Ladies, pay attention to your health

[trystinn]

Having had an ovarian cyst removed last year, I thought that by keeping a news bot looking for new cyst stories maybe I'd hear about new technologies and therapies for PCOS. Instead, I tend to get all the wierd cyst stories in the news. Macabre, I know, but really this has become epidemic.

A friend's wife S had a one the size of a basketball. She ended up at the hospital due to gall stones pain and when they did the ultrasound they found it. Surgery ensued. Afterward, I'm talking to her and asked (I always thought she looked pregnant, but she's heavily built, so its hard to tell these things) how this went so long.

Turns out she hates doctors, had't been to one since her 6 year old was born, never went for post-delivery check ups, either. Now, I realize as a woman in her thirties without kids I'm not supposed to know anything about having them or being a Mom, but come on. You have two kids and a sick husband (he has leukemia) and truthfully, it doesn't matter how you feel about doctors. You go so you can take care of yourself, so you can take care of them. 1 + 1 = 2

I know that much.

So what happened to this mother??
http://www.nbc11.com/health/3990428/detail.html

66 pound tumor, mother of three, afraid to go to the doctor's because it could have been "something serious". Like a 66 pound tumor isn't serious?? How on Earth has this woman been taking care of her kids in this condition (see the pre-surgery pic).

I don't have any answers here:
women are in serious denial about their health
women need better relationships with their GYNs
Mothers need serious support from their family 7 friends to support their health and well-being

We need a new paradigm of women's health!