Fair warning – this blog is about to get real. I recently took the plunge and experienced my first Mammogram. It ended up consisting of several additional appointments with me being worried, scared and then feeling lucky and grateful at the end. I want to share my personal experience from beginning to end in hopes it will shed light on the procedure of a Mammogram exam and what could happen afterwards.
If you have a strong family history of breast cancer (mother or sister), they recommend that you have your first mammogram 10 years younger than the age that the relative was diagnosed, OR at age 40, whichever is younger. Age 40-45 is usually where you should start having yearly checks and after age 45 is when you absolutely need to. With no family history or past issues with my breast, I didn’t feel the urgent need to do a Mammogram. I kept pushing it off and literally forgetting about making an appointment every year. Now at 43, I finally made the appointment. I just wanted to get it done and over with.
Even after talking to friends who have had it done, I still wasn’t sure what all to expect besides getting your breasts squeezed with a machine. Still sounded awful to me. When you make an appointment, I’d recommend making it early in the morning before you get your day started. Mainly because they don’t want you wearing deodorant, lotion, body spray, perfume or anything else near your breasts. It can cloud up the pictures which would mean you’d have to do it again and nobody wants to do that. So here’s my honest experience, but just remember this won’t be the same for everyone.
FIRST MAMMOGRAM EXPERIENCE
Make The Appointment
I called the Breast Center number my gynecologist gave me to make the appointment. Luckily, the Breast Center is in the same building, so they have access to my records. Otherwise you will need a prescription for the Mammogram Exam. I made the appointment before my yearly exam so the results would be ready beforehand.
Checking In
Walking into the Breast Center lobby, the receptionist was very nice. I gave her my name and then sat and waited. They asked if I’d been out of the country the last six weeks. Actually, I got asked that question several times so it must be important. My name is called and another lady directs me to a little partitioned desk area. This is where they ask me questions, explain different rules and regulations and have me sign off on different approvals. She asked for my driver’s license, insurance card and credit card to pay whatever my insurance won’t cover. Basically this is where all the paperwork is done.
Waiting Area
Once done with all the paperwork, I get taken back to the dressing room area. She explains what to do and where to go from here. I go into one of the dressing rooms to remove my top and wrap one of their tops on that will open in the front. Because of this, make sure you wear a top and bottom and not a dress. The room does have wipes, just in case, to remove deodorant, lotion or anything else applied to my skin before the appointment. There are also deodorant wipes for afterwards too, if needed. I gathered up all my belongings and put them in one of the lockers including my purse. I take the key for the locker with me (mine had a wrist band attached to the key so you wouldn’t lose it) and I kept my phone in my back pocket. The waiting room had all the usual – couches, chairs, magazines, water, coffee and tea. The technologist comes in and calls my name. I follow her into a small room with a large machine. She asks me to sit and than she starts asking me questions, then asked if I had any questions. I didn’t have any questions so I follow her to the machine and she explains everything that will be done.
Mammogram Examination
So now it begins. She tells me I can either remove my top or I can remove the side that will be getting an X-ray and than switch. There’s a total of 4 X-rays needed. I’ll try not to get too graphic here but I will say for my first experience, it wasn’t painful but I definitely felt discomfort. My advice to you is to hold the discomfort for the 30 seconds needed each time so you don’t have to do it again. If you move, you probably won’t get a good X-ray. Apparently I was an easy patient because she didn’t have to redo any of my X-rays. She says she normally has to redo several for first-time Mammogrammers.
This is the sequence mine is done. First my right breast sits on top of the metal stand and my right arm reaches out to hold a handle on the side. The technologist pulls my breast some to get it into position and holds it down while lowering the top plate to smoosh my breast in-between tightly. This helps the machine get as much breast tissue in the picture as possible. I held my position long enough for the technologist to walk to the computer, click a button for the X-ray and come back to release me. Then it’s time to do the same with my left breast while holding the left side handle.
