that big annual test

Every year I get anxious when it's time for my all-important test, the kind that requires no studying.

My annual mammogram.

Every year I go to Rosetta Radiology. I have been going there for years,. The staff is friendly and competent. The wait is generally short. It's nearby. And they give results soon after the tests, in my case, both a mammography and sonogram. Oh, and it's easy to remember their phone number — it's exactly the same as mine except for the last digit. I'm frequently getting calls from people hoping I can schedule or cancel their appointments. 

I sit in a small waiting area with other like-woman. We are all dressed in hospital-issued blue wrap tops. While I'm waiting, a male doctor walks by, pokes his head in, smiles at one of the women near me, and gives her a thumbs up. Okay, I get this isn't the most professional manner of conveying medical news. But in this case, who cares. Just as long as it's good. I'm assuming he wouldn't use a thumbs downif the outcome were different.

I go in for my mammogram. It doesn't take long before I'm back in the waiting area. I'm only half way throught the business section of  the Times when a female doctor calls me out. She smiles and tells me, "So far, so good."

A short time later I get called in for the sonogram. That, too, doesn't take long. And mercifully, the doctor is back in within just a few minutes to again tell me that everything is good. Though I had no reason to be fearful, I still feel so much relief.

I leave the doctor's office like one does after a great workout, or a nice spa treatment. Relaxed and renewed. 

And grateful to have passed the big test.