By The Wiz

1. YES, IT HURTS! Especially for those of us who are more…ahem….blessed (?!) with boobage (not to be confused with baggage). Take some tylenol and ibuprofin a good 30 minutes before you go. It is not fun, but it does mean you deserve a girls lunch or pedi or some other girly outing for having to endure your yearly mammo.

   Comment #1 by ScarehaircareFebruary 28th, 2011 at 3:21 pm

2. I just had my first mammogram last month. It didn’t really hurt, it was just uncomfortable. I’m not ‘blessed with much boobage’ (ha!) so maybe that helped.
   I agree it means you deserve a reward. I had lunch with my sister afterward. It was a good day.

   Comment #2 by JaneFebruary 28th, 2011 at 4:08 pm

3. It’s uncomfortable… and weird how they can squish them so flat. The place I went to had comic strips related to mammograms taped all over the machine. It helped ease the tension as I giggled my way through the exam.

   Comment #3 by SaraFebruary 28th, 2011 at 4:32 pm

4. Not sure if this is a “size matters” issue or not, I am (talk about tmi) an “f” cup, and yes, it’s a bit uncomfortable, but never anything to write home about or necessitating the use of tylenol. So reading the above comments, I am assuming this is a nerve ending issue, i.e. how sensitive “you” may or may not be. Either way, I am totally for (pardon the pun) milking the situation and treating yourself to anything your wish afterwards. It *is* rather high on the vulnerability scale, so go for it! Nothing says “I need a new pair of shockingly red shoes!” like having a gal lift up your beauties and smoodge them around a bit before making them look as unappealing as possible sandwiched between acrylic plates.

   Comment #4 by smeeFebruary 28th, 2011 at 4:47 pm

5. It is always uncomfortable, occasionally hurts.

   The place I go has a system where you wait in a private dressing room, and the doctor comes there to give you the news. There are four dressing rooms around the actual radiology room, so you don’t see the other women who are there at the same time.

   One of my relatives was going to a place where they expected you to wait in your paper vest in a room with other women. She hated the lack of privacy, and was delighted when I recommended my facility.

   Comment #5 by NaismithFebruary 28th, 2011 at 4:50 pm

6. I gotta go make dinner (aka I’m too lazy to look it up), but didn’t Shannon from Rocks in my Dryer do an extensive post about her mammogram? You should look it up!

   Comment #6 by ShannonFebruary 28th, 2011 at 5:59 pm

7. I agree that you get a treat when you are done but worrying about it can be worse than the actual thing.

   Good for you to going!

   Comment #7 by Kelly GracyFebruary 28th, 2011 at 6:20 pm

8. I just had my first mammo….I live in an island so there isn’t always a radiologist available so there was no immediate results. I was called back 3 days later for a follow up. The tech did warn me that it was very common with first ones as there was nothing to compare them to. And younger (40) breast are much more fibrous. Well, that follow up mammo (they always schedule these when doc is there) ended with an ultrasound and then the next week a core needle biopsy. But not to worry, just like they predicted just fibrous tissue. My advice, make sure you are comfortable with the facility and the staff. Made all the difference. And the my radiologist rocks. She called my 8:30 at night to tell me it was all good…and had previously left me her cell number when I missed her first call. Oh yeah, all private but when I did need to wait while they did an urgent biopsy on tissue from the surgical unit, they gave me a 2nd johnny to cover up with. The staff make or break it.

   Comment #8 by WendyFebruary 28th, 2011 at 6:36 pm

9. I wish I had known earlier, I’ve had an order for mine since last February and just haven’t made time to go in. We could’ve done it at the same time & reported back! As I understand it, the more endowed you are, the more it hurts. So, not a big problem for me!

   Comment #9 by SallygirlFebruary 28th, 2011 at 6:44 pm

10. I’m 37 and haven’t gone yet

    Comment #10 by jendoopFebruary 28th, 2011 at 6:53 pm

11. Me either, Jendoop. Guess I better get on it.

    Comment #11 by Tracy MFebruary 28th, 2011 at 8:12 pm

12. I am 42 and should go. I have not been back to the doc since my youngest was born. I am scared to with the luck I have been having lately.:)

    Comment #12 by WendyFebruary 28th, 2011 at 8:32 pm

13. So how do they make it work if you’re endowed about as well as, say, a boy? Just wondering if they’ll even be able to get anything of mine in there to smash it flat.

    Comment #13 by RorieFebruary 28th, 2011 at 8:37 pm

14. I’m like #7 Wendy, though older. Never managed to have an annual mammo yet that didn’t need at least some sort of follow up visit because my girls are weird. Lesson — don’t worry if they find something that needs follow up. They set the bar really low (high?) and get a lot of false positives.

    I find mammo’s uncomfortable but not painful; it depends on your reaction to pain. Relaxing your brain should help. I tend to amuse myself by thinking how completely the bizarre the mammographer’s job is, spending her day patting and squishing other women’s breasts.

    Comment #14 by ValerieFebruary 28th, 2011 at 8:51 pm

15. My breasts are very fibrous, like my mother’s, so they have to use the LARGE-size squisher and generally do a hands-on exam after. Then after the results are in and everything is fine, they say, “Come back in 6 months, there are some spots we want to keep track of.”
    Yeah, right. That happened twice and I DID go back in six months and they said the same thing both times so now I only go in once a year. (No family history.)
    One place I went to had the ladies sitting around in paper vests and several were great-grandma types who had come as friends - they’d scheduled their mammos all at the same time for company. I really enjoyed the conversations that day!

