I had a routine mammo done a few months ago, and they said I had to come back for more imaging because one of my breasts looked different compared to last year’s mammo. I rescheduled my appointment twice and finally got in today. Three of my dear friends got diagnosed with breast cancer in the past five years (two are in remission and one just finished chemo), so I was already a little anxious going in.

The lady did my mammo, and told me to wait a bit. She was going to have the radiologist assess my results and see if I need further imaging and/or an ultrasound. I’m waiting by myself in the mammo room for half an hour, fiddling with the ties on my exam gown, thinking the worst as the minutes ticked by. The lady comes back super apologetic for the wait, but everything was fine and I was cleared to leave.

I drove home feeliing lighter than when the day had started, and took my favorite route through PCH 🌴✨

When I got back to my apartment, I ran into my neighbor, Donna, in the elevator. She’s this older lady who has lived in this building longer than I have. I haven’t seen her since before I had the stroke, and I didn’t think she still lived here, but she lives on another floor. She always knows the chisme, and got me up to speed on all the tenants that have moved out and are moving in. She said a new girl was moving into the studio next to mine, but she hasn’t moved in yet. She said, ‘girl’, but Donna’s like 100-years-old, so IDK what she considers young LOL. I asked what happened to the lady who used to live there, and she was like, ‘Oh the deaf lady? She just moved out.’ I was relieved she didn’t die in there, but I felt like an asshole because I never knew she was deaf, and I’ve said, ‘Hi’ to her before to no avail, thinking she was rude 😅

Update: Someone else I love coincidentally also had a mammo follow up today and wasn’t cleared like I was 😔 Hoping for a more positive outcome after her biopsy 🙏🏼