The dreaded "M" word....

Yep, you guessed it, I had to get a mammogram today. Why is it we let this little machine scare us so much? I know why I do. You see back when my Mom was pregnant, she was told she would lose the baby (me) if she did not go on bed rest and take this hormone shot regularly. Although it did save the pregnancy, it turns out the shot was not so good for my Mom or me. Among many things, I have been told that my breast cancer risk increases two and a half fold when I turn 40. So, guess who turned 40 last October, that is correct me. My doctor told me last year right after my birthday, to get a mammogram before I see her again in July 2011. I put it off as long as possible and finally went today.

The office looked pretty enough. It still gave me anxiety anticipating the reason I was there.

Then you go back and are told to undress from the waist up and put on a robe and sit in another waiting room until you are called to go in.

When you go in you see a machine like this....or at least this was what my machine looks like.

The lady tells you she needs 4 pictures...ok 4 pictures, no big deal is what I think to myself. Then we start...then she needs a 5th...whatever she saw made her say she needed one more to try to get the chest wall on the right side. Not something I wanted to hear on my first mammogram at age 40.

But now I wait to get the results...or as she put it to see if the doctor wants more pictures. I think you know what I am praying for.

Ashley