On May 7, 2011, I poured myself a drink, lit a candle and curled up in my bed-office with B.O.B. Bob, like Jamie Foxx has always been faithful and is only as rough as I tell to to be. So you can imagine how surprised I was when I was stricken with a sharp stomach pain. I stopped, took a warm bath, and went to bed. The next day I did what we all do with kooch issues, I phoned a friend. In the middle of the conversation I tried to stand up and the pain was so sever I couldn't stand upright. I ended the call and headed to the emergency room. I explained to the nurse that I was having an evening with myself (that means B.O.B. not a man). I had not been with an actual human being in over a year. The doctor insisted I had PID or Gonorrhea and insisted on running a CBC and doing a Pap to detect which infection I had contracted. The pelvic exam was painful. The whole experience was humiliating. When I insisted that my having PID was impossible he said, “It must be your period. It smells like its coming.” He then wrote me a prescription for doxycyclene and sent me on my way.
The next morning I went to my OB/Gyn (A black woman) and she explained that I had a cyst to rupture on my ovary. The ER doctor was right about my period coming but failed to diagnose me at all. It turns out that the hormones from pending menstruation causes the cysts to rupture. This is a mechanism of gynecologic self-correction. However, when the cyst is large it causes the sudden onset of pain during sex or happy vibe time and the inability to stand up. A researcher, by nature and for occupation, I looked into Gynecologic conditions and found that 30% of them are misdiagnosed at the ER.
About a year later I gave birth at the same hospital because my water broke and I couldn't make it to my hospital and was badgered about my birth control options by another white male physicians. When I said I will discuss my options with MY Ob/Gyn” he shouted at me, “I just want you to have a plan!” I shouldn't have had to explain to him that my children were 14 years apart so I think I know how not to get pregnant. I also shouldn't have had to tell him that my son was planned. So again, I wonder how many white women with advanced degrees are treated this way?
