If a Woman Had Invented The Mammography Compression Machine ...

I'm certain the exam would be more comfortable, less painless, and certainly more discreet.

So after having my annual mammogram recently, I joked with one of my friends that I bet a man invented the machine. I looked it up and sure enough back in 1986 two fellows named Patrick Panetta and Jack Wennet came up with the decompression unit.

For those of you who have never had one, close your eyes and imagine this. Standing almost naked from the waist up, leaning forward, shoulder down, chin to the side and slightly tilted, arm pit enveloping a cold, rigid corner, and hand gripping the back of the platform that your breast is ever so gently laid on, then flattened like a pancake. Oh, and you're told to hold your breath. Seriously, that's what I was doing! I certainly couldn't relax and breathe while this was being done.

So these are my thoughts: 1: if the machine had been invented by a woman, the process would be more comfortable. 2: if a man ever had his privates treated like this during an exam, there would be a new machine invented pronto. 3: the people that provide these services are angels as they surely see the discomfort that the patients are going through and they do it as quickly as possible. 4: I will absolutely get an exam each time it is required as I have seen friends and customers with breast cancer, and it is not something I ever want to go through.