of interesting, this is how they mark your nipple on the film.  Then you stand there and they walk you through how to lean and explain that you’ll feel some pressure.

Don’t get me wrong, a mammogram is not like a spa treatment, but they took four views, so four pushes on the breast and then it was over.  The tighter they can squeeze the tissue the better the picture.  I wanted the best picture, I want to make sure I’m healthy.  The competitive part of me wanted to say, “You can smash it harder if you need to.”  I thought I’d  be a trooper, but I refrained.

I brought the pasties home with me.  Get your mind out of the gutter, I put them on my board in my office, to remind myself.  I’d done it, taken care of myself.

As you get older there are new things you have to think about, not worry just think. Like a fine automobile there’s additional maintenance.  It’s taken me a while to get my head around this whole turning 40 thing, but I’m okay with the maintenance.

It is so important for women to do this every year and it was nothing short of a minor inconvenience.

That’s all from the laundry room.  Rest Easy.

age crazy life daily thoughts health life mammogram thoughts women age health life thoughts women