 As women, we take care of everyone else, but we often choose to forget to take care of ourselves. Dr. Sherry Thomas is here to talk to us about the importance of checkups and taking care of ourselves. Thank you, Dr. Thomas, for joining us. I'm going to be the first to say, I don't take care of myself. Why should women go to the doctor? Well, if you don't take care of yourself, you can't take care of everybody else. That is true. That is true. But again, so when I decide to go to the doctor, what should I be asking my doctor since I've taken so long to get there? Well, if you haven't been in over a year, you need to think about just a yearly exam, a yearly checkup. So women over 21 need to check their blood pressure, their cholesterol, have a pap smear and a pelvic exam. And then the doctor should go over different screening risks for you, your family history. Do you have a family history of high blood pressure, diabetes? Are you up to date on your immunizations? And then ask you about other things such as do you exercise, do you eat well, and do you smoke? Now, when you ask all those questions, that would mean that a woman would need to know her body. How can we educate our women on knowing their bodies? Well, think about your body in terms of anything else you've maintained. Think about what you've heard and what your other girlfriends say. And also online, you can look online in terms of recommendations based on your age of what you should have checked. We all know once we hit 20, we should start doing breast exams. We all know once we become sexually active, we should start having pelvic exams and being screened for sexually transmitted diseases. We all know once we hit 50, or we should know, we need screening for colon cancer, a very common cause of death in women. So in knowing your body, and I'll use myself, like the other day I did an exam for myself and I felt the lump and I still haven't gone to the doctor because I'm making those excuses of not going too busy, et cetera. When I get to the doctor, usually they have me come in and out. What are some of the questions that I can ask the doctor to let them know? I need your time. I need you to spend some quality time with me. So you want to be specific. You're making an appointment just for this lump and not for your yearly exam. So focus on your breast and I also have an earache and I might have a cold today. Can you look at that. Focus on your lump and your breast. Call him or her how long it's been there. You have a family history of breast cancer. When was your last mammogram? And that I do breast exams every month and this is new or I just saw a show and I saw on this breast exam and this has been there maybe just a week or two. But you know Dr. Thomas, and again I have to use myself, sometimes it's so difficult going to the doctor because you don't feel like your physician is an advocate and you feel like they just throw you in there, they feel on you and they send you out. How will I know if I'm with the right doctor or how do I find a doctor that will be an advocate for me? Oh, that's an even better question than what to focus on for that little appointment. Find a primary care provider. It may not be a doctor. It may be a nurse practitioner, a physician assistant. But find a primary care provider who you feel comfortable talking to that you can tell this person everything. You can tell them all these intimate details that you're going to need to tell them. Things that you might not tell your mother, your sister, your best friend because they need to know that and they need to listen so that they can help you get through whatever it is you're going through. So my daughter is going to go away to college and we're starting to have this conversation about when you're away, mommy's not there anymore. What do I tell her when she's in another state about looking for a doctor? Should I be involved in the process or should I just let her handle it? Well, one of the things she'll ask is her friends, which is what we do. Yes. You have a doctor you like. And so they've been screened. There's also ways online we can look at credentials of the doctor. And then meet the doctor and see if you like the doctor or the nurse practitioner or whomever you've chosen. With your daughter going to school, a lot of times they will have a clinic. And the clinic has several different healthcare providers at her table. Oh, but that's so impersonal. But you know actually you get some great doctors. I have some friends that have worked at different university programs and you get some great doctors too but they have a lot of the nurses and their friends will say, oh, go see this person. They'll get this taken care of. And it's actually geared more towards students and not somebody my age. But I think the message is the most important thing is that she needs to go to the doctor and not be like her mother and wait till the last minute, right? She needs to take care of herself. There you go. It is. Know what their hours are. Right. If they're not there, you need to go to the emergency room. Know where the local emergency room is or find a doctor in town that everybody else calls when they're closed on Saturday or Sunday. Okay. Well, I have to tell you. You've inspired me. I am going to go to the doctor. I'm going to make an appointment. We take care of everyone. Before you can take care of others, you have to take care of yourself. Women, go to the doctor. Don't be like me. Go to the doctor. Stay tuned. For more Every Way Woman, we will be right back. I don't know what I will do. I just... Are you in Every Way Woman? We'll be back with Everyday Fitness.