BS: For Mudcat Wimmin - please respect this

Subject: RE: BS: For Mudcat Wimmin - please respect this
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Jul 08 - 06:53 PM

For whatever it's worth, my wife prefers a woman for GYN. Currently a Physician's Assistant is her primary contact, with the GYN right in the loop. (Her GYN is also a "fencing mom" in my fencing club and isn't bad with a foil herself.)

Subject: RE: BS: For Mudcat Wimmin - please respect this
From: Bee
Date: 11 Jul 08 - 06:33 PM

Absolutely right, SRS. A woman is lucky to be able to keep the same doctors. My GP is the same I've had for 22 years, and I think would notice if something changed for the worse.

Subject: RE: BS: For Mudcat Wimmin - please respect this
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Jul 08 - 06:24 PM

I go to my ob/gyn for my annual physical partly because she's a friend now after all of these years, but also because there are other related issues to keep track of. My mother died of breast cancer so I keep my checkups and mammograms up to date. Because ob/gyns also have a lot of information about breast health (nursing babies, etc. through the changes in breast material as you get older) I think that makes this the best doctor for me to continue to see.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: For Mudcat Wimmin - please respect this
From: skipy
Date: 11 Jul 08 - 06:19 PM

I respect this & you ladies one & ALL.
Skipy

Subject: RE: BS: For Mudcat Wimmin - please respect this
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Jul 08 - 06:17 PM

My wife says that having survived cancer once she prefers annual mammograms, pap smears, and other such indignities. Her only requirement is that the person doing the exam(s) be competent and treat her as an intelligent woman who lives in and knows her own body. She's 65, so she's met O'Pause.

Subject: RE: BS: For Mudcat Wimmin - please respect this
From: Bee
Date: 11 Jul 08 - 06:14 PM

I've been completely menopaused for five years. I absolutely despise going for a Pap test, but I'm aware of at least four related ladies in my mother's generation who ended up needing cervical cancer treatment in their late fifties/early sixties, after which all of them did live or are living well into their eighties, with no recurring problems. Two opted (or were advised) for hysterectomy, two for less drastic treatment. Given you're already short an organ, unless you still have ovaries not much can go wrong that an ob-gyn could do anything about.

So I think a Pap is a good prophylactic measure every two or three years, for those of us still sporting a uterus.

I'm not much in favour of booby crushing - some studies have shown the outcomes to be no better than woman or doctor finding a lump. Some doctors/researchers have suggested improved scanning techniques may be leading to un-necessary traumatic treatments for tiny lumps which may be benign or self-resolving - our bodies do have some cancer fighting abilities.

But this is something every woman must decide for herself, and personal health and family history are big factors.

My two cents, anyway.

Subject: BS: For Mudcat Wimmin - please respect this
From: katlaughing
Date: 11 Jul 08 - 05:17 PM

Without a womb since 1979, having herbalised myself through Men O'Pause, I don't see much relevancy for visiting an ob/gyn any more and, in fact, haven't been to one in many, many years. I am curious as to how other Mudcat wimmin may feel about this and what their experiences have been, if they feel like sharing. I am not as concerned about whether to have my boobs smashed as "other things" further south.

Please, Mudcat men, be respectful.