Hi there again.
Thanks to those of you who are reading this, and who have written comments. If there's anything you would like me to address, please let me know.
Today Deena, our nurse, brought her 3 legged dog to the office after her bath. It reminded me of Tommy, my cat, and his adventures before we left Hawaii. I was worried that an outside cat who doesn't have front claws and lost his top fang teeth wouldn't fare well here in Bend with the cougars, foxes, wolves, and whatever else is out there lurking. I took him to Mililani (the middle of Oahu) to give him to a family I'd gotten to know there who really wanted a cat. Three days after I left him there, the family called and said Tommy was missing for the last day and a half. A friend of mine and I went up there and spent 3 hours looking for Tommy and calling him, and just as we were ready to give up, I heard him, but I couldn't tell where his howling meow was coming from. Finally, I looked down and realized he was in the storm drain! After rescuing from his wild travails, I couldn't leave him there, so he came to Bend with me. The only thing that wasn't right about taking him back was that the family that wanted him had a little 5 yr old toehead who loved Tommy. So, we went to the pound and found a little 3 month old kitty that looked just like Tommy, and took him up to Kaeden, the little boy. Now, all is well in the feline world, and Tommy's happy being a mostly indoor cat (he doesn't like the cold weather).
I'm currently working on a series of educational talks geared both for women in the community and for physicians. I think there's a great need for better understanding of incontinence and prolapse in both groups, specifically regarding modern treatment options that don't require big huge surgeries. Most primary care docs don't bother asking their patients if they're incontinent because they don't want to deal with it if they are. The other reason is that with only 10 minutes to spend with each patient, they feel it's more important to deal with their high blood pressure and diabetes than with their incontinence, which is understandable to some extent. This is why I'm trying to educate the patients themselves so they can self refer to doctors who like treating these types of problems, and then tell their friends thereby spreading the word that they don't have to suffer in silence. We're going to the Central Oregon Womens Expo at the Redmond Fairgrounds the second weekend in November. Kate and Deena and I will be there to talk with women about incontinence, prolapse, and endometriosis, to try to spread the word that there are some great new procedures that work great with minimal surgery.
Which reminds me, I have to work on my handouts....
See you next week,
Cindy