A few weeks ago I went in for my mammogram.  I turn 40 in a few months, and this has been on my to-do list for my 40th since my 20s when I went through a series of surgeries.  Back then my ovaries, breast, & cervix all decided to grow unnecessary growths (bad cells, cysts, & a tumor). I've been surgery-free since 1998 though!  Still, my grandmother had breast cancer & I had that unnecessary lump (and surgery to remove it), so it's something I need to be vigilant about . . . and I THOUGHT I was. My doctor, however, gently chastized me with a "you should've started going at 36."  Still, she didn't find anything in the exam, so I expected the mammogram to be non-eventful.

I was wrong.  They called the next day, but I wasn't freaked out.  Because there was nothing in self-exam or doctor exam I though it was a mistake.  Still, better safe & all that, so I had a diagnostic mammogram and an ultrasound. Those revealed a tumor.

We needed to see if it was malignant. . . except that I needed not to have any meds that were blood thinners for a week before they could check. I waited 6 days, & then they harpooned me & took their samples.

. . .and then I waited 4 more days to learn the results.  

Last Monday, I learned that the tumor is NOT cancer. I'm fine. (And a week and a half AFTER the harpooning, the incision is mostly healed and the bruising is almost gone!)

So why am I telling you?  
Because they only found it because I had a mammogram. I KNOW (especially after the number of them I've had in the past 3 weeks!) that they suck. They're uncomfortable. Seriously? Round object squished into square box? Totally NOT comfortable. However, they can find things our self-exams can't. The first time I needed surgery for an alien growth was because of a doctor's exam, so yeah, they CAN be found that way.  Do your self-exams & doctor exams too. Just don't overlook the mammogram either.
 
Things that are related
In one of those weird timing things, I had signed the papers for life insurance the morning of my mammogram. Last year, I tackled will & estate planning paperwork. I'd had a basic will for years--the result of being married to Marine was that we both had that--but it didn't cover my book stuff.  I'd also had life insurance until 3 years ago, but that was also via Loch's job.

So here's the footnote . . . I've had all of that stuff for years because my daughter isn't mine biologically. That means that I had to put it in writing that I INTEND her to be to treated as if I were her biological mother. Motherhood isn't only biological. She & I find the term "step-mother" offensive, and we have never used it. If I'm the one who cares for her daily needs, who RAISES her, the fact that there were 9 months when she wasn't growing inside me is truly unessential data. The law isn't quite so reasonable though, so I needed to have paperwork that clarified that my children are equal even though only one has my DNA. Knowing that my kids financial needs would be met via life insurance & will made those couple weeks a lot easier. 

We all hope we don't need that stuff any time soon, & luckily, this tumor (which my son named "Howard") is benign. Still, waiting until you might need it isn't an ideal plan. 

So therein ends my sorta mothering reminders. Get your mammograms, women, and men/women, be sure your paperwork is in order BEFORE you need it bc if you run up against the possibility that you will need it, having it already squared away really does decrease the burden of things to worry about.