"Sexual Desire and Sexual Response in the Hormone Jungle and Hormone Desert Oasis"

[AlaskaAngel]

Hi StephN,

Both the first endo I saw there (a woman who no longer works at the cancer center) as well as the most recent gyno I saw there were competent and compassionate, but neither of them were savvy about the sexual effects on older chemo patients, with the first making noises about Rx-ing the usual psych drug, which I used (to no effect), and the second Rx'd a bit of topical estrogen to the vagina, basically to no effect.

The counseling center psych docs recognize the inequity of the situation, and one at least was willing to provide some counseling privately, but the center itself is not funded to handle the problems that need addressing over time.

Survivorship gets short shrift and no one is being honest about the true long-term effects because they don't have to deal with them.

I was very low-key, supportive, and non-confrontational at the newbies session, in order not to discourage them from independently considering treatment, despite my own personal views about it.

It was yet another example of how prevalent the practice is NOT to hire female nurses who have done treatment themselves, for oncology services. The perception by treatment-naive nurses is based on what their employing physicians do, which is to minimize discussion about it and divert discussion in other directions.

A.A.