NOV 20 — I hate mammograms.

They are, to me, the equivalent of torture routines misleadingly described as medical procedures.

Yet I cannot resist the lure of free medical diagnosis tests, thanks Socso, so I forced myself to wake up at too-early-o-clock to get tested at the medical centre just 10 minutes away.

Medical discomfiture

It’s 2024, how has a less invasive and less painful procedure to detect breast abnormalities not been invented yet?

Oh I forgot, much less money and time is spent on research on women’s health in comparison to, well, most other things.

Let me describe to you what a mammogram is like.

Those hospital gowns you wear with ties on the back? For mammograms you have to wear a reverse version for easier access to your front.

Then you will have to be still and yet at the same time, relaxed, as the medical attendant picks up your breast to place on top of a stand while you arrange your arms and body in various positions depending on what your radiologist needs.

Imagine having to raise one arm while the other arm is positioned in a way to push your other breast out of the way of the scanner.

In the meantime your breast is also being squeezed (or more accurately, being crushed) from above because apparently the best mammogram imaging can only be achieved by replicating the experience of a wine grape.

Basically, it’s like doing the YMCA dance in hell.

Bad news

After the invigorating (not) experience I had to be told, ma’am we see something funny in your scan so we suggest you do an ultrasound.

RM99 poorer, I then had to re-don the unsexy open front hospital top to have slimy goo slathered all over my front just so the ultrasound scanner could map the dense regions of my mammaries.

It was rather unpleasant as the hospital staffer felt the need to press rather firmly, which I was rather unused to as my previous ultrasounds had just needed a smooth glide over all that slippery goo.

"See this big mass? It’s 3cm, you know! Better not wait, do something!”

I was not expecting a firm admonishment to "do something” about a suspicious mass but I guess that’s par for the course.

After all, breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths for women in Malaysia.

Important decisions

The doctor who had reviewed both my mammogram and ultrasound reports, told me, yes, I should get that lump out so it can be checked for cancer.

I was puzzled as I thought the routine was usually to do a biopsy first, make a decision for treatment (surgery included) later.

Apparently this particular hospital’s recommendation, as the growth was sizable, it was safer to just have it removed and then sent off to pathology to save time so if it was cancer, I could then quickly get follow-up treatments such as chemotherapy or radiation if needed.

There was no pressure to schedule an operation right then so I decided to go home, check if my employer’s insurance covered it (it did) and then seek out a second opinion.

I promptly developed a migraine at having to look at my insurance coverage options, panel hospitals, researching surgeons, rereading my medical reports and then wondered if maybe it would just be easier to pretend the lump didn’t exist and if it was cancer, well too bad.

The sane voice inside of me said,”Don’t be stupid you’re only 46, you can roll over and die in another three decades.”

So if you’re middle-aged (40-59 years of age) and qualify for the free medical checkup and mammogram under the Socso Sehati program, please go take them.

You can read up on it here.

* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.