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Preconception Health Check

Preventive Medicine Before You Conceive

By Kelly Burgess

Like most women, Roxann Griffen of Cicero, Ill., didn't go see her obstetrician until she was nearly 3 months pregnant. She learned her due date, got prescriptions for a prenatal vitamin and was looking forward to an uncomplicated pregnancy. A week later, she got a call that her pap smear had come back abnormal.

Further tests showed that she was in the early stages of cervical cancer. All of her choices were difficult: abort the pregnancy and begin treating the cancer aggressively; continue with the pregnancy and start on a more conservative treatment; take her chances with the fetus or do nothing and hope for the best. In the end, she decided to wait. On September 1, 1998, she gave birth to a daughter. By that time her cancer had advanced to Stage 1. Shortly thereafter she had a hysterectomy followed by chemotherapy and radiation.

Griffen, who was 28 years old at the time, is now considered cured. Still, she can hardly believe what she went through. "I had really only been going to my gynecologist regularly because I wanted birth control pills," says Griffen. "When I decided to get pregnant, I hadn't been for a visit in nearly a year. I figured I was young and healthy and there wasn't really a need for me to get a checkup before I got pregnant. If I had, we would definitely have more children."

Preventing Griffen's tragedy is the idea behind the next wave in female health: a customized preconception visit for every single woman of childbearing age.

One of the pioneers of the preconception visit idea is Dr. John R. Sussman, an obstetrician and gynecologist in private practice in New Milford, Conn. "Since I first got involved with pre-pregnancy medicine in 1985, this idea has been embraced by everyone who provides care for women," he says. "The Centers for Disease Control [and Prevention] (CDC) now has guidelines, as does the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). In the last 20 years or so we've finally begun to understand the importance of planning before opportunities are lost."

Want to see more?

• Six Months to Conception: A Practical 5-Step Plan Toward Pregnancy
• Preconception Visits: Working with Your Doctor for a Healthy Conception
• Ready, Set, Conceive! Preconception Planning for a Healthy Pregnancy
• Join the discussion on our Family.com community!

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