UGH

I got the call. I have to have my first mammogram AND a breast MRI. When did they start adding on that second thing?? I'm so nervous. And they are giving me a WHOLE WEEK to prepare. lol. I was actually supposed to start having them about 3 years ago, but the gyno really didn't push the issue. My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer at around age 36. So apparently the general rule is if you have a history of that, like I do, you are supposed to start having mammograms 10 years prior to when they were diagnosed. She said 26 is kind of early, but that I will definitely start having them by the time I was 30, and well, here I am. Yipee.

Has anyone here had one done? I'm sure someone has. Please, tell me about your experience and tell me that it's over quick. lol I also had the option of having my genes tested to see if I am carrying certain genes that are more prone to be cancerous. There is apparently one doctor in my area that does it. My doctor gave me that doctor's info in case I wanted to call. I'm sort of conflicted about it though because in this day and age, it seems even people who are healthy are getting cancer. My uncle was just diagnosed less than a month ago with prostate cancer. The guy doesn't smoke, doesn't drink and is pretty active. So do I really WANT to know that yeah, some day I might have cancer? I don't think I do. Would you want to know? As long as I keep up on my testing and stuff like that, I should be ok. A test that tells me yeah, you MIGHT get it one day isn't telling me, hey, on December 5th, 2020, a cancer cell will start growing and you should watch for it. No, it doesn't. I think finding out would just make me worry more.

I don't know if anyone knows this, but when my mom diagnosed, I remember the doctor citing several reasons as to why she could have possibly gotten it because there was absolutely no known family history of it. A) her mother smoked when she was growing up and second hand smoke is supposedly more dangerous than first hand B) she had a diet that was somewhat excessive in fatty foods (like barbecue and deep fried stuff) C) she drank a LOT of pop, like I'd say at least a two liter almost every day (how she slept at night, I'll never know because ONE can of pop after noon and I'm up till midnight and D) she had a traumatic accident approximately 10 years prior to her diagnosis. Ok, A-C, those are pretty reasonable, but the last one? I didn't know that. The doctor said (now this was 15 years ago, so I don't know if the same theory still stands true) that everyone has dormant cancer cells and if you have a really traumatic incident, those cells can be activated. We were involved in a really bad car accident where we were on train tracks and these drunk teenagers came up behind and slammed into us. Supposedly if we would have been another foot or so further along, they were going so fast they would have went up the ramp to the tracks and landed on top of us. AND, we were right on the train tracks and a train was scheduled to come through within the following 15 minutes. Well, they got the train routed onto a set of tracks that was another 15 feet in front of us thankfully. My mom had been looking at my friends mom who was driving the vehicle we were in, so her head was turned to the left when the teenagers hit us. She had really severe neck and back problems after the accident and it totally affected the rest of her life. She was very limited in things that she could do and things she used to enjoy. Looking back and knowing what I know now with working in a law office, she should have gotten one hell of a settlement, but I don't know what she did get and what kind of insurance there was, so it's hard to say. Back to my original topic, they think that accident was traumatic enough to cause the cancer cells to do their thing. The other thing they said that could have set it off is that my dad was injured a few years before that changed his life as well. He worked for the City police and while on a domestic violence call, this really fat kid jumped on his back. That was about 28 years ago, he's still having back treatment through workers' compensation, and he had to retire on disability because even after back surgeries, his back was never the same and he couldn't do the same work any more. So between the two, they think one set it off, or, my grandma's smoking. It's just so hard to tell.

So anyhow, thanks for listening to my ramblings. If anyone has any advice or consolations, let me know :) lol