This third edition is down to only 1001 of the original 1250 Health-Care Questions Women Ask. (1985, 1992). I sure wouldn't know which to edit out, but it is still very thorough.
Women are notoriously shy about personal questions. We like to look it up and be quite sure it is a problem before we raise it with our doctor. Every woman like this ought to have Dr. Joe S. McIlhaney's book in her room, or at a public library nearby. (I do wish I'd had that PMS calendar in my teens and early adult-hood!)
This doctor has a respectful, teaching bedside manner. The questions are arranged in a continuing sequence so that you find yourself reading pages beyond the one question you looked up. He explains the female body and its changing stages, all the aspects of bearing a child from conception to delivery, and special concerns such as disorders of the sexual and reproductive organs, infertility, birth control, sexually transmitted diseases, and marital and sexual relationships, and McIlhaney does all this simply in words we understand, defining medical terms plainly.
There are times he says another doctor might prefer this procedure or that prescription, but that he usually recommends this one, and adds, "In this matter, I've only had one woman come back and say it didn't work for her." It is reassuring to know he can count some failures in single digit figures after many decades in practice.
What I like too, is how naturally he wove in a worship of our great Creator who made the vagina for instance, or cervix, to function so well, in so many ways, and mend itself so easily. There are places where he quotes Scriptures, as in his basic martial principles, and refers readers to other good books.
There are Christian women, even doctors, who will disagree with McIlhaney on some points. Some might be less quick to recommend a hysterectomy for certain problems, or estrogen, but fair reading will convince any woman that this obstetrician-gynecologist cares about his patients and women in general and respects our decisions, and dispenses his extensive knowledge wisely. I treasure this reference book!
Ruth Marlene Friesen
The Responsible One
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Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada