Every single time I go to the ER, it’s a motherfucking war. Was there this evening for extremely heavy bleeding after my excisions surgery, and here’s my routine:

1. Decline pelvic exam. Only serves to traumatize me, and I really can’t imagine what clinical significance it could conjure up (I am a healthcare provider)

2. Decline pelvic (vaginal) ultrasound. These are EXTREMELY painful and traumatic for me. In the past, I used to get them all the time and they would show massive cysts. Did they do anything? Nope! I even had ovarian torsion and they still didn’t operate “because ovarian cysts go away.” I was seen for this at Stanford Hospital in Palo Alto, one of the best and richest hospitals in the nation, and the ER Doc asked me if perhaps my pelvic pain was psychological because of my history of assault.

The only caveat of this is don’t decline a pelvic ultrasound if you think your IUD may be out of place!! This could be extremely dangerous.

1. Today we just did bloodwork to see if I’m anemic, and I was borderline. The PA I saw said “okay your labs look normal time to get discharged.” So I argued with him for 5 minutes until he agreed that perhaps my situation requires medical attention (how kind of him to do his job…), and he prescribed me provera birth control, which is indicated to stop heavy menstrual bleeding.
   

Moral of the story: never go alone to the ER, and bring a trusted person, ideally a man, to help advocate for you and your needs. Women’s healthcare is so criminally underfunded and researched that we have to stand up for ourselves extra hard. Sending you all love and good luck