I admit it; I just forgot to make my yearly mammogram appointment.  I had just gotten married, moved to another state and was a new step mom.  To say my life had changed was the understatement of the year.  All of a sudden I remembered, mammogram…hmmm, when was the last one?  Was it last year?  Two years ago?            

 I quickly made an appointment with a breast center here in Seattle WA.  I had never had any problems before and of course didn’t anticipate any problems now.  I’m healthy, I eat well (kind of a side effect of being a nutritionist) and exercise. So when I got the call that something suspicious had been found on my mammogram, I must admit, I thought they had just gotten my records confused with some other patient. There are many stages to someone’s reaction to that kind of news.  Denial (I’m just too busy to go back in for another test), fear (all of those crazy, what if questions) and then there is just a pure adrenal stress reaction-let’s just get this over with…            

I did go back, I did get re-tested and I got a partial bill of health.  I need to wait another six months and go back to see if my “something suspicious” changes in any way.             How would I do it differently?  I would have been consistent with my mammograms, gone every year on my birthday (or pick any date that you can remember from year to year). That way I would have had a picture, year by year so that any changes could be monitored closely.            

The last bit of advice I should have followed?  Even though I am a healthy younger woman with good habits, I should have followed the basic advice of my physician, “get a yearly mammogram”.                       

Take the time, make your appointment and talk to your health care professional about getting on a schedule to make sure you get all of the tests necessary for a woman (or man) your age. 

Deborah Herlax Enos, CN

Nutritionist for FUZE