Mammogram

The doctor I went to see for my mammogram actually had all of his machines and stuff at a hospital. It was big and I got lost, which made me about five minutes late. They were pretty nice about it. I think it happens a lot. All the walls are clean and white and all the rooms look the same. I ended up crossing paths with a crazy guy who was yelling really loudly and demanding to get a surgery of some sort. A passing nurse told me that he did this every once in a while, although nothing was ever wrong with him. They didn't know if he was a drug addict or a hypochondriac, but whenever he came in there they politely try to send him off.

The whole thing was kind of disturbing, actually.

It did not get better once I got to the right place. I waited for fifteen minutes in a lobby full of people at least twenty years older than me watching the cosby show. Then I got called back, and asked to take off everything above the waist and put on an itchy, not particularly protective hospital gown. Then I waited some more until a nurse came and got me, then waited for the doctor.

He felt around my breast for a little bit. He was impassive and clinical and I didn't feel like a person at all when he did it. Which in some ways is good. I don't really want a seventy year old man leering at me. But then he did another ultrasound, this time on my boob. It turns out I don't have one lump there.

I have two.

In order to get a clearer look at it, they sent me off to a mammogram. Which involved more waiting until a nurse got me again. She put a sort of sticker marker where my masses were, then guided my breast onto the tray of the mammogram. She pressed me into several fairly painful positions in order to get the best picture. Then she squished my boob as tight as she could against the machine. I had to stay this way for maybe ten seconds. Then she would pose me again and do another picture. We did this three times.

They then sent me to a room where I could at least change back into my shirt, and I waited more. The doctor came in and told me that while he wasn't worried, the mammogram and ultrasound picked up the two lumps, and he wasn't quite sure what they were yet. So I have to do a biopsy. I scheduled that for next Friday.

I also have to see the specialist for my stomach. I have yet to get that appointment.

I don't know if this is ever going to end.