Mammogram emrarassement

[GizmoIsSoFluffy]

Turned 50 this week and wham, had my first mammogram. I was SO embarrassed by it all I cried the whole way through as I hated standing there with a naked top half. I've always hated my body and teenie boobage, but with breast cancer in my family I thought it best to get checked out.

Anything hapoened to anyone else during this procedure which can make me feel better about this...

After the last gynie appointment I had, standing around tits out is easy peasy (young arrogant male doctor who asked me, as I was there legs akimbo with what seemed like 10 nurses looking on, if I really needed the implant he was putting in. He pissed me off so much I involuntarily tensed up and the speculum went shooting out and landed on the floor with a clatter. He was mad but all the nurses behind him were laughing their heads off - all the women in the room could see what an absolute arsehole he was).

You arent really vulnerable in the mammo room - they will protect you. And they are dedicated to helping you. The worst thing for me is that it is always bloody cold. Make conversation - thinking about that helps me take my mind of it.

I had one awful day at the one stop clinic. My appointment was at 8.30. I arrived in an empty clinic at 8.15. I was first in line at the check in queue. Nothing happened for 75 minutes. Staff trailed in at about 9.40.

Admin asked me to confirm my personal details. There must have been 35 randoms behind me for various clinics. I asked if I could write them down because I was concerned about my identity records. I got a dirty look "nah, I aint bein blamed for typin em in wrong". I ovjected and was shouted at.

I saw a Dr who was rude and abrupt and had cold hands who painfully aspirated three/four cysts and stopped because I asked her to.

I was then sent to the next waiting room and advised to strip to the waist and put on a gown. With 20 women with our baskets under our chairs containing our clothes I then waited from 10.30 until 1pm. At 12.30/1 the staff started to loudly chat about their lunch. At that point I asked why there was a delay and what was happening. I was ignored so I pressed ot and noted some of us might have to top up parking machines and if staff got lunch what about us and could we get dressed. The nurse shouted at me but did come back and tell all the women we could dress and go for lunch, join our partners, etc.

When we got back some of us refused to get undressed again. At about 3pm I saw the senior Dr and got a dressing down because delays were caused because a lady had had bad news. She was not impressed when I ventured that I appreciated that but some communication wpuld have been nice and it was a shame that lady had been sent back to wait in the main waiting room on her own, where I scooped her up in tears.

I was sent back to the original dr to have another couple of cysts aspirated. All well apart from that.

It was a disorganised shamvles woth zero respect for women whonwere herded like cattle.

It was not the way to run a service or to behave towards women other humans. Zero dignity, zero courtesy.

Kingston Hospital. They don't do it like that any more. I complained. It was taken quite seriously. The next time I went to the Marsden in Sutton, we had moved. It was better - only the Dr was fucking rude.

I fainted during my first mammogram OP because the last part of the procedure was so incredibly painful. It must have been that mammographer’s technique ( I had eaten beforehand so not hypoglycaemic) because all mammograms since have been incomparable but it’s left me feeling anxious about it.

Our mammogram.service is in a trailer in the local hospital car park 🙄 there are tiny changing cubicles like shop changing rooms, nothing about mammograms is dignified or pleasant, but I know from experience with a friend that it saves lives. Next time plan a treat for yourself afterwards to reward yourself for getting through it. 🥰🥰

Oh great - another unnecessarily humiliating and uncomfortable procedure that women are supposed to be grateful for. It makes me so angry. I am 43, so haven’t been yet. I suspect I will pay up and go private when the time comes - shitty for those who can’t do this and also shitty that those of us who feel we have to pay in order to avoid these experiences.

I am really angry about smear tests - they only test for HPV, which can be done with far more dignity, but we are still subjected to the whole speculum and spotlight horror show, covered by a sheet of paper towel if we’re lucky. And again, we are supposed to be grateful. No wonder so many people skip it.

