Mammogram

I have to have a mammogram!! I nearly fell off the exam table when Dr. Sheppard gave me the news at 5:30 tonight!! Yes, you read right! It was completely dark when I walked out of the Women's Clinic tonight at 6:00! My appointment was at 2:30 this afternoon. I heard alot of the patients grumbling about the wait, but I wanted to say that after you've had Dr. Sheppard holding your hand during your entire pregnancy and then help you push your tiny one into the world, you'll wait all day to see her! I feel that strongly about my doctor! She's the best!!

Anyway, back to the mammogram. We were talking...she was reading my chart and all of a sudden, I heard her say, "We're going to get you ready for a mammogram, too." I was like, "What? What did you just say?" "A mammogram!" I said, "Dr. Sheppard, I'm not old enough for a mammogram!" She said, "Laura, I'm only two months older than you and I've already had mine. You can do it! Com'on!" I didn't know whether I wanted to cry or laugh! Dr. Sheppard laughed. She said she normally recommends her patients get their first mammogram at 35 because that way she has a "base line." She thought the whole conversation was hilarious and I was more in shock than anything. I definitly wasn't expecting THAT today at my annual visit! One thing she did tell me was that she was worried about me after my last visit. I don't know if I mentioned it earlier in a blog, but I went to see Dr. Sheppard in October on advice from my boss. I poured my heart out to her. She told me today, "Laura, I'm going to be honest with you. I was really worried about you the last time I saw you. I was very concerned. But you look great today. When I saw you in the hall about a month ago at the hospital, I thought, "Oh, she's doing good. She looks good." And seeing you today makes me feel good that you're okay and you're beating this thing!" Now, that is coming from a doctor that lost twins at 23 weeks this year. I feel like my depression troubles are nothing compared to her situation, but she told me tonight, "I just keep trusting that God's got something bigger and better in store for me and I just keep thinking that it's going to be worth the wait." Wow! What a survivor!

Tonight, I drove home, still in shock. The whole situation was so funny that I began to laugh....laugh out loud, that is. And then I thought about the verse in Philippians 4:6, "...but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." The "with thanksgiving" part is what stuck in my head. So what did I do? I started thanking God right there in the car for everything and anything that related to boobs! I said, "Thank you, God, first of all, for my boobs. Thank you for a great boob doctor. Thanks, God, for all the boob machines and equipment (aka "technology"). Thank you, God, for the boob doctors that will read my results and thank you for the boob nurses (clarified later) that will help me through this rather embarrassing ordeal. Thank you, God, for boob laughter. I just knew that me and God were laughing together! So I called my friend, Leigh, who is a mammo tech (not a nurse. Techs do the mammograms...shows you how much I know about the clinical side of healthcare. Just give me a ten-key, please!) and cried in the phone, "Leigh!!! I've got to have a mammogram!!!" She called me later and we laughed about it. She said she would "fix me right up" and "not pinch me." She said that I "had connections!" We laughed again.

What a great day! Who in their right mind would have ever thought that I would be laughing about a mammogram!!?? And of all things to be laughing about after coming out of the darkness these past few months? God has been so good these last few months to place two special women in my life to remind me about the special gift we have called life. Sharon and Dr. Sheppard have encouraged me so much! I've left both of those women feeling like I was on top of my game again with God. And it is the best feeling in the world, knowing that you are walking closely with Him!