Tag: women health

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Did You Say Operation?

Since I discovered vaginal cysts and myomas (fibroids) in my womb, I have been doing routine check-ups with my gynecologist. Ladies, when you hit 30s, better start preparing a fund for your womanly check-ups (and make sure you have insurance) because wow if the stuff inside you is giving you pain, trust me the bills will double the amount of that pain. I thought had all this covered though, until ONE DAY.

If the stuff inside you is giving you pain, trust me the bills will double the amount of that pain.

One Fateful Day

One fateful Saturday morning, I went to the hospital for my routine check-up and my usual gynecologist WAS NOT THERE. So I made an appointment with a different doctor, someone I had never met and did not know previously, which means he doesn’t know my history. I had a bad feeling already about this.

When he did the checks, he said the myomas are getting bigger, which would be dangerous if I want to have a baby. As a result, I had to undergo an operation to remove them. Wait what?

I had insurance which would cover for the operation, and he assured me that myomectomy was a common operation.

Umm Excuse Me

Okay no operation should ever be considered casually or lightly. And it’s my body being opened up. Plus the fibroids can REGROW AFTERWARDS.

I was in a huge dilemma. Luckily, after that I had a chat with Frances for our video series shooting. Frances urged me to get a second opinion. We sought after my usual doctor and set up an appointment with him. He knew Cung and I were not keen to have kids. So he checked in on me and said that as long as the myom wasn’t causing irregular pain and bleeding, then urgent operation wasn’t particularly necessary – especially since I did not plan on getting pregnant.

With that, I cancelled the operation bookings. My emotions were a mess that day. Talk about traumatic.

I might go ahead with the operation someday in the future, but I’d prefer for it to be the last resort, not the first resort.

If you want to know more about vaginal health, tune into episode 11 and 12 of my podcast chat with Dr Michelle Dawn Shen.

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Menstrual Cups

I started using these goodies 2 years ago when I began scuba diving intensively. One time I was diving with a college bestie Katie Velasco and her colleague Audrey Wayso – both had flown in from California to Bali for a diving holiday. They were the ones to introduce me to the fabuloso menstrual cups, so thanks ladies!

Does It Hurt?

The question I get asked a lot when people find out I use the cups is: does it hurt? The answer is no, it doesn’t hurt at all. In my opinion tampons can get more uncomfortable and actually feels like something is sticking inside down there, but the menstrual cups are so comfortable that the danger is to forget it’s there. Don’t though – forget. Put your alarm clocks, phone reminders, anything.

Cleaning

I rinse mine with hot water (some advice boiling water) before the first use of the period. Throughout the day and the week, I just use clean water to rinse it whenever I take it out and empty it. You’re most likely to pick up an infection from your hands as you are inserting and taking it out, so wash and clean your hands before you deal with the cups.

Sleeping

Yes, I do sleep with my menstrual cups, though on nights of heavy flow I also use a thin pad to prevent leaks.

Pads

Do I still use pads? Yes, sometimes I still do. I switch off between the cup and the pads depending on the activities of the week. For environmental purposes though, it is much better to just stick to the cup (less waste generated).

Brand

The brand I use is Organicup, now allmatters.com and it starts at a price of Rp 400K (about 30 USD). Over the long run, it saves money as well if you completely switch over to the cups!

Do you use menstrual cups? What are your thoughts?

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Podcast Episode 11 – Vaginal Health Part 1

Hi down there. How are you doing? I hope you’re alright. I’ve realized that I don’t know very much about you, and as I get older, I’m really paying for my ignorant behavior. Let’s try to change that shall we?

Indeed, although my vagina is SUCH AN IMPORTANT PART OF MY BODY yet I have neglected getting to know it on a close and loving basis. The result no doubt is a lot of pain and scary visits to the gynecologist. Not to mention expensive. In the journey of us trying to get to know our vaginas better, however, I realized that even health professionals are still culturally shy in educating women about our own organs.

Dr. Michelle Dawn Shen

So one of the steps I took to fix that is to have an open conversation with my dear friend Dr. Michelle Dawn Shen of Rajawali Hospital about vaginal health. The talk was amazing, and we went more in-depth than I expected, so I’ve divided it up to 2 parts.

In this first part, Dr Michelle shared some great insights on vaginal fungus (yeast infection), how NOT to get it, and also on cervical cancer. Her voice is brilliantly hilarious and satirically spot-on, and I hope you will learn some really important insights into vaginal health. I know I certainly did.