Laughing at the gynecologist
It may not be the first thing you think of: smiling at the gynaecologist. Yet Mieke Kerkhof shows that she experiences many special and funny things in her practice. She has bundled these experiences in the book ‘Even relaxed madam’.
Gynecologist Mieke Kerkhof thinks her profession is the most beautiful in the world. “As everyone knows, there are two certainties in life: every person is born and every person dies. Unlike funeral directors, we, gynaecologists, have the fantastic job of guiding the start of a life.”
For a gynecologist, no two days are the same. They supervise pregnancies and remedy women’s ailments in patients of all ages. There is a lot of intimacy and, according to Kerkhof, a gynecologist is entrusted with a lot and as a result she experiences many beautiful, special, moving, euphoric, sad and funny moments.
Smile
In Just relax madam Kerkhof collected her own experiences and those of colleagues. The book is full of anecdotes, one-liners and wisdom. You really get a glimpse into the world of gynaecologists. For example, a frequently asked question turns out to be whether you can keep your socks on during an investigation. And children miss the color or popcorn during an ultrasound.
Of course, the stirrup chair and duckbill are also reviewed. A woman also asks if she is still in time for ‘Farmer is looking for a woman’ after giving birth and another lady turns out not to be pregnant by André, but by Theo. Beautiful is also the story of the man who thinks he has to press the implanon before making love to his wife.
Just relax madam reads like a train. The anecdotes are light-hearted and appeal to the imagination. The book is certainly not flat or tasteless. And while some stories feel a little unfinished, most bring a smile to your face.
Mieke Kerkhof has been a gynaecologist at the Jeroen Bosch Hospital since 1998. Every week she tries to summarize her special experiences in ‘I’s’, dozens of which have been published in NRC Handelsblad.
