I used to train for them.

For two weeks before my scheduled mammograms I'd do some intensive training to get the girls ready.

Allotting 10 minutes for each "lady" I'd stand naked by the refrigerator and slam the door closed on them.

When that was done I'd lay down in the drive and have DH drive my jeep back and forth over each one.

Then we'd do 5 minutes in the workshop vice.

After a few weeks of that, mammograms were a breeze.

Okay, some of this is a medical reality.

Now we have what is called Thermography, which does not squeeze our boobs quite so hard, and uses a different kind of imaging. This is what new hospitals have and others are gearing up for it.

Check it out. You get the prescription for the process and you have to check out where you get it. I would be suspicious if my doctor flatly insisted on me going to one single place..to my mind that would say he/she had money ties to that one place.

Also, especially when having blood tests, I have been angry enough to walk out and go someplace else when told that I would not be allowed to pick up my test results, that they would only be sent to the doctor. I have a file folder with years of my test results, and some times the doctor has had to ask ME for a copy of my results, since she/he had not received a copy of them in a timely manner..say, one month after the procedure. Plus, I've checked with medical people I volunteered with when something on my test results didn't seem right, but the doctor never caught. They are well educated, but only human, and if questioned in a non threatening manner will be glad to re-check the results and discuss them with you.

The good old "smash and flash" as I lovingly refer to it! Painful but necessary. Thanks so much for sharing this great poem and more important message.

lucky you and all the others who don'd fell the pain of a mammogram, but to me it is one of the most painful experiences I have ever had, I suffer from neopathic pain disorder, fibromialgia arthritus to name just a few, but even tho it hurts like hell I still go back for more, am I a massacist (to tired to spell tonight) no I just need to get my lumps checked regularly and have neadle biopsies when required