GOING WHERE FEW MEN HAVE GONE BEFORE!

My fifth decade was an interesting mix of one health issue after another – sleep apnea, depression, heart disease, open heart surgery, diabetes, gall bladder surgery, carpal tunnel syndrome. Then there was the added stress of a major move and career change. Now as I have entered my sixth decade, I am anticipating a much calmer pace of life accompanied by greatly improved health and vitality. 

However, on a recent semi-annual visit with my cardiologist I made mention of the fact that I had discovered a ‘lump’ of some sort on one of my breasts. I was hesitant to utter this to another man – even one in the medical field. After all, men are not suppose to acknowledge that we even have breasts, much less that we have pain and tenderness in that area. It just isn’t the “manly” thing to admit. 

After inspecting the suspect area to verify the lump, I heard my cardiologist and freind say, “You need to have a mammogram – just to make sure” “WHAT?” was my shocked response. At that time an appointment was made for me at a nearby hospital imaging center.

When I came home that afternoon and shared this shocking news with my partner in life and wife of almost 40 years, she had some helpful advice for me. Having had a past very negative experience with a mammogram, she suggested that I could “prepare” for the upcoming event. Her advice? 1) go out into our garage, 2) remove my shirt, 3) lay down on the concrete just behind the rear, driver’s side tire, 4) with the assistance of my hands push, shove and cram as much of the suspect breast underneath the tire, 5) once in place, ask her to engage the car in reverse as she very gently backs the tire over that breast – stopping just as it roles on top of the breast, 6) count to ten.

I chose to ignore her experienced and seasoned counsel and to take my chances unrehearsed. This past Monday morning was my scheduled mammogram. It was truly one of life’s most humbling experiences for many reasons. Here are a few: 1) That I had breasts large enough to be mammogramed, 2) That when I arrived at patient registration with the area filled with fellow patients, I was asked in a loud voice, “Mr. Ross, what procedure are you having done today”? I whispered through the small opening in the glass, “a mammogram” to which she again loudly answered, ‘A mammogram? Thank you.”  3) That I had hoped for an old and ugly nurse to assist me in this procedure. NOT! She was young, vivacious and extremely attractive, 4) That she seemed to take great pleasure as she invited me to follow her into the “women’s” imaging center (plastered on the entrance in LARGE letters), 5) That as we turned the corner, the room was filled with – you guessed it – women – all of them staring at me in bug-eyed disbelief, 6) That I had to expose my hairy breasts laid out on a flat service to a woman other than my wife (not that my wife has ever asked me to lay them out on a flat service), 7) That once I saw the icons on the immaging machine that represented the 3 sizes of breasts (small, medium and large), I didn’t even make it to the small icon – even with a lot of pushing and shoving. Seems that I was not as ”stacked” as I had first feared.   

By the way, the mammogram was NO WHERE NEAR as painful as my wife had led me to believe, The reality was far better than I had imagined. I was also told that there is no serious issue with my breasts. That was certainly good news to a man who was way out of his comfort zone. I am now convinced that everyone over 40 should have an annual mammogram – well, at least you ladies.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM) educates women about the importance of early detection for breast cancer. Since NBCAM’s inception, mammography use has doubled, and breast cancer death rates have declined. Still, many women do not utilize mammography at regular intervals. In recognition of the fact that mammography is the best available method of detecting breast changes that may be cancer, long before physical symptoms can be seen or felt, and that breast cancer deaths could decline further if all women age 40 and older received mammograms at regular intervals, I am one man who hereby proclaims every month as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  I urge all women and their families to get the facts about mammography.

 Missions Man/Stories From the Planet

Terry Ross/Athens, GA/USA