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Breast cancer awareness: Herald reporter takes that first step, shares mammogram experience

The Herald - 10/18/2018

Oct. 18--Forgive me, family, for it's been 23 years since my last mammogram.

Sounds like a Catholic confession, but that phrase kept echoing around my head like a record skipping on an old phonograph in a horror movie as I was taken back to the room where it happens.

No reason could excuse me from being so lax with my health.

October is breast cancer awareness month. It's a time when health care providers make it easy for women to get a mammogram. (See sidebar on getting a free or low-cost mammogram and cervical screening.)

So fear is my only excuse. And that's not good enough.

But a few good women pulled everything together and the cost was a couple mornings out of my week that would hopefully relieve my mind.

Lisa DiMuccio-Zgela, director of marketing and community relations for Sharon Regional Medical Center, could sense my fear when I told her that I volunteered to tell the story of experiencing my first mammogram in so many years.

She set up appointments.

"It's a great idea, and we will do this together," Lisa said over text message, adding a winking emoji.

Special arrangements were made, Lisa seeing me through each step.

First was a cervical screening with Tonia L. Skakalski, D.O., Obstetrics and Gynecology specialist. Her office is located at the back of the Diagnostic and Imaging Center, 2435 Garden Way in Hermitage, which is where I would be headed for a mammogram the next morning.

Skakalski's office was filled with women who were very helpful, discreet and not judgmental. That included Skakalski herself, who was very mild-mannered and knowledgeable. I got a quick call later that week with normal results.

The next day, I was swept in for a mammogram in the Diagnostic and Imaging Center.

I talked extensively with Valerie Rice, who has spent 20 years as a mammography technician, 10 with Sharon Regional.

"There's no judgement here," Rice said. "By having the mammogram, you're not preventing breast cancer, but you're finding it early when it's treatable."

Rice is correct, according to the American College of Radiology, which recommends annual mammograms for women age 40 and older.

Rice went through what she called her spiel. She asked me some background and medical history questions and explained exactly what I would go through during the actual screening.

"It takes me longer usually to go over their history than to do the actual test," she said.

Mammography technicians such as Rice have been referred to as heroes.

Rice said that after working so long, she usually knows if there might be a problem, but she is not allowed to inform the patient.

She has also become an expert at reading people's moods.

"Typically within the first two minutes, you can tell with their demeanor," Rice said. "We know as soon as we talk to you if you're anxious."

But she tries to ease the patient's mind.

"We just try to have a conversation throughout and try to keep their mind off of it," Rice said. "I let them know that we won't be taking a long time. I just try to encourage them, even if it's talking about their dogs or cats."

And she did her job well with me. I would certainly concur with the hero label.

After having four pictures taken on each breast for what is called a screening -- meaning they have no comparison scans -- I was taken to meet the radiologist.

Lisa, still at my side, explained that I was receiving special treatment. Normally, a patient receives results at a later date via a phone call from their onstetrics/gynecologist's office, she explained.

The radiologist, Dr. Danika Hogan, with Foundation Radiology, looked at me wide-eyed for waiting so long. But then she broke into a smile and said she is just happy I was brave enough to get a screening now.

Hogan explained that she did not see anything abnormal on my mammogram. However, if 2D technology were being used, which is the case in other mammogram screening facilities she works with, she would have called me back for a second screening.

Having that advanced technology worked in my favor, because I was a nervous wreck when I walked in.

And it took a collective effort from a few great women, but I felt a huge weight lifted as I walked out of the Diagnostic and Imaging Center that day.

"We'll see you next year, right?" Lisa asked.

"Yes, right on time," I said.

Follow Melissa Klaric on Twitter and Facebook @HeraldKlaric, email: mklaric@sharonherald.com

MORE INFO

-- For a free or low-cost mammogram, call The Susan G. Komen Foundation at 1-888-687-0505.

The foundation uses a voucher program, where you would go to the nearest imaging facility to undergo a mammogram screening.

-- For a free or low-cost cervical screening, check out the Healthy Woman Program sponsored by the state Department of Health at: https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/programs/Pages/HealthyWoman-Program.aspx

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