A Bagels And Boobs Mammogram Party
I don’t always practice what I preach. Regular mammograms, for instance. Last year I realized I had skipped a few, so I decided to turn my procrastination into an opportunity to reach out to those of my patients guilty of the same thing.
I made arrangements with my hospital to monopolize half their schedule one Saturday morning, put flyers up in my office and talked it up like crazy to every eligible woman I saw. On the appointed day, I brought a whole bunch of bagels, half a dozen spreads (I asked the ladies to bring their own coffee), and we proceeded to have a blast! Or as much fun as you can have getting your boobs squished. Hey; it’s all in the name of early detection.
Last year’s final tally was a bakers dozen (twelve patients plus me), out of which about 5 people were called back for more views (mainly those with old films not readily available from other institutions), 2 benign biopsies were done, and one case of invasive breast cancer was diagnosed and treated. Not bad, I thought.
Now it’s time for the Second Annual Dr. Dino’s Bagels & Boobs. Yes, that’s what I call it: I bring the bagels, everyone else brings the…rest.
I find it especially poignant to be making this announcement today, of all days; it has been exactly twenty-five years since my mother died of breast cancer. I can’t think of a better way to honor her memory.
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Dinosaur*