Notes from Jackson Street: ‘Don’t Breathe, Don’t Move … Now Breathe’

Pictured above is Corby and her mother.

By CORBY CARLIN WINTERS, Winters Media & Publishing Marketing/Public Relations

I walk through the door with the nurse and in moments she has my breast nice and tight in an x-ray machine for my yearly mammogram. Moments later she says , “Mrs. Winters, don’t breathe, don’t move … NOW Breathe… DON’T BREATHE, DON’T MOVE.

And I’m thinking to myself, “Really, how can I move?” My breast is smashed flat as a pancake. Trust me, I couldn’t move and I wasn’t going anywhere. 

I feel like I’ve heard that phrase, “don’t breathe, don’t move,” more than a million times throughout my life. Taking care of your health and being your best involves hearing those words many times over a woman’s lifetime. 

One mammogram many years back was, at first, like all the others. Twenty minutes of the “don’t move, don’t breathe” routine. After we finished, the nurse looked at me and said, “We will call you if anything seems out of the norm within two or three days.” Two to three days feels like an eternity to a woman after a mammogram.

And like clockwork, three days later while I was shopping away in one of my favorite stores and having the best old time, I got a call …

“Mrs. Winters?”

“Yes.” I said.

“We need you to come back,” the nurse said. “We need to take a few more images.”  

My knees went weak and I held back some tears.  I said to myself,  “Do not freak out. Don’t overreact. It is probably nothing, but who knows, maybe not. It wasn’t nothing for many other women.” 

As I headed to the hospital the second time around I wasn’t quite sure what to pray. But I prayed anyway. I prayed I was healthy. I prayed the doctors and nurses had great wisdom and discernment. Then I simply said “Lord whatever I face and whatever the tests show we face it together.”

So here I go.  I was back for more images … don’t breathe, don’t move …  Don’t Breathe, Don’t Move …NOW Breathe, DON’T BREATHE, DON’T MOVE. Again, I am thinking,  “How could I breathe or move when my breast is flattened like a pancake and … the same routine. 

Fortunately, they did not find anything in that second checkup. 

And now, we have 3D imaging mammograms available.  These machines require much fewer images and provide greater clarity. So needless to say you will hear “don’t breathe, don’t move” a whole lot less. 

During this month of Breast Cancer Awareness, I want to lift up the families of those who have lost loved ones to breast cancer.  And we also want to celebrate all the breast cancer survivors. 

I have so many friends who are breast cancer survivors and many discovered their own cancer.  My dear friend Vonda from high school was just 40 years old when she found her own lump and she had a double mastectomy. She is alive and well, 16 years  cancer-free.  Emily Chandler Westergreen, owner of Underground Runway, was just 37 when she discovered she had breast cancer, she had a double mastectomy and has been cancer free five years now! Donna Owen, who is the owner of Parlor 34 Hair was 45 and then 60  when she had breast cancer and is now almost two years cancer free. I share their stories to give us all hope and encouragement.  

We live in amazing times, which includes huge advancements in medical research and specialized equipment. And we are blessed to have many of the top breast cancer centers right here in our community. Mammograms may not catch everything, but they are still an important part of breast health. I urge you to get your yearly mammogram and do your monthly breast exams.  Be your own advocate if something does not feel right,  don’t wait to get it checked out.