This is How I Survived My Mammogram Call Back
And found a new kind of gratitude.
Three weeks ago, I received a ‘call back’ after I had my annual mammogram.
The woman who called informed me this was very common, and they simply didn’t get a clear image. As if that was supposed to ease my mind. Or diminish the slick ball of terror that immediately formed in my gut. Or make me believe she was actually telling me the whole story.
I’d been down this road before. When I had my first mammogram at age forty, I had to go back. At that time, I was also told it was very common, and that they had no baseline for comparison.
Those pat answers, that I’m convinced are what everyone who has a call back is told for fear of being sued, didn’t make it any less terrifying then, and it didn’t make it any less terrifying this time.
I have moderately dense breast tissue and began receiving three-dimensional mammograms in recent years. However, since my mammogram last year, I’d lost close to fifteen pounds after being on a healthy diet. After discussing it with several other women, they agreed this had an effect on the imaging of my breasts. Like many women, that’s where I gain or lose weight first.
Logic told me I had no reason to believe there was anything wrong. But I’m sure that’s…
