Vacation?

Be Aware

Last Summer was rough at work.  Many of the people that I work with were taking quite a bit of time off.  This meant that the rest of us really couldn't take much vacation time if any at all.  We also worked short staffed at times.  It made some of the summer pretty miserable.  As a result, I decided to take a week off in October.  I thought it would be a good time to go somewhere with Brooks because all of the harvest would be over and the weather would still be warm and enjoyable throughout most of the state to golf or do whatever.  Well, I didn't plan on the late Spring affecting us into October but it did and our harvest was not yet over by the time my week off rolled around.  At my job you can't just say never mind, I'm taking the next week off instead, so I just decided to enjoy my week at home and not do too much.  I thought maybe I could catch up on some reading, cleaning and dejunking. Was I ever wrong!

The week before my vacation I had an appointment with my GYN to get my hormones renewed. (this is important so I don't go crazy) My GYN instructed me to get a mammogram since I hadn't had one for a while.  I don't remember when I had my last one.  I've only had 3 since age 40. Yes I know, I should know better.  Anyway, I made my appointment for the Monday at the beginning of my week off.  I thought I'd just get it over with and then it would be done.

That Monday I went to my appointment, had the exam, and then left.  It wasn't as bad as I remembered it and I thought I was probably good for another five or so years.  Well Tuesday I got a call from the mammography center and was told that I needed to return for another exam.  They wanted me the next day.  I told them I couldn't come until Thursday and so they set it up for Thursday.  I was tending Molly on Wednesday and I was pretty irritated that I had to return.  I told Brooks that I was sure it was nothing.

Thursday rolled around and I returned to the center bright and early.  I must say that the Mammography Center at LRH is very nice and everyone there is Very nice!  They do the same thing day after day and they were all wonderful.  They treated me very well.  You get there and they give you these pink gowns that tie up and keep you covered.  You also get a nice pink bag to put your clothes in.  They have a nice private waiting room with juice and crackers for you that I didn't feel like eating but I thought it was nice anyway.  There were three other women in this same waiting area with me doing the same thing.  One of them didn't seem at all concerned but the other two were very upset.  I still didn't think that I needed to be there and so I felt kind of uncomfortable with them.  They were there for a good reason but I didn't have anything wrong.  I now look back and realize that they didn't know any more than I did at the time and I really did need to be there.

I was taken in for another exam.  This one was a little more uncomfortable but still not too bad.  After the exam, I went back to the waiting room and then a few minutes later I was told to get dressed and then I would meet with the radiologist. 

After I was dressed, they took me into the little dark room where the radiologist looks at the x-rays.  Every step of the way the girls at the Center had explained to me what they were looking at.  Calcification's is what they are called.  I was familiar with this and knew that most of the time they were harmless.  What I didn't know was that when they become irregular, micro, and are grouped together they become "suspicious" and need further checking.  This is what I had.  I still wasn't concerned but then the cute little breast care coordinator that was assigned to me announced that they had scheduled a biopsy for me the following Monday and that I would need to see the surgeon the next day on Friday.  Now I was a little put out because this meant that my whole week off was still spent at my place of work!

Well, I saw the surgeon and he explained exactly what the possibilities would be then I returned once again to the Mammography Center for my biopsy.  Not the most fun thing I've ever done but not the worst.  My surgeon told me he would have results by Wednesday and call me.  I stayed home all day on Wednesday and he never called.  This was the day that I started to freak out!  I started to let my mind really go with possibilities and I was getting really nervous.  I was working on Thursday and so I tracked my surgeon down and he hadn't yet received the reports but he promised that he would find out and call me.  He did just that, a few hours later he came and found me and gave me the good news that there wasn't any cancer.

Now you need to understand, I never really thought I did have cancer but of course a few things did cross my mind.  I never thought of death because I knew that if the results were positive it was very early and easily taken care of.  I mostly worried about treatments and would I still be able to work and do what I wanted to do with my family.  I thought a lot about my parents.  They have already had one child with cancer and lost him, they didn't need to face the cancer thing again no matter how minor it might be. 

I don't know if I dodged a bullet or not.  I have to have a followup exam in six months. I think this is pretty standard.  I won't worry at all about getting cancer but this was a good wake up call for me to have regular mammograms. I was STUPID not to have them all along.  I kept thinking that if I had had a yearly one for the MD to compare this one to maybe I could have avoided all of this other stuff.

So please if you are 40 or older please get your yearly mammogram!  Do your self exams and get your mammograms!  A fact that you may not know: most women who develop breast cancer do not have a family history of it!

The next vacation I take I'm going somewhere!