Sunday, March 2, 2008

With the Handy Plastic Applicator

Oh, there are so many other things I could have titled this post but they are all in such bad taste that I must refrain because my mom reads this blog and I would not want to embarrass her too terribly. That being said, I went for my annual visit to the gynecologist on Friday. I had to cancel an appointment earlier in the week because of the flu thing and I was still feeling a little peaky on Friday, but kept my appointment anyway.


Let me say this at the very start, I love my gynecologist. Dr. D is exactly my age and no matter what offbeat perimenopause symptom I bring to her, she can always relate. She's funny and we generally share quite a few laughs, even during the exam. Really, we just crack each other up the whole time. Since we hadn't seen each other in a year, I had lots of notes. I had a chart of my insane menstrual cycles for the year, (24 days, 66 days, 72 days, 29 days) – I'm married to a scientist, we make charts - plus a list of new symptoms. For those of you who've been around since I started this blog, you may remember that I was having terrible hot flashes and night sweats for awhile there. Supplements worked for almost a year (black cohosh and soy) and then I went to the fabulous Dr. Chen and acupuncture worked for about 9 months before everything stopped working and I was driven almost completely insane by my body's crazed thermostatic shifts. And at that time I said I would happily take Hormone Replacement Therapy even if it was labeled "cancer in a bottle" as long as I could get some relief.


The hot flashes eventually got better and have shown no sign of returning with such intensity, but to be on the safe side and to combat some other perimenopausal treats like tissue thinning and vaginal dryness (ack!) I have agreed to 2 wee and very weak estrogen pods that are inserted (and not into my mouth) twice a week. Although it does not say "cancer with a handy plastic applicator" on the box, it's all there in the fine print. Dr. D promises we'll keep a close eye on everything and I believe her. I'll see her again in eight weeks.


During the course of the visit, I had to confess that I completely spaced out my mammogram last year - lost the paperwork, every excuse in the book, but mostly life just kept thrusting itself in between me and my ability to go do the thing. After much tsking and finger wagging (which I totally deserved) from Dr. D and her office manager who is a breast cancer survivor, I was allowed to leave the office on the promise that I'd schedule my mammogram for this week. And so it with that promise in mind that I'll set out bright and early tomorrow morning to, as The Kid says, have my milkies checked.


If you haven't already, you should get your milkies checked too.

5 comments:

  1. Thanks for all this good information. I had my milkies check just a couple of months back.

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  3. Oh, I feel for you and the perimenopause. I really wish my Mom was still alive. She was so ill and crazy her last few years, I didn't get a chance to grill her on the symptoms she had. So far, cross my fingers, I'm only slightly more edgy and hormonally foggy. No real physical symptoms yet. Keep us posted.

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  4. Oh goody, something to look forward to! (The perimenopause, I mean.) And you've come out in public with the need of a milkie check--you'll have to follow through now!

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  5. I'm doing some "catch-up" post reading tonight...tomorrow I have an appointment for my annual gyno. exam...it was good to read yours. The whole "perimenopause" idea is scary, but...I too am going to this exam loaded with questions. I plan on going back and reading some of your earlier posts...thanks for being so open about everything. And thanks for the reminder to "have the girls checked"....am scheduled for that in April.
    Have a great day, Laura!
    debbie

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