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THE BEST MEDICINE
Why I Take a Selfie Every Time I Get My Breasts Mashed
No, not THAT kind of selfie!
It’s not that I like to gloat about having healthcare.
I don’t take selfies so I can track the creeping of my crow’s feet, either — or to show off my eyes against that nurse-issued exam gown.
Do you take them so you can watch the sagging of your boobs over time? My data-driven engineer husband just asked, with a bold assumption on which part(s) of my body I mean when I say “selfie.”
(What a brave man Joe is. But no.)
So, why take a yearly picture of my face in the radiology waiting room and post it to social media?
It’s simple. I want to remind women to get their screening mammograms, sans didacticism or nagging. And I’m trying to make this stuff fun.
Itty Bitty Pity Party
I know it’s a little bit lame to complain about mammograms. Now that I’m past 40, I’m supposed to have one every 1–2 years — depending on how vulnerable I’m feeling about having MEN-1 (a rare disorder that affects cancer risk). But what a first-world problem, having to do twenty-odd minutes of imaging that could save my life!
