Speaking of firsts

Our lives are filled with firsts. There are first words, first steps, first dates, first kiss etc... Today I experienced a first because I turned 40 this year- I had my first mammogram today. I was very nervous. Nay, I was scared. I had heard horror stories from women about them. I had even heard them compared to slamming your "girls" in a freezer door and then allowing a mac truck to back up into it to attempt to make them as flat as possible to get a good picture. I was stressed because they ask you not to shower or wear deodorant, powder or perfume before you go. In this weather- wow!!! When I went in the lady said, "hello, Mrs. Babcock how are you today?" My response, "My pits are sweaty because I am very nervous but other than that I am doing great." Laughter is very important to me in stressful situations. The two ladies had a good chuckle over my response and reassured me that things are not like they used to be. Not only are they not like they used to be, but I am pretty sure that they are not even close. The place was quiet and pretty - the temp was perfect. I was ushered back to a room with little curtains and asked to put on a gown front first. I even got to choose between blue or pink. The wait was short and let me just say that breastfeeding hurt 100 times worse than getting this taken care of. In fact there was not one part of it that was painful! All those years of freaking out for nothing. The greatest part about the whole experience was that I allowed myself to relax enough to notice my surroundings and get a chuckle out of several things. The funniest thing I saw made me chuckle for quiet some time- just in case you forget the whole no deo, powder, perfume rule, they have cleansing wipes for you to use. The name of the wipes "mammowipes" yep that is what you read "mammowipes". Even now I am laughing- who thinks of that- seriously - someone said, hey, I have got a great marketing idea and we will sell them only to mammogram places : ) Awesome!!!! Why can't I come up with stuff like that to help the world out?! They also provide spray deodorant for you to use when you are finished so you come out of the place smelling good! The whole thing took 25 mins from beginning to end. I walked in at 10:20 and was in my car before 10:50. I hope that this post will encourage you that have been putting things off to suck it up and just go! You can do it! Your health depends on it! On a serious note, breast health is very important to me. I want breast cancer to be eradicated before Zoe has a chance to hear "I am sorry to tell you, but you have breast cancer." I will be walking again in the 3Day and will let you know in a later post how you can help! Good luck and go forth to get yours done soon!