I'm the one who performs your mammogram. I come out to the waiting room and I see your nervousness. I know sometimes we have met before and sometimes we haven't. I will always smile at you and treat you kindly because I chose to be in this profession. I have empathy for your anxiousness, your prior experience and your previous problematic mammograms, you may even have had to come back for extra pictures. I may not have been through what you have been through but because I care I have empathy. I have been getting my yearly mammograms for 3 years now and in November 2013 I was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. I now have more then empathy but I can't yet put down into words all that I have gained with this experience that I am still in the midst of. I've had 3 breast surgeries and I start chemotherapy in March 2014. I will continue to do your mammograms and continue the fight for early detection of breast cancer. Mammograms won't find every cancer but they are still our best screening tool.

Alissa Noble, RT(R)(M)
Naples, ME