The Five Things!
THE FIVE THINGS EVERY WOMAN NEEDS TO KNOW
1. Get the KNOWLEDGE you need – Women need to know their personal body make-up, understand their anatomy, understand internal and external risk factors, and be equipped with preventative steps they can take. Women will learn through BSSK how to define “normal” for their bodies and how to recognize persistent changes in their bodies that could be risk factors to gynecologic cancers. WORD will empower military women to know the signs and symptoms of gynecologic cancers and gain the knowledge of what to do when these are identified. Specifically, women will know the following:
a. What is abnormal/at-risk bleeding and what to do when this abnormal bleeding is experienced.
b. The subtle and persistent symptoms of ovarian cancer and what to encourage their primary care physicians to do.
c. Lifestyle choices that have an impact on your risk of developing gynecologic cancers and/or gynecologic diseases.
d. Women will be made aware of the difference between persistent symptoms of potential problems and simply aging. Some of these symptoms will be bowel changes, back pain, urinary changes, dieting and new sudden loss of weight as well as other relevant symptoms.
e. Women will be encouraged to evaluate their risk based upon their family history and then evaluate the need for genetic testing and preventative treatment.
2. Get your annual exam and know what it means. . . Get the Pap! Women in active duty are getting their annual exam and pap test, however there are hundreds of thousands of women within the Military Health System as well as in the general audience that are neglecting to receive their annual exam including the increasingly important pap test. Women will be informed of the importance of an annual exam as well as the newest recommendations by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists (ACOG) about how often to get pap tests, how to interpret pap tests, and what specifically pap tests are effective in indicating. Women will ultimately learn that pap tests are not effective in catching any cancer other than cervical cancer.
3. Get “it” Done - A rectal exam is fast, simple, inexpensive, and could save your life. No one looks forward to any type of exam “down there!” And furthermore no one likes a rectal exam, but some gynecologic cancers (as well as colon-rectal cancers) can be detected earlier through a simple rectal exam. Not only does a rectal exam test blood in the stool (a sign of colon cancer), but it also provides the best exam of female organs. If your doctor does not do an annual rectal exam, you are not having the most preventative treatment.
4. Get to the RIGHT doctor! If you are at high risk or have been diagnosed with a gynecologic cancer you can get the care of a specialist. Did you know that over 60% of women who are diagnosed with gynecologic cancers are not treated by gynecologic oncologists? Gynecologic oncologists are specially trained to specifically care for cancer of the reproductive organs in women. When treated by a gynecologic oncologist, the remission rate is significantly higher. This is because these doctors are specifically trained in the newest and most effective treatments. If you are diagnosed, GET TO THE RIGHT DOCTOR. WORD will publish and coordinate a list of gynecologic oncologists as well as coordinating how to be referred to a specialist within the Military Health System.
5. Get the BEST treatment! Treatment options improve regularly; being a self-informed patient partnering with your physician will greatly increase positive outcomes. The most important initial treatment in beating gynecologic cancer is a surgery that not only removes the tumor, but also the “lumps and bumps” that are left by the cancer. It is important that your surgeon knows to look where the “lumps and bumps” often hide. Insist on a surgery done by a professional who is trained in curing gynecologic cancer. Then insist on getting the treatment recommended by the newest research. WORD will work with its Scientific Research Committee in providing a current list of recommended treatments and locations of the newest clinical research sites in both printed and digital formats for regular distribution throughout the DoD.
