From A Repeat Mammogram to a Triple Blessing

I celebrated 12 years of being cancer-free and 4 days later underwent a repeat diagnostic mammogram. I struggled to keep dread and fear under control and sang “How Great Is Our God” in my head.

Because it was a diagnostic mammogram, the doctor read the results that same morning. The nurse returned with a radiant smile and said the results were negative. I wanted to dance down the hall with a sign that said, NEGATIVE, NEGATIVE, NEGATIVE. That good news was my first blessing.

I had left a copy of my book, Finding Hope for Your Journey through Breast Cancer, in the Mammogram Clinic and one in the Radiation Clinic with instructions to give the book to the first person to come in with a recent diagnosis of breast cancer.

Meanwhile I talked with my former radiation therapist. Imagine my horror when she said she hadn’t had a mammogram since 2006 and her mother had recently completed breast cancer treatment. How could someone who treated cancer patients Monday through Friday ignore her own health?

She said she had a prescription for a mammogram somewhere in her briefcase.

I wouldn’t leave until she found the prescription and scheduled an appointment within the week. She found the prescription and scheduled her mammogram for six days later. That was my second blessing.

As I was leaving the Radiation Clinic, a young woman thumbed through the pages of my book. The receptionist introduced me to her, and we hugged. What a wonderful third blessing to meet the lady who would read my book.

Copyright © by Yvonne Ortega January 25, 2013