From Velvet Verbosity come the challenge to write 100 words on examine. The following is what came to mind.
Each year I stand clothed in a hospital gown opened down the front in a room so cold I'm shivering reading posters on self examinations while trying to ignore “the machine.” The always cheerful lab tech asks if I am ready.
I have stood in an examining room like that every year for the past 20 years. Each year I have endured the torture of having each breast placed on a cold plate of glass, squeezed flat twice and x-rayed while standing on my tiptoes holding my breath.
Each year I have passed the exam cancer free. I am ready.
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6 comments:
I'm glad you take care of yourself - and I'm glad you have your mams checked out each year. I still say, though, there should be a less tortuous way to do that - that whole squishy thing just gives me the heebie jeebies.
There would be a less tortous way if a man had to go through it!
It may be torture, but it is torture for a good cause. Early detection is key to surviving breast cancer with your mammies in tact. So get out there and get them boobies checked out!
Thank you for choosing this focus for the challenge, Patsy. As Ida said, visiting "the machine" annually is so important! My daughter no doubt wishes she had reason to suffer that annual torture every year. If you read my entry for "Falter," you'll know she no longer does. Not surprisingly, she has become a real activist for breast cancer awareness.
I haven't had a mammogram yet, but I just know it's no fun. I'm glad to hear your tests have been normal all of this time and hope it continues to do so.
I just saw a new technique that is being used to detect early breast cancer. I think it's called Thermography. No pressing of flesh! Downside is that it can't detect existing tumors, so I'm a little baffled by it. Still, I only saw it in passing.
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