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| Chicago Fire: Breast Cancer Awareness |
I get a little tense around annual-doctor-visit-time.
If you know my family, you know we had a scare when one of our children was born. Compared to so many people I know, it seems like a minor blip. But open-heart surgery on a 6-day-old was a big deal then and it’s a big deal now.
Every annual appointment, every “routine” cardiology visit ends up being a big deal to me, no matter how much I try to reassure myself.
I don’t relax until the doctor’s given her report and I’m in the comfort of my home.
When it’s a cardiology visit, the tension is higher still and ramps up in the weeks before any scheduled appointment.
For a regular doctor’s visit, it’s not so intense, but I feel the pressure release when we get a report.
We got one today — a good one — so I’m starting to feel the wind down.
I read daily about all the pain and suffering in the world that it should be easy to put my worries into perspective.
Perspective matters.
My husband and son were part of a Chicago Fire on-field experience on Saturday. My son got be on the field at Toyota Park as part of the Tunnel of Fire because he raised money for Kicks for Cancer. My husband was part of the breast cancer awareness pink ribbon because his mother was a breast cancer victim (we miss you Omi) and because he raises awareness about breast cancer through his job.
I was happy to see them both of them on the field, but happiest to hear about the people they’d met, the survivors they stood beside.
The survivors’ perseverance is uplifting and inspiring, a reminder that all is not lost with a bad report, a bad diagnosis.
It was a reminder that, well, I can procrastinate sometimes. My mammogram was one of those things I’d sloughed off. I kept putting off making the appointment, trying to figure out when to “work it in.”
When I heard Sim would be on the field, I stopped what I was doing. I made the call and locked in a date, seven months after my doctor suggested a routine screening.
Count me as one who was made more aware during the breast cancer awareness initiative.
How about you?
Virtual Farmgirl 
Just had my first mammogram last week! Really, I should have done it about a year ago (when I turned 40), but I wanted to find a primary care doc first (since I haven't seen a PCP since before the kids were born) and then school-summer-school again and blah-excuse-blah-blah.A stern scolding from a close friend who lost her mom to breast cancer when she was a kid set me straight so I got it done. A blood sugar and cholesterol test too! (It's fun getting old!)It wasn't all that bad. Not fun, but if you've been through labor and delivery, a mammogram ain't nothin'.
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Just had my first mammogram last week! Really, I should have done it about a year ago (when I turned 40), but I wanted to find a primary care doc first (since I haven't seen a PCP since before the kids were born) and then school-summer-school again and blah-excuse-blah-blah.A stern scolding from a close friend who lost her mom to breast cancer when she was a kid set me straight so I got it done. A blood sugar and cholesterol test too! (It's fun getting old!)It wasn't all that bad. Not fun, but if you've been through labor and delivery, a mammogram ain't nothin'.
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