*This story is strictly anecdotal, please consult a medical professional (which I am not) when seeking healthcare.*
So recently I got a mammography – my very first one. I must admit, I was apprehensive about the whole thing for, well, for several reasons. One, I don’t like going to the doctor’s office. I prefer the doctor’s office to a hospital, but neither of them suits my fancy. Two, I’ve encountered some doctors with poor bedside manner; some lazy doctors who treat their profession like it’s an afterschool job at Burger King; some hustlin’ doctors who want to prescribe you drugs for any and everything; some jaded doctors, who I guess have had to give too many bad prognoses to be hopeful about your outcome; doctors who give unsolicited advice about your personal life; and so on. I’ve found that finding a good doctor, is like finding a good hairdresser, or even good church. You have to try a lot of them on for size before you find the right fit.
Maybe it’s me. Maybe I’m just too picky. Yet not so much so that I won’t go. You gotta go to the doctor, man, woman, boy, girl. You still gotta go.
So I go, I just wish you didn’t have to be so fuckin’ prepared. You do know you gotta be prepared don’t you? You have to damn-near become a medical professional yourself to make sure these doctors are doing right by you. And I hate that we have to do that. I hate that that is the case, but in order to get the best care, no matter who the doctor is, you have to advocate for yourself. Because, healthcare, after all, is a business.
Sometimes I wonder if doctors get bonuses for prescribing you drugs. Case in point, last year during the early stages of the pandemic, I developed a rash on my middle and index fingers. It initially hurt, then the hurt gave way to itching like hell. When I told the doctor about it, a doctor I was new to, and showed her my fingers during a routine physical, she was like, “oh that’s excema,” and proceeded to prescribe me some steroids. I was like hold up, wait a minute. Okay, I didn’t say that, but I thought it.
I never even filled the prescription. I’m not trying to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger, I’d rather itch. Now before you get started, I know it’s not the same type of steroids that bodybuilders use, but still I didn’t want it. Also from that visit, I discovered that my vitamin D was really low. The doctor prescribed me some vitamin D as well, but I didn’t even bother filling that prescription either. Instead, I went to Sprouts and purchased all-natural, organic vegan vitamin D supplements. And this year, I’ll have you know, when I went back to the doctor for a routine physical, a different doctor this time, my vitamin D levels were sufficient.
But back to the excema. That rash begin to itch something awful. On top of that, it began to spread to other fingers (thankfully it never went beyond the fingers on my right hand, not even to my thumb). So one day I was eating an orange – an organic orange, by the way – and the itching got to be so annoying that I just wrapped a piece of the peel around my finger, and what do you know? It gave me relief. So I googled it, and found that the vitamin C in orange peel, particularly the white part, helps with excema. I belief the vitamin D I started taking helped as well. Also, I read somewhere that African black soap helps, and I washed my hands with that, and that also helped to reduce the appearance of the rash as well as the itching.
Also, I think all the weight I gained during lockdown contributed to the onset of my never-had-it-before-and-now-at-age-40-you-want-to-show-up eczema. In 2020, I had reached the largest weight I’d ever been passing the 240-pound mark, pushing 250. I think my body was probably reacting to all that extra weight and my lack of exercise. I’ve since lost a good 10 pounds or so, and I haven’t had any problems with that eczema in months – it’s really been a while. I still take my vitamin D, and try to eat my fruits and vegetables regularly. I get some sun and I exercise, oh and I wash with African black soap—and that has worked for me. But my thing is, the doctor didn’t mention any of that. It was just, let me write you a prescription. She didn’t ask me when did I first notice it, none of that. It was just let me write you a prescription.
Of course, my case of eczema was quite mild, everyone is different. The point is, I took in what the doctor had to say, and then made my own decision. It’s a partnership, not a dictatorship. I want to know my options, not be told what to do.
I said all that to say, I’m not always as vigilant or prepared when I go for a doctor’s visit, even when I prepare. Such was the case when I went for my first mammography. As someone who likes to take a more natural, holistic approach to health whenever possible, I’ve heard a lot of things to deter me from getting a mammogram. From the radiation that they pump into you doing more harm than good, to misdiagnoses both that you do and don’t have cancer, to, of course, how much it hurts.
But we live in a time and age where awareness is all the rage, and breast cancer is one of the main causes that takes center-stage (I couldn’t resist that rhyme). So much so that I know that October is breast cancer awareness month; I know that some black women get a form of the disease that’s more deadly than white women do; Yoplait used to have pink lids that I would mail in so they would give a donation to the Susan G. Komen foundation; I’ve had a family member who’s had it; I’ve known people who’ve had family members who’ve had it; and who doesn’t know about the pink ribbon?
Because of all that, I wasn’t going to rely on a daily intake of turmeric and filling up on green tea in hopes of avoiding it. I decided I needed to get a mammogram. I was hesitant, which is why I was 41 instead of the recommended age of 40, when I finally did it. I figured I’m better safe than sorry, you know, with all that stuff they say about early detection.
By the way, just in case I’m scaring you, let me be clear, I got my mammogram a couple of months ago and my results came back a-okay, or normal as they say. I’m just here talking about the experience of it all.
I was nervous when I left the house, but I took solace in the fact that it doesn’t last very long. So even if I would find it to be quite painful, and/or uncomfortable, it’s not so bad knowing it would soon be over. First of all, I went to the wrong location, which didn’t help anything, especially since you can’t wear deodorant, I kept wiping under my arms with these Dove wipes I got from Big Lots.