It found early breast cancer in my friend about six months ago. She had a lumpectomy and radiotherapy and prognosis is good. If she hadn’t gone they may not have found it for some time (she couldn’t feel anything).
I have always found the nurses/technician very gentle and respectful. No it’s not comfortable and if you don’t like your body doubly so. But they’ve seen it all and just want to get you through the procedure as efficiently as possible.

I have one implanted breast, as it never developed when I was younger. It's gone hard, but they won't replace it on the NHS. Years ago, I had an uplift on the other side, as the difference between them was huge, so there's scar tissue there. I have fibromyalgia, biggest symptom is extremely sensitive skin, so, all in all that is the biggest nightmare ever for me. As for lopping them out, that's the easy part for me! TBH I'd rather have both a colonoscopy AND a smear on the same day than go through that.... BUT.... firstly, it's their job, they don't judge, don't even look much really, and secondly, PLEASE keep going whenever you're summoned, as will I. You just never know, and it's true - early detection saves lives, it really does. As a bowel cancer survivor, I know.
A few minutes of embarrassment, then go and treat yourself to something fabulous

The procedure is horrible, but you did it @GizmoIsSoFluffy - so, well done. Some technicians are lovely, understanding and as gentle as they can possibly be, preserving your dignity as much as possible. Some others perhaps need to get a refund from their charm school. You did it; it is over, and I hope it is a reassuring result. 💐

I am sorry you found it scary. But please don’t stop having them. I missed my first mammogram when I turned 50 as they were cancelled in Covid. When I eventually got called at the end of last year they found a 2 cm lump in my right breast. I have no family history of cancer. It was cancer and I had it removed and radiotherapy at the start of this year and now have them annually for 5 years. I have my first of the annuals next week. However I now only have one and a half boobs as they removed the tumour and the equivalent of a block of butter (250g). It’s not going to be pleasant squishing what I have left in but I will do it. Without that very first mammogram they wouldn’t have found it. It was so deep no amount of self checks would have helped. I now tell all my friends and strangers , mammograms are good !

Can you do that with NHS?

How will having a mammogram be different by going private? The procedure is exactly the same. And equipment used for the BSP has to meet rigorous standards and have regular testing.

@Pennyfan I have had both. When the NHS does it well, there's no difference. However, privately there is a little more time, a little more dignity and the staff from reception to the waiting room are more polite. Because the procedure doesn't take place in a van in a car park, the walls are thicker and there is more privacy. None of the staff raise their voices or bark roughly of one dares ask if a 40 minute delay might take much longer. If there's a delay, they let you know and apologise. There's also no "darlin", "lovey", "dear" nonsense.

Oh, and if any of the staff need further information, they say please and thank you.

Hopefully being treated like an actual human being, as opposed to some of the experiences described upthread. I am very lucky that I have been treated privately on several occasions and the difference is astonishing - it has nothing to do with the equipment and everything to do with the attitudes of the staff and the quality of care. I also have plenty of experience with the NHS before anyone says you are treated like a human in that environment too - yes, if you are lucky, but absolutely not across the board.

Tbh you just sound a bit naive @Pennyfan if you pay it is better, in every single way imaginable (perhaps with the exception of dire emergencies although that only relates to the facilities, rather than human side of things). If you are paying for a service the providers know that you will not accept being treated like cattle. If the end result is all that is important to you, then fine, I guess the NHS will do - but if you don’t want to wait for the appointment or the results and you want to be guaranteed some dignity, then private is better. Don’t get me wrong - I believe that everyone should have this standard of treatment, not just those that can pay for it - the NHS feels like an excuse for shoddy treatment and I loathe the way women are treated in these situations where they are vulnerable.

I had a great time at mine, worried myself silly, went to it - the lady who did it was really lovely and very gentle, I have big norks so was expecting them to pop !! Nope it was over and done with in 5 minutes.
Boobs are boobs and they are there for a purpose, by the time you’re 50 they’ve got stories to tell themselves lol gravity and burger nips, stretch marks and when I was younger the trend was to have your favourite tellytubby tattooed on them so it could be worse- the next person in could have a stretched out tinky wonky on display.

