Greetings!

This is a public thank you to my primary doctor, Karen Eady, MD and a story of what can happen when a patient refuses their doctors advice.

I’ve never liked full physical exams, mostly because of the vulnerable feeling I had with my feet in the stirrups and my bare bottom edging over the end of the exam table and some years ago (after gaining all the weight after COPD and quitting a forty year smoking habit) I said NO to more physical exams.

I told my doctor I didn’t want to have another pap smear or physical, nor did I want my two memories squeezed in a mammogram vise any longer. Year after year, she asked and I said, “no, thank you, Dr. Eady.”

It doesn’t matter how I justified my refusals, year after year I made the choice not to have them.

The trouble is- I now have a huge mass, cyst, tumor, whatever you want to call it that didn’t grow overnight.  The chances are a physical exam would have caught it earlier.
“tumors are often found during routine gynecological exams”

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-required-for-an-ovarian-cancer-diagnosis.htm

Karen Eady, MD is an Angel on Earth right here in Kitsap County – Bremerton to be exact –and is my primary doctor.  Dr. Eady was kind enough to take me when I asked her after Dr. Steele died over a decade ago.  She has kept me on and advised me ever since even though her specialty is Diabetes and I don’t have it.

Wasting time in regret is pointless.  I’m writing this here to suggest that sometimes the consequences of our medical choices become chickens coming home to roast.

I am also thanking Dr. Eady for all the years she has put up with me – not always a good patient or a prompt one.

God Bless you, Dr. Eady.

Thank you for all the years you have helped me move from one medical thing to another.  Additionally, thank you for the great people you recommended who have helped guide me through this COPD and Other Stuff.

With love and heartfelt thanks, your grateful patient and friend, Sharon O’Hara