The next two X-rays are a little more awkward and cause the most discomfort for me. The machine rotates at an angle, so I end up placing my breast somewhat sideways. The technologist will have to position and tug your breast more for these X-rays. Start with the right breast with the same process including the reaching to hold the side. Than the left breast, same process. Once the X-rays are finished we sit back down. She gives me some more information and asks again if I had any questions. Because this was my first mammogram, she says to not worry if I get a call if they see something in the X-rays because they have no previous images to compare to. Results take about two days. After the radiologist looks at the X-rays, they will call me if they find anything suspicious, otherwise they will just send me a letter in the mail with results.
As soon as we are done, I’m led back to the dressing room to get dressed. I gather my belongings out of the locker and change back into my clothes. I did bring my own deodorant but I was very impressed they had deodorant wipes just incase. There was no need to do anything else once I’ve changed. I can now just leave through the lobby and head home.
UNEXPECTED EXPERIENCES
The Call
I received a call from the Breast Center the next day asking if I could go in to get an ultrasound examination done on a spot they found on my right breast. Not really knowing what to say, I immediately made an appointment for the next day. I have heard of others getting calls because of spots found in the X-rays and the spot turning out to be shadows or bad positioning. I was trying not to get too worried about the call, but of course I still had to worry some.
Ultrasound Examination
Now for my second trip to the breast center, I went through all the exact same process up to the dressing room. This time my name is called by a nurse. She takes me into a room with everything set up for an ultrasound (also called a sonogram) exam, explains what she’s going to be doing and if I have any questions. I also had to sign some extra paperwork while talking with her. She tells me to lie down on the examination table and open the right side of my top. The nurse puts towels under my right side and has me turn some to my left. From this angle, I have a perfect view of the monitor. The nurse puts some warm gel on the area to help with the ultrasound. The towels on my side are just to stop the warm gel from sliding down my side. She proceeds to move the wand to look around the area the X-ray saw the spot.
In my head I’m thinking, please don’t find anything… let it be a shadow. But in a few seconds, there the spot was on the monitor. An ultrasound image is basically a grayscale image, so all I see is a dark roundish spot but you know it’s different than anything else on the screen. The nurse starts taking pictures of different angles and doing measurements on the monitor. But at the initial moment I see the spot, my heart sank. All kinds of stuff is going through my head. What do I need to do next to find out what that spot is? After several pictures of different angles of the spot, the nurse cleans me off. I wrap myself back up but I stay laying there. She says she is going to show the radiologist and she’ll come back to talk to me. Once she left, my mind starts wondering even more and tears start running down my cheeks. What’s next? I tell myself no matter what, I will be strong and get through whatever I need to do.
Several long minutes later, the nurse and radiologist come in and the radiologist immediately tells me not to worry. Wonder if it was the watery eyes that gave me away? She says the spot doesn’t look cancerous but they will need to do a biopsy to check it. I was relieved that it didn’t look bad from the ultrasound, but I definitely was not looking forward to getting a biopsy done. The nurse took me back to the dressing room, but this time I had to sit and wait for the scheduler to make and appointment for my biopsy.
The Scheduling Coordinator called my name and I follow her to her office. She goes what kind of biopsy I will be doing, what that involves and answers any questions I have. I’m told I will need a Core Biopsy which is a procedure done quickly with little recovery time. I schedule it as soon as possible for a late afternoon so I wouldn’t have to go back to work afterwards.
Payment Call
Two days before the biopsy, I receive a call about payment for the biopsy. Even with insurance, it’s a big chunk of money. I’m suppose to pay before the procedure so I told them I needed to wait. They said I could call them back to pay or just pay at the Breast Center when I arrive. Well, I would definitely rather pay on the day of my appointment at the Breast Center, so I never called them back. That was just a call, and a huge cost I was not expecting.
