I don’t know if you’ve ever had a mammogram, but I’ll never forget my 1st & ONLY mammogram. When I turned 40, my gyno ordered a mammogram. I stupidly scheduled the appt.
The day of my appt., my husband came home & asked me how it went, with tears in my eyes, I said, “I will never, ever, ever, ever do that barbaric test again.”
That day I arrived at the hospital, I was put in a room where I put on a gown & waited for a tech. The technician, who was not very friendly or sympathetic to a first timer, took one of my breasts, manipulated it onto this flat cold surface then applied approx. 42# of pressure, compressing my delicate breast tissue.
What if I had a tumor in my breast? Is there a risk of rupturing the tumor smashed between these two plates? Valid question, no? She didn’t have an answer.
And, if that tumor was cancerous then it could potentially metastasize, correct? My Dr never mentioned that, and that tidbit of info was not in the fine print when I signed paperwork. She didn’t comment.
So then the tech tells me that I‘m exposed to ‘minimal’ radiation, yet she’s behind a safeguarded wall. Hmmm, if this is so safe why are you back there? As this machine is crushing my breast, it was at that very moment that I knew this was not an option that I wanted in my overall wellness toolbox.
The tech then tells me that I have dense breasts and there are lots of false positives w/ dense breasts. Well, I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but that means more tests, lots of stress, and even more stress, money and time if they “see” something. Next my Dr would send me for an ultrasound and then a biopsy.
So why didn’t my Dr. just order an ultrasound first?
Well, you can probably guess why. My insurance company would not cover an ultrasound unless I had a mammogram first. By the time I paid my deductible, I could have just self-paid for a breast ultrasound.
That was my story 20 years ago. Today, 35 years in the wellness industry, I hear this same story from women coming to our office. I now offer breast ultrasounds coupled with thermograms at our Medina, OH office.
I'm so thankful for this experience that led me down the functional wellness rabbit hole. It was at that first mammogram when I decided to monitor my overall health with 4 things: lab work, my hands (most abnormalities are found by your own hands) ultrasound and thermal imaging.
What do you use to monitor your health?