Just read the last few comments about going privately - I’ve had a mammogram, regular smears,3 internal scans (different times) and a hysteroscopy with 5 biopsies taken and no pain relief and honestly I couldn’t have been treated any better, respectfully or supported if I’d payed.
the NHS has a fabulous when it works well.

Only you can make yourself not embarassed. But i do have this theory that those with small breasts do find it harder. I have large pendulous breasts and have had them every year since 40 without even discomfort. There is one thing though - we are given a gown to put on backwards so only the side being worked on is exposed. Did they not do that? Also you may have just been unlucky - maybe you radiologist lost a loved one the day before or something and was less helpful than usual.

I’ve had one. Grim. I was cold and it hurt. But needed

My stepsister said when they were dpimg rounds as medical students she tried to apologise with her eys and face f9r the behabiour of the older senior doctors. They young doctor should have known better and hopefully had this explained to him by a nurse old enough to be his mother or year one teacher.

At my first mammogram, aged 51, sharp intake of breath from the radiographer who said, “How long has your nipple been inverted?”. So began the process that led within a few weeks to mastectomy, followed by chemo and radiotherapy. It was 18 years ago and to hell with embarrassment, it saved my life.

I fainted during mine , I have no idea why.
It didn't hurt but it was odd being topless in the tiny waiting room before going into being scanned.
It was just an odd experience but very quick.

Most people have had a bad experience with mammograms. I often wonder how a man would cope with going to a caravan, in a supermarket car park, and putting his scrotum on a shelf and then having it compressed with a sheet of plastic! I remember one particular mammogram I had when I was ushered into the very end changing room in the caravan and when asked if there was a gown to put on or whether I could wear a blouse until I got into to the X-Ray room, I was told 'no, there's only us here' and I had to walk the length of the caravan with nipples touching my waist! I didn't go the next time I was called, but I went 3 years later. I'd moved to another county in that time and the experience was so different they treated me with so much dignity. Some people are just better at dealing with affective domain. When I lived in the USA, I was called at an earlier age, the equipment is so much better, there's no compression, they supply you with a front fastening gown, in a cubicle in the X-Ray room, which you wear throughout the procedure and just slip one sleeve out at a time,

I would've loved a gown that I could just shrug off one side at a time. At least some illusion of being covered up.
My last mammogram lady wasn't rude or anything, but slightly brusque and impatient. No niceties, just a series of commands "shoulder back, pull your hair out the way, step back, lean forward" etc. A nicer bedside manner would have made the whole thing more pleasant tbh.

Unfortunately men also have. Some unpleasant examinations if prostate cancer is suspected. Finger up the bum (not v reliable) and they used to do a biopsy via a probe up the bum which could cause an infection. A relative had this done at the beginning of covid and ended up in hospital with sepsis. Fortunately he survived. There’s no screening programme for prostate cancer as yet.
At least we have breast and cervical screening even though they aren’t especially pleasant and can be painful for some women.
I’m just grateful that my breast cancer was found by a mammogram because not even the surgeon could feel it. All treated now.

I had my first Mamogram near where I live in Ireland just before the Covid lockdown. I spent the lockdown in London as we live very remotely in Ireland. I got a callback to have something checked but it was really difficult to travel. I had genetic testing for cancers while living in the USA and was advised that I had a low inherited risk. I also check very regularly for any irregularities so wasn’t unduly worried. The hospital called me a lot to return for further tests and for lots of reasons months past until they called me one day and went crazy down the phone 😳 I made it to the follow up appointment the next time I was back and was completely and rightly read the riot act 🤦🏼‍♀️ They are embarrassing and uncomfortable … but at least they don’t have to stick their finger up our bum.