In the Imaging Center
I'm six feet back,
avoiding exposure
as my mother makes
a sky chart of the screen:
The Milky Way.
Venus. Sirius rising.
It turns and spins,
a moving universe.
In deeper space,
sonar enters
a black hole that
pulls me into the
Center of Imagining.
The steady star blinks,
and six feet back,
a satellite orbits
the dimly dying light.
*the image is a sample, not today's actual images
I like this post because it makes some beauty out of a bad experience; it captures the underlying scariness and otherwordliness of looking at the X-ray or the ultrasound and seeing yourself as a universe with stars. Knowing what the stars are is uncomfortable especially when you know, and the radiologist tells you that you have to wait three weeks for the test results to be read. The poem is lovely and haunting. Well done.
ReplyDeleteThe wait is awful, Isn't it? Combined with not knowing, this is pure torture! Thanks for your kind words, Carol.
DeleteThank goodness for all the lives saved by this very uncomfortable test and yet, it has saved countless. Yes, you've made something beautiful out of something nasty.
ReplyDeleteI am grateful every day that we live in a time when science, technology, and medicine can combine to save us! Thanks for your words.
Deletei've never done a mammogram yet although i should really have it soon. the thought of pain or discomfort turns me off. now your piece made me reconsider.
ReplyDeleteGo. Run. Don't walk!!
DeleteMine is scheduled for the end of November. The last two years they've seen "something" & I had to go back for more - yay! The first year I was really terrified, freaking out. It ended up being cysts. Last year I was "meh" & it ended up not being anything at all. If I have to go back again this year I think I'll memorize your poem & use it as a mantra...
ReplyDeleteFor a while, I had to go every 3 months, then every 6, and now I'm back to yearly. I have so many friends and acquaintances who have suffered from breast cancer that I am happy to get my mammogram!
DeleteThis makes something beautiful out of something painful...I have had a couple of scares, but thankfully test came pack negative.
ReplyDeleteSusie, I learned recently that the older you are, the higher the likelihood that you will have breast cancer. Women over 80 are the largest group of diagnoses. My mother was told at age 80 that she didn't need to be screened anymore. Here we are, five years later, with potential trouble.
DeleteI'm glad your fears were foundless.