I got to the wrong location early, but now I was running late for the right place. I got there a couple minutes late, and it was one of those doctor’s offices where you have to pay for parking. Like why, just why? So I finally get in there and they made me fill out some paperwork, one asking me if I wanted the 3D tomosynthesis mammogram or the regular 2D mammogram. I opted for the 3D one, as that’s the one that my doctor put on my paperwork.
I’d done a little research on the 3D mammogram, and most of the research that I could find from Google and YouTube recommended the 3D version, as it was said to pick up smaller tumors and just give a better view of the breast in general to lessen the possibility that something would be missed. The only thing is the 3D version blasts you with twice the amount of radiation that the 2D version does.
Discovering that made me apprehensive, however it also said that it lessens call backs, so I just thought to myself let me make sure they can see clearly so I don’t have to come back unnecessarily. So I filled out and signed the paperwork, turned it in then went to another person who registered me and had me sign something else, then put one of those hospital wristbands on me, which I thought was weird, but whatever.
It wasn’t long before I was called back. They took me to a changing room, made sure I wasn’t wearing deodorant or lotion, and by made sure I mean they asked. So I go into the changing room, take off my top and bra then lock them in a cabinet. I put on a robe that went a little pass my waist and waited for the technician who came about three minutes later. She walked me to the mammogram room and explained what was about to happen, and then it happened.
They do one breast at a time. You stand in front of the machine and the technician maneuvers your boob into place, and by maneuver I mean push, pull, tug, smash, whatever she has to do to get it where she needs it to be to take the picture. I had a great technician by the way, she was very professional and helpful, but that part of the process alone is a bit uncomfortable. Since I got the 3D version, it took a little longer. She took four images one where my boob was smashed vertically, and one where it was pancaked horizontally for each breast. It took eleven seconds for each image.
The pain was actually not as bad as people make it out to be…at least it wasn’t for me. I mean you do feel the pressure of the compression, and the horizontal imaging was a bit worse. But overall, not so bad…or I thought. Later that night I developed a massive headache, I’m talking really bad. Now I can’t say for sure that the radiation from the mammogram was the cause of it, but that’s what I was thinking.
As I did more research, I read somewhere that the amount of radiation your zapped with in the 3D imaging mammogram is equivalent to seven weeks of radiation that you get in the environment regularly, except this is all at once.
I also read somewhere that sweet potatoes help rid the body of radiation, so needless to say, I started eating a lot of sweet potatoes.
Then later that night, still up with that headache, and up in general because I’m a night owl, coincidentally I saw this show that was talking about a form of breast cancer screening that was not only bereft of that slightly painful and uncomfortable compression, but also used no radiation.
It’s called the quantitative transmission ultrasound. Basically what you do is lay on a table and place your boob in a whole that’s in the table. The whole is filled with a little pool of water and the imaging is done in there. Currently it takes about five minutes for each breast in order not to be compressed, blasted with radiation, and not have my boobs pulled and tugged by the technician. I mean, this thing looks like all you need to do is be instructed on how to do it and you could do it without assistance, unless you needed it.
Immediately I was like I want this for next year. But when I looked it up, there were only three locations, one that was definitely out of operation, a second one in San Jose that I couldn’t really tell it was open, and the only one up and running in Scottsdale, Arizona. Like I’d be willing to make the trek to Scottsdale, Arizona once a year for this thing.
But the thing is, and this is where the business of healthcare comes into play, nobody is talking about this new technology. I believe it’s been FDA approved and everything, but it probably can’t compete yet with the companies that make the 3D and 2D imaging compression machines.
Back in the day, I used to work as a Sales Assistant at a book publishing company. They sold all kinds of books, but the division I was in did textbooks. Stay with me, I’m going somewhere with this. It was just amazing to me how they operated. They had 120 sales reps at least two in each state, that basically took college professors out to lunch and convinced them to use the company’s books in their classes. The company had a car leased out for each of them, they had an expense account for the times they had to take professors out, the whole nine. And there I was in college thinking that professors choose those books because they believed in them or they saw something special in them which they thought would aid in imparting knowledge to their students. Perhaps it’s all of the above, I just had no idea that some or maybe even all of them were getting schmoozed by sales reps.
I said all that to say that the same thing is probably happening in these doctor’s offices. Just like those sales reps got bonuses when they made a sale, I’m beginning to think that these doctor’s get a bonus when they prescribe you drugs. And the reason that these 3D and 2D breast cancer screening machines are so prevalent is probably because these big companies have great sales people out there making sure that their machines get into doctors’ offices.
Now don’t get me wrong, I saw a video on YouTube from the company that makes this new machine, and best believe they want to make a profit as well. And I’m fine with that, I’m all for capitalism. But if you’re going to profit, at least profit off of a machine that takes into consideration the experience of the human that has to be subjected to it, instead of just churning out results. The 2D and 3D imaging machines, may get the screening job done, but they do so in a way that is unpleasant for women. And I say if you can have a machine that gets the job done without the discomfort, I’m all for it.
So yes, go to the doctor, get checked, but ask them or maybe even tell them about this new machine. Or just ask them questions in general. The more we are an active participant in our health, the better it will be.
I’ll admit, I haven’t fully vetted this device, so please do your own research. See if this is something you can get with, or get the women in your life who need breast cancer screening into. In the meantime, I think I’ll start planning my trip to Scottsdale, Arizona for next year.
Oh, and by the way, Happy Thanksgiving!!!
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