Get ‘em out, Get ’em checked, it could save your life

So lets talk boobies. More precisely, the dreaded reminder that I am becoming increasingly elderly. My 3 yearly breast cancer screening appointment for the over 50s. Yippee!!! My favourite thing to do!! Whip out my puppies and slap them on an Xray machine! And when I say puppies, in my case more like enormous Great Danes that have lived on a diet of KFC and Dominoes for 5 years! What a treat! NOT!! But it has to be done. I don’t want to do it, but I want cancer far less so needs must.

I had missed the dates for the mobile unit that comes to Redcar Hospital so I had to go to the Breast Cancer Screening Unit in the One Life at Middlesbrough. Found it dead easy and there was plenty of parking. I was slightly early but the receptionist took me straight through to the changing room. Covid risk was minimal, all very clean and I only saw the mammographer (the lady who does the scan) and receptionist. I started out having to strip to the waist and wipe the area to be scanned with antiseptic wipes. I put my top back on and waited for the mammographer to call me.

So the session starts with a few questions, typically my details and had I had breast surgery etc, nothing intrusive. Bonus!! She didn’t ask how much alcohol I drank, thank the Lord! Then I removed my top and stood at the x-ray machine. The mammographer then took 4 x-rays, 2 for each breast, and each time she put me into the right position. The machine kind of squashes your boob and it certainly isn’t pleasant but nor is it agony either, it is over in seconds. I then got dressed and left, awaiting the results in 2 weeks, which is a bit daunting.

So all done in less than 10 minutes, from entering the door to leaving again. There’s only female staff in the unit and it’s the simplest process ever. I can honestly say the hardest bit about the whole process was the right-hand turn at the traffic lights from Linthorpe Road to Borough Road coming home again (I hate that junction).

My former boss, Shirley, was a nurse from 16 to when she retired early at about 53, ready to enjoy her free time. Within a few years of her leaving work, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Suddenly, that long and happy retirement looked unlikely. However, the cancer was caught early and she’s now cancer free and has been for a number of years. In fact she’s just recently completed the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge. The day of my mammogram I thought of her, not a person in a magazine or a celebrity I didn’t know. She had been my boss for many years. I have learnt that if caught early enough, 9 out of every 10 cancers diagnoses are successfully treated. Shirley has her retirement back.

All I want to say ladies, is that we are so lucky to have these screening programmes. Please, please, please take advantage of them.