For any female Mudcatters who have not yet had a mammogram, please be assured that it is not necessarily such an ordeal as has been described here. Please don't be put off from having it done because of tales of boobs feeling like they are squashed and squished in the fridge door or under car tyres !! (Those exercises were very funny, by the way, Freda). In reality, it certainly didn't feel like that to me. There was no more of a pressure on them than, for instance, they get when you lie face down on them (or - if you are lucky - someone, preferably a well-built hunk, lies face down on you !) By their very nature, boobs are squashy and bouncy and able to spring up like new, or.....well, let's face it, by the time we reach the age for routine mammograms, "nearly new" ;)

I know that waiting for the results of any medical tests is very difficult. Even when they are routine screenings, like mammograms or smears, whilst waiting for the results letter, always in the back of my mind I am preparing myself for what it might say and it makes me very aware of my mortality and appreciative of all the good people and good things in my life. It is always a strange time, but a good one. Life is a very precious gift, and anything we can do to help keep it going, and encourage others to do the same, can only be a good thing. That's why these tests are so important, ever-so-slightly squishy though they may be.

- jeanie