My Story / Your Story

Joan’s story continues:

During my lifetime, while understanding the need for women to have control over their reproductive options, I chose not to use hormones for either reproduction or perimenopausal symptoms.

Years went by and, while in my reproductive years, I would notice subtle changes throughout my cycle but did not know their meaning. Many years later, after menopause, while studying to become a certified nurse-midwife, I learned about the menstrual cycle, its impact on reproduction, and the changes that occur throughout a woman’s life. As a healthcare practitioner, I was in a situation of giving hormones, either for birth control or perimenopausal symptoms, and realized that women had little knowledge about what they were putting into their bodies and how the hormones impacted their cycles. As a professor of women’s health nursing, I further realized the lack of knowledge that existed among young women, many of whom have been using hormones for years to prevent pregnancy and control other aspects of their well-being, i.e. intense cramping with their periods.

As a participant in a Medical and Health Education Certification program at the Medical College of Ohio where I taught, I collaborated with Dr. Carlos Baptista and The Center for Creative Instruction to develop a computer-based, multimedia educational module for teaching the menstrual cycle to nursing students in the women’s health courses. This educational module is focused toward women in learning about their menstrual cycle so that they might be informed when making reproductive healthcare decisions. I used the module in my doctoral dissertation and found that women valued learning about their cycle and felt it would help them in their future health-care decision-making.

This work has been a part of my life for the past several years and I feel blessed to have made an impact on the ability of some women as they claim their voice in healthcare decision-making through education of the menstrual cycle.

I invite you to share your story.

Joan Moon

My postings have been infrequent having just spent four months in Viet Nam and not focusing on the site. I am back and am looking forward to presenting the module both internationally and nationally in the months coming up. I’ve also been invited to serve on the Menstrual Cycle Consortium Panel at the National Institutes of Health. I am looking forward to contributing to this organization. As I go about, I continue to hear stories from women who reinforce my commitment to menstrual cycle education for informed health care decision-making. Thanks for your interest in this site.

I am pleased to announce that I have had two presentations accepted on my module. The first one is at the 5th International Congress on Nursing Innovations in Perth, Australia May 2011, and the second is at the 56th Annual Meeting and Exposition of the American College of Nurse Midwives in San Antonio, Texas on May 25, 2011. Needless to say, I am looking forward to both of these experiences…

It’s amazing about how many ways my module can serve women. I have known it could be effective in the schools, healthcare offices, girl’s groups, individual mothers and daughters, etc. etc. But I have been asked to collaborate with professionals working with women on the autism spectrum to help them learn about their bodies. It is so exciting to be working with professionals in that area and also in women’s health as we put together a train the trainer program using the module. Stay tuned…I’ll let you know further about this adventure~~ Let me know if you have other thoughts.

I ran across the following youtube site that reinforced, once again, why I developed this module. Why can’t the education of women be straight forward and intelligent? Do we really need websites such as this to inform women? I don’t think so. Watch it and tell me what YOU think!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ4QOQdnifk

It’s time for me to begin marketing this product. I was thrilled to see that May was the highest month yet for visits to the site – 911. Already only the 3rd of June and there have been 78 visits. I know people are enjoying the site and I hope they are learning something as well even if they are not buying the product…however, May was the best month for sales as well. I have decided to advertise on Facebook. My goal is to develop a market plan and work that plan!!!

A great day today presenting the module to 5th and 6th grade girls…I love the fact that the module can be a learning tool for all ages. What I did today was present it totally and on each page go back and, using an infrared pointer, identify areas that I thought would be especially pertinent. A crossword puzzle follo…wed by a question/answer time rounded the time out nicely. It was great having them so engaged.

It has been a very exciting week~ A Woman’s World: Discovering the Dynamic Menstrual Cycle was reviewed in Quickening, the official newsletter of the American College of Nurse-Midwives, and I was able to write an announcement for the newsletter for The Society for Menstrual Cycle Research. The reviews continue to be very positive and people have been accessing the site. There were 736 visits to the site in April. One woman wrote in and said the module was an answer to prayer because she had been trying to find a tool with which to educate women on the menstrual cycle. This certainly is the one! I don’t know if I mentioned previously that I was interviewed on a world-wide radio show as well. Even though this isn’t my day job it’s certainly one that gives me so much satisfaction. Thank you for continuing to support my efforts.

Well…at long last…the first of the “professional” CD’s have been delivered! I had a company out of Maryland produce them. The first lot are the “Women/Mothers/Daughters”.   Now I need to really put my marketing plan together! I was driving down the street the other day and thought to myself about the fact that since I turned 55 I earned my doctorate, survived stage four lymphoma (5 years out and considered CURED), created the module with the help of the University of Toledo and its grants and creative forces, created the website with the support of my “Jersey Girls”, and have a beautiful finished product. How incredibly exciting….but I had to take a very deep breath and tell myself that now I had to become a business woman and get this module marketed. I’ve taken a little break but I have to do this! So, thanks for all of your support…..I’ll keep you posted.

Women’s Health Dynamics, LLC I’ve been asked to participate in a webinar with a woman who recently presented to the FDA on the worldwide backlash on Gardasil, the HPV vaccine. To to the cite “truthaboutgardasil.org” and read what is happening. Look at the “FDA Documents” on the left side. She wants to use my module to explain the menstrual cycle aspects.

Well…at long last…the first of the “professional” CD’s have been delivered! I had a company out of Maryland produce them. The first lot are the “Women/Mothers/Daughters”. Now I need to really put my marketing plan together! I was driving down the street the other day and thought to myself about the fact that since I turned 55 I earned my doctorate, survived stage four lymphoma (5 years out and considered CURED), created the module with the help of the University of Toledo and its grants and creative forces, created the website with the support of my “Jersey Girls”, and have a beautiful finished product. How incredibly exciting….but I had to take a very deep breath and tell myself that now I had to become a business woman and get this module marketed. I’ve taken a little break but I have to do this! So, thanks for all of your support…..I’ll keep you posted.