29 July 2008

Three handsome men

Today was not an ordinary day.

Started in the wee hours with a two-hour drive to Vacaville and Travis AFB with my sweet grrlfriend J in tow. Parked at the USAF hospital there, found the Women’s Health Clinic and had a biopsy done on the lump(s!) the VA docs discovered in my left breast a couple of months ago.

Despite long needles, a small slice through the skin, and several metal-bite mouthfuls of my living self drawn from way down inside, I didn’t feel a thing. Numbed, of course. Thank goodness.

And there’s nothing more to say right now. I’ll know whether the lump(s!) are benign or malignant within a week, possibly sooner. My fingers are crossed for good news.

I’m home now. Numb is wearing off, and I’ve an icepack stuffed in my bra. I’m a little sore, but so far, so good, and I don’t expect it to get much worse.

Here’s the fun part (I always try to look for the bright side):

After the ultrasound tech located the lump(s!) with her scanner, and cleaned the area where the needle would go, the doctor walked in. To my surprise, he was young, quite handsome and dressed in a black T-shirt and camouflaged pants. Ahah… active duty Air Force! I experienced a moment of embarrassment. After all, I’m not accustomed to baring my breasts – one or both – to men 20 years my junior, even if more people of various ages and genders have seen my naked chest in the last three months than in the last 30 years. But I got over it. My young looker of a doc gave me a big smile, shook my hand, explained the procedure and then told me that his colleagues would be coming in any minute.

Colleagues?

Whoa. Two more young, very handsome men dressed just like him walked in. Two more big, friendly smiles. Me and my bared breast were thinking, what? What? Shouldn’t we be, like, mortified or something?

But I wasn’t. Friendly as they were, they were also all business. They got to work. The first young man was the doctor who did the actual procedure. The second doctor assisted. And the third stood in the background, watching the whole thing, making quiet suggestions and offering advice.

I admired their nice faces and their nice muscles when I wasn’t watching the surreal action on the ultrasound screen. Fascinating. All of it.

And then it was done, and I got more big smiles and praise for being such a great patient, and then they were gone and I was putting the top half of my clothes back on and J and I were on our way home.

She said, “Why didn’t you tell them you needed me in there with you for moral support? I would have loved gazing at three handsome men for 20 minutes! I’m so jealous!”

And so we laughed. Found a place to have some breakfast along the way home, after which J would no longer allow me to drive, as I was a bit giddy and distracted. Gosh, wonder why?

I’m still smiling though, several hours later. And trying not to worry.

5 comments:

Sketch said...

Oh boy. I would've just died, I know it, in that situation. One man seeing me bare-chested would be face-reddening enough for me, but three??? Lucky you ;)

Oh, and what's this about lump(s!)? How many are there?

Wren said...

Seems there are two, at least, and the larger of those is made up of several smaller ones. They couldn't tell for sure. (sigh).

20 years or so ago I might have been red-faced. But now, not so much. Mostly I was struck by how YOUNG they all were. It's ... a strange feeling.

Anonymous said...

Oh Geez, Wren! I can just picture the whole thing! I think I would've wanted to jump up and run out of there. lol.

Good for you seeing a bright side to things. Or a "cute" side, whichever.

Praying for the best for you over here.

will said...

Amazing how medical procedures - so personal and private - neutralize our common reactions and sense of modesty.

I've had the guy version of such things and my thought as a woman doc or nurse did something was "Oh, well ... they do this all the time."

As for your doc's age ... I've read that, in general, younger docs are more up to date on new procedures, treatments, etc than are older docs.

Larry Jones said...

I thought maybe we were going to get a "Letters to Penthouse" type of post but, barring that, I'll hope for the best possible outcome for you.