Hi Kat...Having had an ovary-sparing hysterectomy at 36, due to fibroids, over the years I'd put the whole ob-gyn visit thing behind me. Not smart...just had a huge, thankfully benign ovarian cyst removed but when first diagnosed (a fluke at best) it was as terminal cancer. Luckily, thru recommendation of friends, found an excellent ob-gyn (male, but at my age professional excellence is all!) who re-diagnosed on basis of PET CT scan, did the surgery and I'm recovering well. But the surgery was very extensive due to the size of the tumor...could have been found much sooner if I'd been seeing this doc all along.

His philosophy is that a good ob-gyn deals with the whole body...and given the complexity of interconnectedness of all these functions we depend on, I agree. I am a convert...it's yearly exams from here on in. I complain a lot about this body but every once in a while I'm just blown away by the miracle of all that is going right, in the midst of all that is going wrong.

Good luck with finding someone you trust. That's really the key, I think.

Nancy