My Initial Visit

Men be warned - you may want to skip this post as it's really just not for you.

I try to follow good advice and keep up with monthly self breast exams (may I recommend you do the same - and men, if you are reading, encourage the women in your lives to do the same). A few weeks ago I noticed what felt like more than a few lumps that shouldn't be there. I made an appointment with my family doctor to get her opinion. She was concerned as well but said it was hard telling since they were a little on the lumpy side anyway. Um, lumpy like oatmeal or lumpy like mashed potatoes?!? Honestly, I was a bit offended but I wasn't going to argue breast consistency with her. She advised since I was on my period (hey, if I didn't tell you this you'd be furious she made me wait) to wait a week and have a mammogram done. Do you have any idea what it's like being told you have suspicious lumps but you must wait a week to find out what they are???
Mammogram day comes and I'm more than a little concerned from the horror stories I've heard. So I'm sitting in the waiting room, gown opened in the front, clutched to my chest to avoid giving anyone a show. I'm finally called back and the humiliation begins. For those who have not had a mammogram, let me enlighten you. The technician first starts by putting 2 pasties on your...well you know where. She then switches back and forth to each breast flopping, cramming, pulling, situating, instructing 'hold this one back so it doesn't get in the way', 'put this arm uncomfortably up here', to squeeze you flat as a pancake to get one shot. And this continues because she has to take several. I was lucky enough that after I was finished and waiting she came back with the message that she needed to take more. Are you kidding me? I wasn't done there. She comes back again and tells me they need to do an ultrasound. So of course, now I'm worried. So I go into another exam room to have my ultrasound. For those who have had babies you know what I'm talking about but the cold gel and magic wand used is rubbed around your boob, smashed in and rubbed some more. So much so that my arm that had to be lifted up over my head was completely asleep and I finally had to ask to move it before it fell off. All the while I can tell she's snapping a ton of pictures and I'm wondering of what...they don't tell you ya know!
I leave my appointment and am literally called an hour later with instructions to schedule an appointment with a surgeon. They gave me no more than they found some calcification on the films. I didn't know whether to be happy they called so quickly and have such a great system or concerned that something was terribly wrong. A great friend of mine reminded me that if I'd had to wait I would have been really irritated so it was probably an answer to prayer that I found out so quickly. Appointment with surgeon made, just waiting.