Yet Another Reprieve

I had my yearly mammogram this morning, and I am happy to report that everything is clear there too. Last week it was the bone marrow biopsy results, and this week the mammogram. Duke just replaced their mammography machines with a new state-of-the-art digital machine. Unfortunately, at this point, they only have one of them. Everyone who used to get their scans in the three different rooms must now funnel through the one machine. The scan itself is quicker and has higher resolution. However, because there is currently only one of them, all of us waiting for the radiologist to interpret our images waited with the ladies yet to have their mammograms. I sensed that things were pretty tense as soon as I stepped into the room to wait on my turn. First, there was only one free chair for me to sit in, the rest were filled with other women waiting to go back to have their mammogram or to receive their results. One lady got called back to the radiologist's area for a "consultation." She ended up having additional views taken, followed by an Ultrasound. Suffice to say that she did not get good news today. It cast a pall over the whole room. I wanted to tell her that I'd been there, done that, but I kept quiet. It was unnerving enough for the poor lady to get bad news surrounded by a whole room full of strangers. Of course, they didn't actually tell her the news in front of us all, but we were all sitting there waiting to be told that we could get dressed now and everything is okay and here is your copy of the radiologist's note, blah, blah, blah. She didn't get any of that; she got extra scans, an Ultrasound and questions from the tech about how to contact her doctor. So we all knew without officially knowing anything specific. She left with that blank, shocked look on her face that I know only too well.

When I got back to the big Snappy machine, I just let my tech move me all kinds of different ways - pushing me here and there under the plexiglass ledge and bending my face out of the way of the beam. She kept commenting on how good a patient I was, and how she hoped that she wasn't hurting me, especially when she had to get the machine really tight into my chest wall where my old scar is located. I told her that my goal is to be flexible like Gumby; she seemed to appreciate that. "But you are so good; usually they are complaining when I press this hard." I explained that after the bone marrow biopsies, this was nothing. "Well I hope that you don't ever have to have another one of those," she said. Yeah, well that isn't likely, I thought, but I kept it to myself. I got good news today, which is more than I can say for that other poor lady. I'll be thinking about her this week, and all she has to take in.

On a different note, we did have our fete for Ellen on Sunday. Here she is in her celebratory yellow shirt at her graduation party.