Dr. Cook’s Endometriosis & Pelvic Pain Blog
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Archive for June, 2010 June 28th
2010
I headed out of Houston in 1985 having completed 4 hot muggy years of medical school to become a medical doctor. It was official; degree in hand I was actually a real medical doctor, but I needed to undergo additional postgraduate training. In my case this would be four more years in an OB/GYN residency-training program. The OB/GYN program at Wichita (University School of Medicine at Wichita) was a unique and very special program headed up by a guy named Daniel Roberts, MD, PhD. He was a benevolent dictator, very tough but also provided an unsurpassed training experience. (more…) June 21st
2010
“You are kidding me? You want to become a doctor? You can’t stand the sight of blood.” That was my Mom’s reaction to my decision to go into medicine. Things did kind of gross me out when I was a kid. Kind of ironic. When I got into medical school (Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas), I thought initially that I would become a family physician and go back to Colorado and be a small town Doc. But once I started seeing patients in medical school, I soon realized that western medicine, in a large part amounted to disease management. Growing up in a family of engineers, I liked to fix things. That is where surgery came in. And I was actually pretty good at it. I was scared the first day of cadaver lab. The smell was horrible. But all that passed after the first day. I was fascinated with the anatomy and when I got to surgery I saw some of the most amazing things. (more…) June 17th
2010
What It Really Means to Have Endometriosis In last week’s post (“What is endometriosis?”), I said that endometriosis by definition is a disease process where the inside lining of the uterus, the endometrium, flows back up inside of the body around the ovaries and bowel where it implants and begins to grow. Quite frankly a lot of this medical stuff can be quite dry and boring and does not convey what it is like for a woman to have this disease and how it truly impacts her life, her family, her career, her sex life, and her ability to live her life in very basic ways. (more…) June 14th
2010
I am a 5th generation Californian. My Grandmother (who has passed away) was in the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake as a young girl and was one of few women who attended Berkeley (University of California at Berkeley) in the 1910’s. I was born and raised in Southern California. This was before it was one big concrete jungle. We had fields to pay in and went sailing quite a bit. My family moved to Evergreen, Colorado when I was in the 9th grade. Evergreen is a small town in the mountains of Colorado about a half hour west of Denver. The nearest paved road was miles from our house. Quite a change from Southern California. (more…) June 10th
2010
Endometriosis. What is it? A lot of people, maybe most, haven’t even heard of endometriosis. In a lot of ways it is hard to really understand what it is and even harder for people to get what having this disease can do to a patient’s life. It can be difficult for even the most articulate patient to effectively communicate how devastating endometriosis can be on one’s life and ability to function. In this first of a series of posts I will review the medical definition. In the following posts I will discuss what it really means to have endometriosis. Endometriosis is defined as the presence of endometrial tissue outside of the uterus, the organ in which the baby grows during pregnancy. (more…) June 8th
2010
Hi and welcome. My name is Dr. Andrew Cook and I would like to take this opportunity to give you an overview of who I am and what Vital Health Institute is about. Vital Health is my baby – I created it and it is my vision that has guided its development. But it is a lot more than what I do as a doctor and surgeon. The group of people at Vital Health are amazing. I am fortunate to come to work each day and treat patients with such a great team. Along with my services, patients have a whole group of superstars looking after them to help them get better. It is pretty cool! (more…) June 6th
2010
Dr. Cook’s Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain Blog Has Launched! Hi. My name is Dr. Andrew Cook. Over time, the purpose of Dr. Cook’s Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain Blog will be to provide comprehensive, accurate information on the complex and often frustrating area of endometriosis and pelvic pain. I have seen thousands of patients with endometriosis and pelvic pain over the last 20 years, many with tragic stories. They have not only suffered immensely, but have often been misdiagnosed and not treated properly, resulting in physical pain and suffering and unnecessary emotional pain and suffering. (more…) |
