There's a first for everything

I had some medical tests done today that I have been very nervous about. Basically my woman parts are not being friendly to me lately.  I'll leave it at that as to not to disclose "too much information."  The first was an ultrasound.  I was in the waiting room when a little voice called out my name.  I got up and walked over to this girl who looked like she was still in high school as she nervously told me her name was Molly and a college intern.  Today was her first day of her internship.  She was just going to be asking me a few questions before the experienced tech was available to come to the room and do the ultrasound.  Molly seemed very intimidated and stumbled over the simplest questions.  "What's the date of your last period?  Oh, I should probably start with, what's your name and birth date?  Sorry!"  I laughed and told her it was just fine.  I have forgotten how hard it is to just talk to someone when you're doing a new job and you don't want to mess up.  I am sure she will be great once she gets more confident, but today she was a bit of a mess.  It made me laugh though which put me more at ease.  The tech came in and performed the ultrasound and then asked if it would be okay if the intern took a few pictures too.  Sure, why not?  Who doesn't love to be someone's guinea pig?  She did okay though and what she did do right the experienced tech politely corrected her on it.

After the ultrasound was over, then it was time to go upstairs to the "Breast Center" where I would have my first ever mammogram.  A few days ago I Googled mammogram machines and mammogram pictures to get an idea of what it would be like and what to look for.  The best way I can think of to describe what a mammogram feels like is if you were to place one boob at a time under a garage door and let it close on you.  I know, no one would actually do that, but it's that kind of weight that it feels like as your breast is in a vice.  Very strange and uncomfortable, but not like so painful you want to yell or something.  Just feels like it's being squished.... because, well, it is. The tech took several "pictures" of both breasts and I could see on the computer screen each time what the picture looked like.  I probably shouldn't have Googled the images before because I could have sworn that I saw cancer in each picture.  I was beginning to get a bit concerned.  It was over fairly quickly though and much to my surprise the tech told me that the radiologist would have a look at it and let me know in a few minutes if he saw anything.  I wasn't expecting to get results so quickly and then I began wondering if I should have brought my husband or someone along with me in case I got bad news.  I sat in the waiting room waiting for someone to get me for the results.  I was able to watch quite a bit of HGTV in that time and had forgotten how much I like watching people flip houses.  The tech came back in the room after a bit to tell me the radiologist said everything looked great and to just follow up with my primary physician. The experience wasn't so bad at all and I'm happy that it was all worries for no reason.  Now I just need my ultrasound results that will come sometime in the next three days. 

On a related yet unrelated note.... a friend of mine from high school posted on Facebook today that she was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer.  She is going to be undergoing chemo this week and surgery and radiation will follow.  Her words of advice to her friends were, listen to your body, get it checked out, get a mammogram.  Kind of a weird coincidence she posted it on the very day I was getting my first one.  All I can tell anyone who hasn't had one before is that it's not all that bad.  Especially if you've been through child birth, you've definitely been through worse than a mammogram.  Don't be scared of it.  Get checked out.