Results

Last week I got my first mammogram at the age of 54.  Yes, I have friends who have been getting mammograms since they were in their 20's or 30's, and they weren't friends in high risk groups.  I resisted that peer pressure, even when people were shocked, shocked, SHOCKED that I didn't want to get a mammogram.

People thought I was afraid or that I thought it would hurt--no, I just resisted the medical-industrial complex.  In the 90's, the common wisdom was that a woman would have a baseline mammogram when she turned 50.  Why did this change?

The hospital where I had the mammogram was the one where my mother-in-law went when she broke her hip.  She would not survive that injury.  I felt a bit of a shiver as I left the hospital and drove past the emergency entrance where I went at 2:30 a.m. to stay with her while she waited to be admitted.

If I was a character in a novel, I'd probably be punished for my lack of a mammogram.  They'd have discovered a tumor that could have been treated if I had just discovered it 20 years ago.  As I drove home, I thought, what if these are my last carefree days before a diagnosis?

Happily, that is not to be my fate.  Yesterday, I got a letter that says, "We are pleased to let you know that the results of your recent breast imaging exam show no sign of breast cancer."  Hurrah!

Let me also record this publishing accomplishment.  One of my poems was accepted to be part of the Women Artists Datebook.  Yesterday I went to the website page, and when I clicked on the thumbnails, I was thrilled to realize that my poem is one of the 3 poems in the thumbnails.  It's the thumbnail on the second row.

In other good news, I am completely ready for today's Corporate audit.  Yes, I realize I have tempted the fates by saying that.  Still, there have been so many days where I wondered if I could ever get it done.  Our syllabi are printed and ready for the first day of classes.  I didn't dare hope we could have this kind of efficient week.  I am relieved.

I am also a bit exhausted.  This kind of work is not the kind that sparks my intellect.  Lots of forms, lots of filing, lots of copying.  It's good to have it done.

Tonight I will go to a gathering that's part dinner, part quilt group.  It's been a long time since we've been together as a group of women.  It's a fitting way to celebrate my good mammogram news and my happy publishing news.