Waiting Room

I didn't sleep much the night before. I was too anxious.

I walked into a full waiting room and looked around, stunned at what a large waiting room it was. As soon as I walked in, a receptionist caught my attention and had me sign in. She then handed me a clipboard and a stack of papers to fill out. I found an open seat and got started.

For the number of women waiting to be called, the room was awfully silent. Not that I was feeling particularly chatty.

As soon as I finished with my forms, I promptly turned them in and went back to my seat. I took out my book and started to read. Only I wasn't reading at all. I tried to read the same sentence three times and had no idea what I had just read. I tapped, tapped, tapped my fingers on my thigh. Nervous. Yes, that's what it was, I was nervous.

Less than a week before I had been sitting in my primary care doctor's office feeling a similar way. Three weeks earlier, I had discovered a lump in my left breast. It was a painful lump on the side and wasn't showing any signs of going down.

Now I was in the waiting room at the Vasek and Anna Maria Polak Breast Diagnostic Center at Torrance Memorial.

According to center director Mari David, 1 in 10 women nationwide will be called back for more pictures. Three to five women per 1,000 who receive first screening mammograms will be found to have cancer.

For six to 10 women per 1,000, cancer will be found on subsequent screenings. (The American College of Radiology provided the stats, which are from 2003, but per David, hospital radiologists say the stats are still accurate.)

I continued to hold my book open as if I had intentions on reading. Instead I scanned the room. I looked around and saw a variety of women of varying ages. There were a couple of men there too, but I soon figured out that they were there to support the woman in their life.

As I looked at each of the faces, I imagined them in their "real" lives. Mothers, daughters, wives, sisters, grandmas…loved ones. I knew all of these women, myself included, would be getting mammograms today. I also knew that statistically speaking we wouldn't all hear the coveted all-clear, "See ya next year."

Every time the door opened to call in another patient, I watched each woman walk through the door with a similar look on her face.

The Vasek and Anna Maria Polak Breast Diagnostic Center at Torrance Memorial did almost 32,000 screening mammograms within the past year. It sees about 60,000 patients a year. The American Cancer Society encourages women to have a baseline mammogram at age 40, and sooner if they have a family history.

When my name was called, I headed through the doorway. No cancer was found. I was relieved, to say the least. I will go back for my follow-up mammogram next month.

Ed Pilolla contributed to this report.