Attention All Ladies....

Warning: this is an

I am on my soapbox (again!) post...

please, please, please

heed that little inner voice

that tells you when something doesn't sound quite right

doesn't feel quite right, doesn't sit too well...

get that second---maybe even third opinion

or however many it takes

until you are completely convinced

that what you've been told

is as humanly possibly correct

as it can be...

and this goes for ANYONE

with any medical issue...

Last year

I had an abnormal pap smear.

My MD who did it told me

no, I didn't need an endometrium biopsy

(which I had had before-which is painful)

fast forward to the OB-GYN she referred me to

who said I needed that biopsy

and a colposcopy, too...

Praise God, both biopsies were fine---

however...

there was "evidence of fragments of a polyp".

the GYN could not explain to me

what a polyp was, why it was there,

if there were more or if I needed to be concerned about it.

The third practitioner I was seeing at that point

wasn't overly concerned--so I let it go.

The GYN had released me to go back to annual pap smears

so that's what my plan was.

Fast forward almost a year---

having multiple health issues,

I got lucky and got to see

a physician's assistant that I TRUST EMPHATICALLY

who shook her head and said

"WHAT?"

when I relayed the story(ies) above.

She said...

"I would have had you repeat paps at 3, 6, and then 1 year..."

which in turn led me to knocking hard

on the door of the GYN she recommended.

Yesterday I was told that,

based on last year's test results,

that GYN would have repeated the pap smear,

done the two biopies

WITH MEDICATION

(I was not medicated--

have had 2 by two different gyn's in my lifetime-no meds either time!)

and then, because of the pieces of a polyp,

would have ordered 2 additional tests,

and had me repeat the pap in 6 mo.

Breathing.

So today

I find myself trying not to worry

while I wait two weeks for test results

to determine

what may--or may not-- have happened

in a years time...

I was not comfortable with the first GYN.

I should have walked out.

I was not 100% sure of the second practitioner I was seeing

and I should have seen a third.

Kicking myself.

BE YOUR OWN ADVOCATE.

Do research. Read. Ask. Ask some more.

If you don't get answers---find someone who can give them to you.

My late husband said of doctors, "I hired you-I can fire you!"

Now, I know--Doctors are not God!

They are not all knowing.

But if what they are saying is not making sense-

if you are not comfortable and getting relief

FIND A NEW ONE.

End of that soapbox.

I was feeling pretty low after all this

and still had errands to run in town.

I stopped at the health food store I frequent

(I have food allergies-wheat among others...)

and I heard a family behind me talking.

I gathered they were probably "newbies" to food allergies

and I heeded that little voice that told me to butt in.

I asked and yes, a young college student had just been diagnosed

last week with gluten allergies.

We talked a long time.

I think I was able to offer her some hope and encouragement

as I showed her my full cart and told her about

what we tried-what worked, didn't and so on.

I felt somewhat redeemed at that point.

That God used my struggle with my allergies

and what I learned from that

to help someone else...

hence my "soapbox" preface to this post...

maybe hearing me share will help save someone else...

whose wondering and questioning...

I'll post some projects

either later today or this week-end.

Until next time,

thanks for letting me vent

and happy stamping and scrapping!

Blessings,