BECAUSE YOU ARE OF THAT AGE

Every time I put on one of these gowns I think of Mary Jo from Designing Women. #womenshealth

"Every time I put on one of these gowns I think of Mary Jo from Designing Women. #womenshealth"

I'm not even sure where to begin with this post. I had my yearly women's health exam and before every one gasps out an "are you OK?!?!?!" I will say that I am doing just fine. My doctor is nice and funny and easy to be around which is important when you're trusting someone to touch you uncomfortably. She is also my age. Now usually, I would be pleased about having a doctor who knows about this age of a body. She gets it. She understands what's happening to a female body as she reaches the just about forty age of her life. Except this time around she kept saying things like "we should do some blood work. Cholesterol, sugar, thyroid. Because you are of that age." When I grumbled something about my weight, she just waived it off and said "that's just part of being this age." She didn't seem all that concerned about the four pounds I'd gained since the last visit because I was still exercising  and getting on my mat regularly. Then, even though I am not required to get a mammogram until I'm forty, but because I had "issues" two years ago, she sent me down for a mammogram. Because I am of that age.

Before I go into my rant about "being that age", I have to go on a tangent about mammograms. It's been two years since my last mammogram and the place I go to now has the regular 2D one and a 3D one. The 3D mammogram costs $30 out of pocket because most insurance doesn't cover it. This makes me angry for a number of reasons. First of all the 3D option has shown to be more accurate in detecting cancerous areas than 2D. Though it still requires smashing your boob, it does not require that your boob is smashed as flat as a pancake. The 3D option has reduced the number of call backs and biopsies due to an unsure result of the 2D mammogram. You know that time I had to go in and have two cysts removed because they didn't know if they were cysts or cancer? It's quite possible that would have never happened with if I'd had the 3D mammogram. If I were an insurance company, I'd much rather pay the extra $30 a year for this test than pay for the huge expense of breast cancer treatment, let alone the cost of an unnecessary procedure from an unclear test. But again, that's a completely other tangent and not where I had intended this entry to go.

Any way...my doctor..."being that age"....Every time she said it, I could hear it in her voice that she was saying we were old. At one point I wanted to shake her and tell her to just stop. "We are still young! We are so freaking young! Thirty nine is not old. Forty is not old. We are not old!" I wanted to shout all of this out to her. Yes, it's true that I've put on a few pounds that my usual daily walking and yoga routine is doing nothing to combat. Yes, I recently threw my back out while painting the chicken coop. Every day I notice a new section of my hair going white. I don't mind that really. What I do mind is this idea that cholesterol checks and mammograms are things that we must do because we have gotten older. I do mind the implication that my age has everything to do with my inability to lose a few pounds. I also mind the idea that going to the doctor for a check up is something you do because you are getting older. We take babies to the doctor all the time for check ups. Those old geezer babies with their constant need for doctor visits!  But it's true. I am physically of a certain age. This means I just need to be more mindful to eat more greens and move my body more so that my joints don't settle into one spot. It means that I need to be aware of my cholesterol levels and my glucose levels because, as my doctor said, I cannot change my genetics. Heart disease and diabetes are a thing in my family. She also said that she was sure my HDL levels will be proof of my healthiness. 

Mentally I'm twelve because I still think farts are funny.