Graduation Day again

Today I went for a simple diagnostic test, the mammogram. But for me they aren't really all that simple. I have fibrocystic disease so I'm lumpy and bumpy all the time. All that stuff about how important self-exams are goes out the window with me. I couldn't tell a new lump from an old one or a big one from a small one. I'm always hopeful that if there is something new and sinister growing in there that I will be able to tell the difference, but I'm not confident that it's possible.

This dilemma is solved when the physicians compare my test results to prior exams to make sure the lumpies and bumpies are all exactly the same as they were on the last mammogram. I suspect this isn't so easy for the doctors doing reviewing the films either since they make me come back every six months for another mammogram. Sometimes they even make me stay so they can do an ultrasound just to be safe.

So no changes means I am free and clear. And this time the nurse says, "Not only are you good to go, you've graduated back to the once-a year exam schedule." Yippee! Nothing like removing suspicion from all the lumpiness I feel. As I drove away from the hospital I was thinking about what the nurse said. You see I've graduated twice in the last two weeks, once from college and now from these constant diagnostic vigils. Somehow this graduation seems more important than the other one. Nothing like a sense of well-being to make me feel alive.