    Comment #15 by RuthMarch 1st, 2011 at 5:45 am

16. I hate mamograms. And feel that they should be outlawed. And really….there’s got to be an easier less intrusive way. If a man had them, mammograms would be long gone into something better.

    Comment #16 by LucyMarch 1st, 2011 at 6:52 am

17. There’s some interesting new research that has indicated that we shouldn’t be getting them as often as we do anyways.

    Comment #17 by SilverRainMarch 1st, 2011 at 7:11 am

18. I had one last summer, and didn’t think it was that big of deal at all. It didn’t hurt, but I’m pretty flat. It just felt slightly odd to be hugging a machine with my chest squished inside….

    Comment #18 by annieMarch 1st, 2011 at 7:43 am

19. jendoop - they probably won’t do yours until you’re 40, I just have an aunt who had breast cancer pre-menopause, so they want a baseline earlier. So kick back for a few years yet.

    Lucy - even though I haven’t had one yet (it’s in a couple of hours) - I totally agree with you. When they changed the guidelines a little while back, I was reading about it, and going….”So, our options are a lot of false positives OR not getting screened? There HAS to be a better way.” I still think there should be.

    Comment #19 by The WizMarch 1st, 2011 at 10:17 am

20. 40 and never done one, though I’ve been told to get a baseline. Yeah. When they invent a similar machine to check for prostate cancer THEN I’ll go get a baseline.

    Comment #20 by mormonhermitmomMarch 1st, 2011 at 12:45 pm

21. Mammograms are not as bad as chemo or radiation.

    Comment #21 by LauraMarch 1st, 2011 at 2:42 pm

22. I had my first one last year, I was 31. It didn’t hurt for me (but then again I’ve never had problem/issues with paps) - I had quit nursing about 4 months before and I wasn’t quite my normal (c) size yet. Maybe it depends on a lot of things- your size, the technician doing the test etc…. I went in expecting much more discomfort/pain so when there wasn’t, I was happy- what is it they say, plan for the best, expect the worst??? Anyhow, Good luck!

    Comment #22 by JSMarch 1st, 2011 at 3:49 pm

23. I hope your mammo went well.

    I have a family history so I had a baseline done when I was 37 (yeah, a couple years late). I am well endowed and it really didn’t hurt, just uncomfortable. They had to do extra views because they couldn’t quite get the whole thing in one take. On the last retake view, I’m standing there hugging the machine and the tech says she’s done and I can now step away from the machine. Um… well I couldn’t really because the machine had malfunctioned and I was standing there with my boob pancake stuck in the machine. It took a couple tries but the very frantic tech managed to get the machine to let me go. She apologized profusely and gave me two extra chocolates. The whole time I was praying that she could fix the machine and if not, the machine tech was female.

    I haven’t been back. That machine may have it out for me and won’t let me go the next time.

    Comment #23 by JCMarch 1st, 2011 at 10:12 pm

24. It wasn’t bad at all. A little uncomfortable, I think next time I won’t go right before my period. The best part was the background music: Martina McBride’s “This One’s for the Girls.” Cracked me up.

    Comment #24 by The WizMarch 2nd, 2011 at 11:54 am

25. I had my first mammogram when I was 28 because of a large lump in my breast. It was unpleasant, but the sweet tech patted my back and chatted throughout to help put me at ease. It was, by far, less unpleasant than the stereotactic breast biopsy I had shortly after. Imagine having a huge needle injected into your squashed breast during a mamogram. Also, less unpleasant than the bilateral mastectomies, reconstruction, and chemo that followed. All were unpleasant, but survivalbe! I am eternally greatful for the technology that caught my cancer early enough to treat!!!! I’m 8 years cancer free

    Comment #25 by AmberMarch 2nd, 2011 at 12:38 pm

26. You go Amber! Glad they found it!

    JC, that cracked me up, just the image of being stuck there while a tech comes to fix the machine….glad they got you out.

    Comment #26 by The WizMarch 2nd, 2011 at 2:30 pm

27. ive had breast cancer. a mamogram nothing!

    Comment #27 by beach babyMarch 3rd, 2011 at 3:56 pm

28. #17…the “reason” that “research” says to wait is to spare us women from the horror and anguish of a false positive. That is the big reason. Its not based on anything medical. Plus, it was funded by the gov’t body in charge of the new guidelines for gov’t funded health care. Hmmm. Kinda makes think a bit, eh? You don’t think they’d come up with a bogus reason to not have as many mammograms, just so they don’t need to pay for them, right? Right??? ………..

    IMO, I’d rather deal with the false positives and now that if anything really was wrong, it’d be caught right away. Its the same as a pap. I’ve gotten false positives, and it was no biggie, because I knew they were common. All we need is more information, not less exams. Anyone who hasn’t gotten one by 40 is risking their life. And if cancer runs in your family, by age 35.

    Its not worth it, people. Cancer is scary.

    Comment #28 by OliveMarch 4th, 2011 at 2:19 pm

29. I am 47 and I dread mammograms. They hurt, period. I have breasts and they squish them flat. You take a D cup and put them between two metal plates and squish them until they are a pancake…ouch! What used to frustate me is even then, the radiologist would come back and say that they could not read my mammogram because I had too much breast tissue and it had to be repeated…..argh!

    However, do it….it’s worth it.

    Comment #29 by FaithMarch 9th, 2011 at 11:25 am

30. Let me know when you want to talk colonoscopy fun. erg.

    PS: Yea! Amber!

    Comment #30 by Tammy and ParkerMarch 28th, 2011 at 11:51 am

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