Does simply reading the word Mammogram send a sudden shiver down your spine?  I am sure it does, if you grew up listening to the horror stories from your Mother, her friends & all your Aunts.  The one consistent word that clearly comes to mind is "painful".

It never failed that each and every one of them had to provide me with minute to minute details of every little thing they had to suffer through.  After hearing such passionate testimony about the "yearly Mammogram" , you've probably guessed that I've been dreading it since I basically developed breast.

So, today I faced my demons!  I did procrastinate for a week or so (pretending that I forgot about making the appointment), but for me…it doesn't pay to put this type of ordeal on the back burner.  I know myself too well…the longer I wait on something I dread, the more anxious I become until I'm making everyone around me crazy.

So, with my head held high I entered the  Sally Jobe Imaging Center this morning.  I don't know what I was expecting, maybe a sterile - cold - impersonal environment, but what I found was amazing.  The staff, whom I have never met before, addressed me like I had been a patient for years.  There was  gourmet coffee available (which really took the edge off the 25 degree temperature outside) and a relaxing lounge that definitely did not remind me of the procedure that I was about to have on the "girls".

I didn't have to wait long before Alisha, my Mammographer, escorted me to an area to change.  Never once, was I exposed to other patients while in my delightful "open front" attire.  I say that, because back in the olden days…my Mother said that once you had your top off, you sat in a large cold room with all the other woman waiting to have their Mammograms.  I am so relieved that custom has changed!

Gals, I really don't see what the Big Deal is about getting your yearly screening…it took less that 15 minutes, it DIDN'T hurt and I was so comfortable in the "private" room, that I almost forget that the "girls" were even hanging out. 

I know that the experience can be different for everyone, so today…I'm really talking to the ladies that are just now getting to the age that yearly check-ups need to be done diligently…and I want to share a story with you. 

My Mother has always believed that she would get Breast Cancer…don't ask me why.  So, she always dreaded getting her yearly Mammogram.  It was one year in particular that she literally refused to get the procedure done, so her sister made a deal with her…she would go with her and get a "screening" too.  The tantrum that my Mother expressed probably saved my Aunts life.

My Mother was fine (as usual), but a very rapid spreading cancer was found in my Aunts breast.  It was detected so early that her case was written up in a medical journal.  Her doctor explained that he had never had the opportunity to detect this aggressive cancer soon enough to save his other patients lives.  So with the removal of the tumor, researchers were able to analyze and  understand how to effectively detect and fight this type of cancer.

So yes, it maybe scary to think you might get "the news", but as in my Aunts case…getting "the news" saved her life.

Written by  Kim Olson

Chief Editor - TheDenverSource.Com

Realtor -  Real Estate of the Rockies