Core Biopsy Procedure
As the day approaches. I’m so nervous. I go through the whole process again except this time I pay the huge chunk of money. A nurse calls my name in the dressing room, and I follow her to a room similar to the ultrasound room. She verifies my identity and has me put an X with a marker above the breast they are doing the biopsy on. I lay down and unwrap my top once again. This time the nurse brought a warm blanket and put it over me. She says the room gets cold. I really appreciated this small gesture to try to make me comfortable. We wait for the doctor to come in.
Finally the doctor comes in and introduces himself. He explains what he’s going to be doing and what I should be feeling. I will go into more details of the procedure here so if you don’t want to read it or have a fear of needles, please skip this paragraph. I turn onto my left side again with a great view of the monitor. Once again, the image is grayscale black and white so it doesn’t look gory or anything. The doctor does several shots into my right breast to numb it kinda like the dentist would do to your gums to fix cavities. I think I got stuck twice but not positive about it. He waits a few minutes for it to fully numb. The doctor tells me I will feel pressure but no pain and hear a clapping noise so don’t be startled. He searches for the spot with the ultrasound wand and once he finds it, he holds the wand there. He proceeds to stick something in me as I feel some pressure. I can see a thin rod in the monitor going towards the spot. Once there, I hear a clapping noise and instantly see white light in the monitor shoot through the black spot. He did it several more times. I am told it’s a form of laser that shoots through the tissue and grabs a sample extremely fast to avoid any movement. In a way, it was kind of fascinating to see. The Doctor pulls the thin rod out and tells me that he is going to put a marker on the spot inside me. I see long tweezers on the monitor now going towards the spot. Something is left near the area and the tweezers go off screen. He is done with the biopsy and tells me that it went great and leaves with the samples he pulled. The nurse cleans me up and puts a bandaid on the area with the small hole. She explains what I will need to do afterwards to let the area heal.
I will add that I did not feel any pain during the procedure. The marker placed inside me is to mark the area for future exams. That way whomever sees the spot will know it’s been there and it’s been tested. It’s pretty smart and saves you the time of having to go through this again for the same spot. The nurse takes me back to the dressing room area, but on our way she gets me a cold pad that I need to apply to the area during the day. I get my stuff from my locker, get dressed and head straight home. They will call with results in 2-3 working days. If you ever need to do this, set it up on a Friday or take day off afterwards. Mine was July 3rd so I was taking it easy July 4th this year.
Here are the post-procedure instructions:
– Keep ice pack over the site for 4-6 hours, alternating 20 minutes on and 20 minutes off. Place in freezer while off.
– Keep incision area dry for 24 hours.
– Don’t remove bandaid for 24 hours.
– No strenuous activities and hard exercise for 48 hours.
– Avoid aspirin or ibuprofen for 48 hours. Take Tylenol if needed for pain.
– Wear a supportive bra.
Once the numbing wore off, I was hurting some around the area that had the small hole. I ended up with a decent size bruise as well. The soreness and bruising lasted about 4-5 days after the procedure.
The Results
Waiting for the results is probably the hardest part. Time was ticking slowly just holding my breath for the call. Luckily, I finally got the call on Friday so I did not have to wait over the weekend. I was sooooo freaking nervous answering the phone with a rush of imaginary results in my head. As I answer my phone, the lady immediately said they got results and it was benign. I can hear a huge release of air coming out of my mouth just then with a sigh of relief. She continues to say they just need to see me again in a year. That was such great news to me and I know not everyone gets that great news. This is what made me realize I need to inform others not to keep postponing a mammogram.
Take it from a me… a woman, wife, mom, daughter and sister. Always stay up to date on your gynecologist and mammogram appointments. Always do your self exams in the shower. Don’t hesitate to see your doctor or gynecologist if anything feels out of the ordinary, discomfort or pain. Your body is yours to take care of and enjoy as long as you can. Anything that you may think can wait, such as a Mammogram, can change your life in an instant. It’s always better to find out sooner than later. I truly hope my experience helps you take more control of caring for yourself. I know I will be.
Love,
Jeannie
So glad your experience ended with positive results.