well, that was new

It's Thanksgiving vacation! A whole week without school for me or my kids. And what am I doing? Editing my grad school portfolio until 2 or 3 am every night. Shoveling sidewalks. Making trips to the orthodontist. And, on this--the freezing-est cold morning with icy slick roads, I woke up waaaay too early to go have one of these:

A Mammogram!

Yes--I'm only 35 years old and these aren't really necessary till 40 and beyond, but given my family history of breast cancer, my doctor wanted me to start early.

So--have you had one of these before?

It's, umm....interesting.

And squeeze-y.

And if I'm being honest, coupled with the ObGyn appointment I have this afternoon (seriously!), I'd say it makes for the most "action" I've gotten in 2 1/2 years. I'm just sayin' :).

Honestly, if you have never had a mammogram, it's not as bad as you might have heard. There is some slight discomfort, but no more than you probably have when your kids crawl all over you while you're trying to take a nap. The female employees there were all kind, patient in explaining what they were doing, and respectful of my modesty. The worst part was that one old, creepy guy in the waiting room kind of grinning while looking through the boobie pamphlets.

I am grateful to live in a country with such an advanced medical system that resources like mammograms are so easily and readily available to us. And while there are a lot of other "grams" I find more pleasant: telegrams, candygrams, monograms, my gramma, graham crackers, that Graham guy from the Food Network, and Jem and the Holograms....this one was far better than, say, a gram of cocaine.

Now, I'm going to go buy the girls some Cafe' Rio for lunch for being so good :).

*and I had to do a p.s. here...because I just came back from my pap smear. My ObGyn, whom I've been a patient of for 11 years and 3 babies, laughed when I told him about my "day of groping". He came back in the room with a lollipop and a balloon and said "Here, now you can say someone has wined and dined you before they had their way with you." TMI? Maybe. But I'm STILL laughing about it :).