I totally forgot to post my next excerpt on Sunday! Sorry. My mind has been on other things.Today, I am off for an MRI. My Grandma was a breast cancer survivor. My mother, not so lucky. But she died from another type of cancer. Did you know some cancers travel together. Like cancer cohorts in crime. So colon, breast and uterine travel together. What that means is, once two of these show up in your family history, you are just as susceptible to the third cancer even if no one in your family has had it. So, I am regularly checked for all three. And today it's time. So into the scary, loud tunnel I go.
For those of you whom have never had the wonderful opportunity of experiencing an MRI... It is like being in a coffin while restless Natives are doing some kind of loud drum ceremony. OK maybe that is a result once again of having a writer's brain. But nonetheless I am terrified of that machine and it is what I have to do today. So, I exhale deeply, and leave you with this excerpt from my middle grade novel.
Because of my non-working brain on Sunday, I am posting Thursday's post early to make up for it. Hope you like it...
Excerpt 3...
True, he clenched his jaw tight, and didn’t say anything, not even the common muttered reply he gave everyone else. But he did look up at Uncle Billy. And true too, it was through a furrowed brow. But the two of them locked eyes. As a matter of fact, they looked at each other for maybe a whole minute. Then Uncle Billy turned and positioned himself in an opposite corner of the room beside Mr. Laramie – who was eating a pastrami sandwich and wearing Russian dressing in the left corner of his mouth. I wanted to give him a napkin, but I couldn’t move from where my feet were firmly planted in the flower patterned rug in the center of Grandma May’s living room.
10 comments:
Best wishes while listening to the natives. :)
Sheri,
It takes a certain amount of discipline to be diligent, even with that history. Repeated good report can make one lax.
Good luck with the MRI.
Thanks guys. I survived and this time was a synch! This MRI machine had a fan in it and it circulated fresh air around which helped immensely.
I only had an mri once, but it was one of the worst experiences. I wouldn't classify myself as claustrophobic, but I definitely don't like small spaces. My mri was for my neck, so I couldn't breathe deeply or swallow, which made the panic of not being able to breathe in such a small space triple. I could feel the panic welling up from my stomach until I felt like I would scream. But I survived it, and hopefully will not have to do it again any time soon. Glad your experience was better than mine!
Dawn, I completely relate with your experience. Due to the history of breast cancer and highly cystic breasts in my family I have to have an MRI or a mammogram every 6 months to make sure nothing has changed. I did realize this time, as I said a bit earlier, that it was the circulation of the air that made all the difference. Feeling like you can't breathe is a horrible sensation. I also was only allowed to shallow breathe. But it is an annual thing for me, so I can only get better at it, right??
I never knew that these cancers traveled together. Scary.
Good for you for taking care of yourself. My youngest sister died from skin cancer 4 years ago. So, I get a yearly dermatology check now. Never had an MRI, but your description gives a good feel...
BTW, another great excerpt!
Hey, Sheri, I'm glad to hear that your MRI went well. I can sympathize--a little, anyway. I don't have a history of breast, ovarian, or colon cancer, but I have those terrible lumpy breasts that obscure everything. So I had to have an MRI, too. It was a pretty uncomfortable experience. I used my yoga practice to deal with it. It helped. (Everything was fine, BTW.)
Hope everything went well.
Thanks everyone. I am doing fine and it actually wasn't half as bad as it was the first time I had to go through it.
Thanks for all your well wishes.
I'm a little late reading this post, but I'm glad the mri went well. :-)
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