So like the title says, I need gyno recommendations. I’m 33 and don’t have one—haven’t ever had a Pap smear, and anytime I’ve needed drug testing I’ve just gone to planned parenthood.

However.

When I moved back to Dayton in 2017, I spoke with PP about my birth control options because I have memory problems and was forgetting my pill at least once a week, and I opted for Mirena because I had heard horror stories about Nexplanon. I got there and for ten excruciating minutes they tried to place this IUD, and my cervix just would not relent. Paired with a time when my well-endowed ex bruised my cervix and I literally couldn’t walk without horrific stabbing pain in my vagina… I’m terrified of getting a Pap smear.

Thus, I’m hoping to make an appointment with a female doctor who is gentle and patient, who won’t just rush through things, who will explain what she’s doing as she does it. The anxiety I’m having over this is almost worth saying screw it and ignoring it for another ten years, but my dad just got his second of his lifetime cancer diagnosis, so I’m starting to be a little more proactive about screening. Plus Buckeye pays $75 a year in My Health Rewards for it.

Thank you in advance!