Cindy's mams

I had my annual mammogram today. I dreaded going, I hated having it done. It hurt like the devil. I left thinking maybe I would skip it next year and only do every other year. Or maybe I would take pain killers before I went. How is it in this modern world they have not created a test that is less painful? I believe if men had to have an annual testicle-gram which required them to place their gems on a tray and stand there while they were squeezed to popping point, that there would be a nation wide movement to eliminate the pain of the testicle-gram and a search for a better way.

When I got home tonight I had an email from my friend Cindy. I found Cindy on Facebook about a month ago. She looks just like she always did. Cindy and I were seminary wives at the same time and then we were Chaplain wives together. Our kids played together. We shared so much of our alone time together when our husbands were deployed. Cindy could do anything, cook anything, repair anything, take anything apart and put back together better than it was before. Cindy and I have both gone through divorces from our Chaplain spouses. I had lost contact with Cindy about 10 years ago.

Cindy told me last week that she had found a lump in her breast. The doctor did not think it was anything to worry about but sent her to see a specialist who said he would remove the lump and send it to pathology while she was still out. It turns out that the "not anything to worry about" lump was an aggressive cancer, Ductile Cell Carcinoma In Situ or DCSI. They removed Cindy's right breast and will do tests to make sure it is not anywhere else in her body. She will do both Chemo and Radiation treatments. In 6 to 9 months she will have her other breast removed.

Cindy found love again and remarried last year. She is only 49 years old. Her children are in their twenties. This is the part of her life where she should be relaxing and enjoying life. Cindy found the lump while doing a self breast exam. The pain of a mammogram is insignificant compared to the agony of a masectomy. Yes, I will be going back next November.

Have you had your mammogram this year?

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