My First Mammogram

As women we are always told that early detection is the key to having a fighting chance when dealing with breast cancer. Along with regular breast exams we should be getting regular mammograms. I have to admit I was never looking forward to this moment but I knew one day it would be my turn. Well, today it was my turn.

The thought of the entire process really caused me to have a lot of anxiety. I was slightly nauseous for the entire day yesterday leading up to the test today. It was the fear of the unknown. What to expect. What would it be like? Would it hurt? On top of that there was the added anxiety of dealing with private parts of my body. Here I would be putting these private parts in the hands of some stranger. It was all new and scary. I knew the importance and I knew that no matter what this had to be done.

Once I arrived I was still very nervous. I knew everything would be okay and I just kept trying to tell myself that. The ladies there were all very nice. Since it was my first time they came in and explained to me exactly what they were going to do. They did everything possible to try and put my mind at ease. They took 4 x-rays and the whole process took less than 30 minutes. The part that really struck me the most was when they asked me after they were done what my thoughts were. They wanted to know if it was so horrible that I would never come back or even tell my friends not to do it. I will admit the process was uncomfortable and not something I will look forward to again. It was definitely not the horrible pain I feared but there was some discomfort. It did not last long at all though which made it much more tolerable.

All in all, everything went just fine and I had nothing to stress about as far as the exam was concerned. As women it is something we need to endure. I recommend it to everyone on a regular basis. If you are reading this and going for the first time please take my advice and lose the stress and anxiety. It is definitely not as bad as I convinced myself it might be. One tip is to take some pain meds like some tylenol right before you go. That might help ease some of the discomfort you will feel.