Priscilla's Workshop

 On Monday of this week, I went for my annual mammogram. Because we had moved since my last screening, I went to the previous location to get a CD of the images and I took that to the breast center. When I received a phone call from the center telling me that something suspicious had showed up and that I needed to have a diagnostic series because they suspected that I had something wrong, the woman on the phone said that their reading was more difficult because I didn't have any previous films. Because of that confusion, I wasn't totally freaked out by having to go back plus it wasn't the first time that I had been told that something might be amiss. I had two "biopsies" of suspicious lumps previously, one a needle aspiration and one a surgical excision which was one reason I made sure to take my previous films since those procedures did leave some markers. Plus this time I really had no discernible lump at all, not that that alone is any guarantee.

 

Anyway, I went in, got undressed, put on the seriously poor fitting gown and sat. The four days of waiting were tense but just sitting in the small dressing area was more tense as there was nothing to do but brood. When the technician (I am still unclear if she was a doctor or nurse practitioner or what) came back and said, "Good news! We found your films and there haven't been any changes at all over three years so you can get dressed," I was initially confused. The message sure didn't seem to compute with all the phone messages and emails I had gotten over the four days.

 

Anyway, I also felt like the bad accountant who just stops counting when she reaches the number she wants, almost wanting confirmation rather than a blithe response. But in the end I just walked back home relieved but wary. It was surely good news but not confidence building.

I did vote yesterday though. Adding that to my good news it has been a pretty good week. Go blue!