The Importance of Mammograms and a Morning Workout

The Importance of Mammograms
After talking to my Mom on the phone last night, I want to reinforce the importance of mammograms.  Even if that academy just said that women don't need them every year after 40, just after 50.  (Wonder if it's a ploy dealing with this new healthcare bill?)  A few weeks back, my Mom went for her annual mammogram (which ironically was read by my childhood friend who became a radiologist and again lives in our hometown).  Something didn't look quite right and they wanted her to have additional shots and a sonogram done and quickly.  When I talked to her about a week ago, they had told her it could be either calcification (which is normal and happens when women age) or pre/early stage cancer.  We didn't get overly worked up about it.

Yesterday they did the additional mammography and sonogram and determined that the mass is 2 inches by 2.1 inches and that they couldn't conclusively tell from the additional shots and the sonogram whether it was cancerous. Plus since it seems to be a circular mass, that's troubling because that's how breast cancer grows.  So now they have scheduled her for a needle biopsy of the mass on December 2nd.  She'll have the results sometime on December 3rd.  It still could turn out to be nothing, or it could be something.  Even if it is something, it should be early on. But without that annual mammogram, who knows where she would have been.  Of course all this is when I'll be in Atlanta, but at least I'll be with my girls so we can either celebrate that it is nothing or I can have support for bad news.  I'm hoping for the celebration, of course.

Morning Workout
This morning the little ladies were up and ready to go.  We had a little skirmish over choosing a straw, but overall the morning was good... other than the fact that Mr. Darcy and I had severely overslept. But I was determined to get my workout in this morning, especially because I didn't go yesterday because I was home with Angelfish.  Angelfish had no fever this morning, was a little stuffy but asked to go to school so she could play with her friends.  So, off she went along with Ladybug who was determined to earn her red token for the morning. 

The moment they pulled out of the driveway, I started my run.  Today was to be a 20 minute cardio session, running or biking, followed by weights.  So I ran the 1.5 or so miles to the Y.  I haven't run in awhile so when I hit the mile mark and my chest was tight and I seemed tired, at first I thought to myself... how is it that I got this out of shape with running in just the past few weeks.  And then I looked at my watch. I stared at it for a few seconds...

Turns out that I was tired because I had just done the 1st mile in 8:27!  Me.  The person who 11 minute miles are normal.  No wonder my lungs were feeling it.  So, I ended up at the Y in about 13 minutes.  I was sweating like mad.  But I got my two sets of the circuit and then squats and ab work in, and ran part of the way home when my leg started to hurt.  Not wanting to push my leg too much so I didn't set myself back in the healing leg process so I walked awhile.  But I ran about 2.25 miles out of the 3 miles.  So all in all I am quite thrilled.