Part 1: Marlene's Breast Cancer Story

I have all of my medical tests run in the same month each year. What should have been a routine mammogram turned out to be a bit more of an adventure.   

I am well endowed. I am not happy about it, but I got’ em. Sandy Williams refers to mammograms as being pancaked. Having a mammogram is like taking rolling pin and trying to flatten a 16-pound bowling ball into a 12-inch by 14-inch standard-size cookie sheet. When I come in, the technician gets out the BIG cookie sheets, ices those suckers up, and attempts to mush me flat.

I have been going to in Snellville for years. I only know Jewel because she has done my pancaking for several years. She runs the Iron Maiden. Jewel truly tires to make what could be embarrassing and uncomfortable situation quick and easy. She also has cold hands.

You stand there as this complete stranger starts pulling and pushing you into a very unnatural position. And then she starts to lower the press. “You are going to feel a little pressure.” And lowers the press. “You are doing great, just a little more pressure.” And lowers the press. “Just one more turn.” By this time, you think “If you don’t get this done, I am going to reach over with my free hand and snatch you bald-headed.” This hurts. It really hurts.

And then Jewel says, “Hold your breath while I take the picture. Hold your breath, Hold, Hold. I got news for you, lady. After the third turn on this Iron Maiden I couldn’t catch my breath. I got no air in me to hold. Just shut up and take the picture. And then she repeats it on the other side.

The Call

Well, I got THE CALL from Dr. Peter Mann’s office, Gwinnett Gynecology.  “Dr. Mann received the results of your recent mammogram and would like for you to have it repeated , blah, blah, blah, will magnify, blah, blah, blah, calcium deposits, blah, blah.” You know you only hear “repeat the test“ and your brain atrophies and your breasts start to throb.

As I said I do all of my annual testing in the same month. So after I got “The Call” I saw my general physician. He asked when I had last had my mammogram, and I told him the date and that I was scheduled for another to magnify an “area of concern.” Don’t you just love it?  “An area of concern”  when they mean “You got a spot that looks really scary so we want to pinch the devil out of you again to be sure that we can see that sucker.” 

My GP made a huge mistake. I am sure he was trying to alleviate any concerns and fears on my part. “Oh, it’s nothing. People have calcium deposits and stuff that is just nothing.” What he should have said is “I know you are concerned.  You have every right to be nervous, but most of these call backs are calcium deposits or thickened, benign tissue.” I want reassurance! I want to be told my feelings are valid! I want chocolate and to be told that I should eat all I want while I go through this scary thing!!!!

I am not a person who over reacts. I don’t panic. I can put a butterfly dressing on a wound that would make any EMT weep for the sheer beauty of it.  I have been given devastating news. I have had to deliver life-changing, gut wrenching news. I have held people as they have gotten the most horrible information.  So don’t pooh-pooh and don’t diminish me with “Oh, it isn’t a big deal.” I have a tissue-issue here. And it is my body, not yours.

More Testing

So I went back to have another fun-filled day of breast compression. Nurse Margie was the technician, and she was delightful. As she wedged me into the Iron Maiden, Margie, like Jewel, made an uncomfortable situation as pleasant as possible. She, too, has cold hands. She explained what had been identified as a suspicious place and showed me the first set of films and the second, more magnifying set.

I waited until the doctor could read the films. Margie and Dr. Biafore sat down with me and told me that I would need a breast biopsy. It was comforting to know something before I left the center. No waiting days to hear something.   The film revealed what could be calcifications, but could be something else.  Tissue samples would be needed. 

Now, I am thinking I have to be held captive again in the Iron Maiden and have Dr. Biafore uses a drill press and bit for a tissue sample.  All I could think of was Dr. GP. The Iron Maiden. And his left testicle. “You will feel a little pressure.”

To be continued…..