Women's Health: Today I Visited My GYN

Hello loves! Today I want to talk about something that I think is very important; women's health.  I don't take my health for granted.  I have always been very active and in the past few years I have understood the importance of a nutritious diet and I have seamlessly incorporated a vegetarian diet filled with green juice, veggies and all that good stuff.  The one thing that I have never been good at is scheduling annual visits to my primary, GYN or dentist.  I will admit the times I have seen a doctor has been when I was sick and needed a diagnoses and maybe some meds.  I typically visit a CityMD Urgent Care office.  They are like ER's in that you can walk in, get a number of tests run, get diagnosed, get your meds and head home.  But that isn't enough.

A real eye opener for me was the passing of NY blogger legend Kyrzayda Rodriguez.  If you don't know her by name, trust me you have seen her pictures.  She was maybe a year or two older than me, last October she was diagnosed with stomach cancer after going to the ER with stomach pain and bloating.  She was such a warrior.  She shared her journey with all of us on her blog and instagram account.  She underwent months of chemo treatment, she lost her beautiful hair, lost a lot of weight and in some ways looked unrecognizable.  The treatments took a real toll on her, she was in pain, she was tired, and scared.  But through it all she shared, she inspired and her courage impacted so many lives.  By all accounts, before her diagnosis, she was a healthy, active woman. She worked out, she was in great shape, she was strong, ate right, traveled, I mean she was living her best life.  When she passed away a few weeks ago the blogger community felt a great loss and I felt a personal loss even though I never met her irl.  Her death became a reminder that health is not guaranteed to anyone, it is fragile and something you have to prioritize because in an instant it can all change.  Disease doesn't discriminate, it doesn't matter if you are a mother, if you are happily married, have a great career, you are in your 30's or any other excuse you might make up to justify putting it off.  Her life and what she shared with us was not in vein.  I decided then that I had to change my approach and prioritize regular check ups starting with a visit to a GYN.

First I had to have a real talk with myself and try to understand what some of my barriers were when it came to my health.  I am fortunate and I know this isn't the case for so many Americans, to have a good health insurance policy through my employer.  So the cost wasn't the issue.  I also have paid time off and a great team that will cover when I am gone.  So that wasn't an issue either.  I think a barrier is finding out that something IS wrong is a great fear but that in and of itself is an illogical reason.  Avoiding a problem doesn't make it go away.  I realized another major barrier and a point of anxiety for me is having a male GYN.  So I decided I would do a search for female GYNs in my area.  I was over the moon excited when I found Dr. Suzanne Greenidge, a Black, female GYN with a practice just a few blocks away from home who took my insurance. (Ask my husband and friends, I was REALLY exited!)  Her practice is located on North Broadway in Yonkers and is called, Woman to Woman OB/GYN .  Her website included her bio, I learned she was a receptionist at a doctor's office when she decided she would become a doctor, she is a SUNY graduate (a sister university to CUNY, where I am graduated and am currently employed), she is an author and an all around bad ass.  I booked immediately and the anxiety of having such an intimate examination melted away.

I am happy to report my visit went well. The staff was great.  The new patient paperwork is all done on a tablet (fancy, right??).  I had a pap smear, she checked my breast for lumps, drew some blood to check my hormone levels and my sugar and did an ultrasound to check for fibroids she thought she felt in the examination.  The ultrasound was fine, I don't have fibroids.
Full disclosure: I am a little nervous that I might be diabetic.  I had gestational diabetes when I was pregnant with my son which is a good indicator of future diabetes, plus my grandmother was diabetic.  I have been dealing with cotton mouth and frequent urination for the past few months. I didn't know if it was due to my diet change since I am now vegetarian.   I disclosed that to her and she thought it would be smart to run some tests.  I have a follow up with Dr. Greenidge in two weeks.  I will keep you posted.  Next on my list of to-do's: find a Primary Care Physician and schedule my annual check up!

Takeaway: Prioritize your health ladies.  We are important to so many people and we can't be there for them if we aren't taking care of ourselves.  I hope my story inspires you to make that call and schedule that visit.

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Until next time💋

By LifeStyledbyErica