The Mastectomy That Changed Her Life
A former Wayne resident shares how having breast cancer changed her life.
This is a four-part series about how breast cancer changed a woman's life. S.M. Jones is a former Wayne resident who still works in Radnor.
She didn’t think she disliked anything as much as she did the mammogram; especially the one that gave her the dreaded news.
It had been two years since she had one and the post card reminder she received prompted her to go ahead and schedule one.
She loved that statement that is repeated over and over again to you by the technician. “Hold your breath.” By that time, all you can do is not breathe as the technician has basically squeezed the breath out of you already.
She was told to go wait in the waiting area and that they would contact her shortly. Her first suggestion was to make those wrap-around cotton robes, which are as far from a fashion statement as you can get, in larger sizes. Sitting there in a small waiting area pretending to read out dated magazines until women are called feels like the longest wait in the world.
One by one, she watched as women were called and told to “Go ahead and get dressed, you may leave now.” When she noticed several women leaving who had arrived after her, she became worried.
“That’s odd.” She muffled under her breath.
“What’s that, honey?” An older woman sitting next to her asked.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I was speaking out loud, but I’m a bit concerned. The last two women that left came out of the exam room after me. I thought they read the pictures as you finished with them.” She responded with a question in her voice.
The woman’s voice changed a little bit, one of a little more concern. “Well, um, maybe they have several doctors reading the tests.” With that she lowered her head and continued to read the two-month old magazine.
That created the first turn of her stomach. A technician appeared at the corner of the room and called her back for more pictures, giving her the excuses that a picture was fuzzy or perhaps she had moved. How could she move? She was clamped to the machine.
Part Two: The Mastectomy That Changed Her Life
