NIPPLE TAGS

NIPPLE TAGS

     Once a year a group of friends and I walk in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Newport Beach, California. This day serves as a reminder to me to schedule my yearly mammogram appointment.

     I arrived early for my appointment and the technician took me right in. Instead of going into the dressing room to change, she ushered me into the mammography room and handed me a gown, telling me to put it on backwards. If this had been my first mammogram, I would have been a bit taken aback by the lack of modesty. Since I’m not a virgin, I didn’t really care if I had a gown on or not. Her businesslike manner was destined to get me in and out of there in record time, I figured.

     Next step was the nipple tags. Nipple tags? Those are the little blue tags in the picture. There’s a tiny metal nipple right in the center of them. I’m not sure what they’re for, but when she told me to put them on my nipples, I did just that.

     Then she instructed me to step up to the machine and fling my right breast onto the plate. After the fact she said the machine was cold and her hands were, too. No kidding. Ice cold. She pulled, she tugged, and finally got my breast where she wanted it. Then she cranked the top plate down to flatten the breast like a pancake. I was trapped. “Hold your breath, don’t breathe,” she said. Really? I’d been holding it since my boob was clamped in the vise. All I could think about as she took the picture was, “What if there’s an earthquake? What if the power goes out? Will this stupid machine release or am I stuck in here while everyone else exits the building to safety?”

     The whole thing was repeated with the left breast, then it was time for side views. I thought I knew the drill. I took my arm out of the gown and sidled up to the machine, raising my right arm in the air and grabbing part of the machine to hold onto. Not good enough. She leaned her whole body against me in order to get me positioned just right. She pulled and tugged again and finally clamped me in for the sideways view. Right side done, then left, and I was good for one more year. I put my bra and blouse back on and waited for the technician to check the images to make sure they’d turned out well. I loved the next words, “Okay, they’re fine. You’re finished.”

     I know she’s not the radiologist and can’t diagnose, but as a nurse I also know if she’d seen anything suspicious she probably would have taken a few more views before sending me on my way. So far there have been no phone calls. One of these days I’ll get an envelope in the mail with the results of my mammogram and a notice to come back next year. Peace of mind.

     Oh, and I got a parting gift; the nice little pink coin purse in the picture. I’d forgotten all about my mammogram until I got ready for bed that night. I took off my bra and there were the nipple tags, still attached. What the heck are those things for anyway?

VEGETARIAN TACOS

VEGETARIAN TACOS

1 large sweet onion

1 red bell pepper

1 can black beans

½ cup frozen corn

4 tomatoes

2 zucchini

1 small can tomato sauce

½ packet taco seasoning mix

Olive oil

Corn tortillas

Sliced avocados

Slice onion and red bell pepper into thin strips. Cook in olive oil over medium heat until onions are translucent and soft. Add frozen corn. Rinse black beans with water and drain. Pour in tomato sauce. Add ½ packet of taco seasoning mix. Cut tomatoes into eight pieces and add to skillet. Simmer until tomatoes are cooked. Slice zucchini and add to skillet. Continue cooking until zucchini is crisp tender.

Serve with corn tortillas, sliced avocado and salsa if desired.

Restore Previous Session

I wish it were that easy. Last week my computer crashed and after several days of going back and forth with tech support, my hard drive was totally wiped out and I had to start over. I learned an expensive lesson in the process; never, never throw out old program CD's thinking you won't need them again. After searching for my Microsoft works CD in every spot I could think of, a tiny memory in the back of my brain began to grow, telling me I'd thrown it away the last time I loaded it onto a computer. For $149.00 I was able to buy a new Microsoft CD and load it back. During this process I was frustrated, angry at the computer gods, sad at the items I lost that can't be retrieved, and grateful that I did have most everything backed up.

The process also got me thinking about how my life has been lately. I crashed. My mother died. No matter how prepared you think you are, you're not. No one can take the place of Mommy. Especially when you had a really good Mommy who turned into a really good friend later in your life. Now I have to figure out how to rebuild my hard drive and get all the programs reinstalled. Some of them are lost forever, I'm sure. I'm grateful for the items that can be reinstalled. It's going to take a lot of work, I know. I doubt that I will emerge the better for it...so far my computer isn't better, in fact it's no where near where it was before. But who knows? Maybe I'll get part of my previous session restored.

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