Mieke Kerkhof is a women's doctor (gynecologist) in Den Bosch and wrote a book about her 25 years of practical experience entitled Can ovaries really rattle? 82 questions you don't dare to ask your gynecologist (but to which you would like to know the answer). An interview by email.
With the title of your book you refer to Woody Allen's film comedy about sex Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask) from 1972. Why?
Woody Allen adapted a bestseller by doctor David Reuben (1933), American psychiatrist and sexologist. He presents seven questions in a playful way: nothing is too crazy. For example, a woman wearing a chastity belt is given an aphrodisiac and an ejaculation is depicted by representing the male brain as a NASA control center. The sperm cells are sent like paratroopers, including Allen, in white uniforms into the great unknown.
By referring to this Woody Allen film in my book title, I try to emphasize that no question is crazy, and every question is worth asking. Especially in my specialty, a lot appeals to the imagination. The female genital organ is usually examined through the vagina. Banality lurks.
Bumper stickers with 'amateur gynecologist' on them and T-shirts with the text 'I'm not a gynaecologist, but I'd like to take a look' are for sale everywhere, much to my annoyance. The female patients and the gynecologists are taunted with these kinds of statements. For me, this was an opportunity to discuss much of what came to my attention during my 25-year career without any detours and in a polite manner. My mission is to ensure that women receive correct information and do not engage in nonsense influencers.
Then what's the nonsense about it? influencers that you hear in your practice?
For example, a baby becomes bald from a CTG electrode. This is an electrode that measures the heart rate in the womb and is placed on the head of the fetus. For example, gynecologists monitor the fetal condition during labor. Birth is life's most dangerous journey. The fetus must be monitored, for example if it has passed the first feces into the amniotic fluid. Women very often refuse this electrode, with the result that a child may be born with a lack of oxygen.
Influencers also claim that the labor-stimulating hormone oxytocin, and I quote, “disrupts the connection between mother and child and ultimately leaves the child alone, resulting in a lonely birth for the child.” This is in no way scientifically substantiated. If a woman in labor refuses oxytocin even though she needs it, labor will stagnate and we will have to perform a caesarean section, or there will be a lot of blood loss, which is life-threatening. All undesirable situations during childbirth, while it is such a beautiful one live event could be.
What questions do you often receive in your practice?
The most impressive question I ever received was from a young mother, who asked me after giving birth if she could get victim assistance. This woman hit the nail on the head; the experience of childbirth must be closely monitored by obstetricians and gynecologists. And make no mistake: even though in our view a woman gives birth very smoothly according to the book, a post-traumatic stress disorder can still develop. My book also contains playful questions, but with a serious background. For example, the question “Can I keep my socks on?” which almost every woman asks sounds funny, but above all it shows her vulnerability. All doctors who hear the sock question must take into account the feelings of embarrassment that a woman feels when she takes a seat in the gynecological chair with her bare abdomen.
You occasionally write 'I's' for the Achterpagina, also about your practice. Do you also see this as information?
I have a great love for writing 'I's', yes. With much of what I experience, not only at work, but also in everyday life, I regularly think: “That's nice for a 'me'.” I have some kind of antenna for it. Regarding my work: Jozien Bensing, emeritus professor of clinical psychology and winner of the Spinoza Prize in 2006, calls the consultation room a garden of opportunities (a garden of possibilities). As a doctor, I think you should have an empathetic attitude when communicating with your patient. Show genuine interest. Because of this attitude, the harvest of anecdotes that lend themselves to a 'me' is large. Although scoring 'I's' is obviously not my main goal.
I have sometimes been accused of violating my professional confidentiality with 'I's' that I wrote. But I can refute that accusation. Because I describe the anecdotes in a non-traceable and anonymous manner, and I always ask permission from the patient involved. And it turns out: patients are honored. What could be more beautiful in life than sharing positive emotions?
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