My First OBGYN
Jul. 27th, 2015 04:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grimrose_eilwynnI just had my first "women's doctors appointment" today. They recommend you start at 21, so that was the age I came in at. I was dead nervous -- scared shitless -- that kind of thing.
Here's how it works:
You have to fill out a form. I filled it out, and the most important thing I told the doctor is that I'm not sexually active -- the most I've ever done with a boy is kiss him. Simple, right? So after you hand in the form, they call you back into a standard medical room.
First, they do the usual things like weigh you, run your temperature and your blood pressure, etc. After that, the assistant pulls the screen around the bed and leaves the room. You change into an open-backed hospital gown, sit down on the table, and drape a sheet over your legs.
The doctor came in, a Chinese man who was also my general practitioner. He remained calm and kept his sense of humor throughout, telling me interesting little tidbits of information and anecdotes here and there to distract me, so he was pretty good.
First, he removed one shoulder of my gown at a time and felt my boobs and armpits to see if there were any lumps. (There weren't.) Then he sat down at my feet, and had me bend my knees and slide all the way down to the end of the table. He used a press instrument to widen my vaginal opening.
This hurt. A LOT.
He seemed surprised by how much pain I was in. I kept saying, "Ow! Ow!" Finally, when he wouldn't stop, I flinched and moved away. He stopped in surprise.
"We almost had it," he said. "Do you want me to do it again?"
"No!" I barked. He laughed, which did not help matters, by the way.
At last, I bravely asked him to try it one more time. He did, and I said, "Hurry! Hurry!" because I could only remain still in pain for so long. He quickly brushed against my vaginal opening, removing some tissue so it can be studied in the lab, and removed the instrument. The hardest part was over.
Later, he put some gel on his finger, stuck it up under my ovaries to push the ovaries against my stomach, and felt my stomach. And he realized what was wrong. He removed the finger and let me get re-dressed before he explained it to me.
It turns out, my uterus is tilted too far forward. That's why my OBGYN appointment hurt so much. I got it from my grandmother, who I also inherited my small, petite stature and bipolar disorder from. I talked to the doctor about it and then later talked to my Mom about it and called my grandmother's widower, my Papa. Here's what I've found out concerning my uterus being too tilted:
- OBGYN appointments (one is required every two years) are always going to hurt until the uterus is fixed. It's possible going into the appointment with a full bladder could tilt the uterus back to normal again, and lessen the pain.
- Sex could be painful until the uterus is fixed, but it isn't always. Part of it depends on the man's dick, which should preferably be on the small side.
- Pregnancy could be hard until the uterus is fixed. My grandmother had trouble conceiving and then had a miscarriage.
- With all that said, all problems will be solved if the uterus is tilted back to normal, which was possible even sixty years ago when my grandmother was young. Now, the theory holds, it should be fairly easy. Once the uterus was fixed, she conceived two months later and had three healthy kids.
I'm not going to run and have it all fixed tomorrow. It all depends on what comes up first: my next appointment, painful sex, or a desire to get pregnant. Basically, I'll burn that bridge when I get to it.
One last tidbit: you always have to pee after going through an OBGYN appointment. Always. My pelvic area was still sore, so I was afraid peeing would hurt, but it didn't. (My bladder wasn't affected, after all.) One thing that can help with soreness is pressing a cold wet piece of tissue to the vaginal area.
I got a Starbucks coffee as a treat afterward for my bravery during a traumatic experience. Vanilla bean frappuccino with toffee nut and caramel.
At last, after all the worrying about what it was going to be like, it's over and I don't have to go in again for another two years.
UPDATE: I found out my doctor billed me for an active diagnosis, instead of a preventative checkup. Active diagnoses are only possible when there's a previous gynecological history for the patient, which was not the case in this circumstance, but active diagnoses also cost money while preventative checkups don't. I certainly won't be going back to this particular doctor.
Here's how it works:
You have to fill out a form. I filled it out, and the most important thing I told the doctor is that I'm not sexually active -- the most I've ever done with a boy is kiss him. Simple, right? So after you hand in the form, they call you back into a standard medical room.
First, they do the usual things like weigh you, run your temperature and your blood pressure, etc. After that, the assistant pulls the screen around the bed and leaves the room. You change into an open-backed hospital gown, sit down on the table, and drape a sheet over your legs.
The doctor came in, a Chinese man who was also my general practitioner. He remained calm and kept his sense of humor throughout, telling me interesting little tidbits of information and anecdotes here and there to distract me, so he was pretty good.
First, he removed one shoulder of my gown at a time and felt my boobs and armpits to see if there were any lumps. (There weren't.) Then he sat down at my feet, and had me bend my knees and slide all the way down to the end of the table. He used a press instrument to widen my vaginal opening.
This hurt. A LOT.
He seemed surprised by how much pain I was in. I kept saying, "Ow! Ow!" Finally, when he wouldn't stop, I flinched and moved away. He stopped in surprise.
"We almost had it," he said. "Do you want me to do it again?"
"No!" I barked. He laughed, which did not help matters, by the way.
At last, I bravely asked him to try it one more time. He did, and I said, "Hurry! Hurry!" because I could only remain still in pain for so long. He quickly brushed against my vaginal opening, removing some tissue so it can be studied in the lab, and removed the instrument. The hardest part was over.
Later, he put some gel on his finger, stuck it up under my ovaries to push the ovaries against my stomach, and felt my stomach. And he realized what was wrong. He removed the finger and let me get re-dressed before he explained it to me.
It turns out, my uterus is tilted too far forward. That's why my OBGYN appointment hurt so much. I got it from my grandmother, who I also inherited my small, petite stature and bipolar disorder from. I talked to the doctor about it and then later talked to my Mom about it and called my grandmother's widower, my Papa. Here's what I've found out concerning my uterus being too tilted:
- OBGYN appointments (one is required every two years) are always going to hurt until the uterus is fixed. It's possible going into the appointment with a full bladder could tilt the uterus back to normal again, and lessen the pain.
- Sex could be painful until the uterus is fixed, but it isn't always. Part of it depends on the man's dick, which should preferably be on the small side.
- Pregnancy could be hard until the uterus is fixed. My grandmother had trouble conceiving and then had a miscarriage.
- With all that said, all problems will be solved if the uterus is tilted back to normal, which was possible even sixty years ago when my grandmother was young. Now, the theory holds, it should be fairly easy. Once the uterus was fixed, she conceived two months later and had three healthy kids.
I'm not going to run and have it all fixed tomorrow. It all depends on what comes up first: my next appointment, painful sex, or a desire to get pregnant. Basically, I'll burn that bridge when I get to it.
One last tidbit: you always have to pee after going through an OBGYN appointment. Always. My pelvic area was still sore, so I was afraid peeing would hurt, but it didn't. (My bladder wasn't affected, after all.) One thing that can help with soreness is pressing a cold wet piece of tissue to the vaginal area.
I got a Starbucks coffee as a treat afterward for my bravery during a traumatic experience. Vanilla bean frappuccino with toffee nut and caramel.
At last, after all the worrying about what it was going to be like, it's over and I don't have to go in again for another two years.
UPDATE: I found out my doctor billed me for an active diagnosis, instead of a preventative checkup. Active diagnoses are only possible when there's a previous gynecological history for the patient, which was not the case in this circumstance, but active diagnoses also cost money while preventative checkups don't. I certainly won't be going back to this particular doctor.
