So many jokes about those lucite plates
That press your breasts into a painful square!
A necessary test. The patient waits
And holds her breath until the answer’s there
Some two weeks later, in the mailbox, where
A letter states: “Come back, we need more views.”
And possibly a sonogram. We share
So many things as women, and I choose
To write about a test that is “old news:”
The 3-D mammogram. Go get one now!
The notion that you have a lot to lose
Should motivate you through that moment—OW!—
When you are standing, one arm in the gown,
One breast compressed, one worry clamping down.
Janet Fricke Combs 