Summary of Deborah Copaken's Ladyparts

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 I was twelve hours from death when I called the surgeon who had removed my cervix. I was loath to cry wolf again, but my apartment looked like a crime scene. I was crying medium-sized dog, possibly rabid.

#2 I was grateful for my escape from a toxic and lonely marriage, but I’ve been as alone as I’ve ever been. My eldest has been living with his girlfriend in Bangkok, where he’s teaching English. My youngest is away at summer camp.

#3 I was downsized, and I couldn’t afford a home health aide or food. I was forced to go to the hospital, where my daughter brought me some blood clots that turned out to be giant blood clots. I was hemorrhaging enough already.

#4 I had no memory of entering the hospital, but a trail of blood indicated that I had. Emergency room receptionist, asking for my name. Other voices had taken over the task of speaking it. My name was unretrievable because my divorce was taking longer than expected.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Aug 27, 2022
• ISBN: 9798350017908

IRB Media

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Insights on Deborah Copaken's Ladyparts

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

I was twelve hours from death when I called the surgeon who had removed my cervix. I was loath to cry wolf again, but my apartment looked like a crime scene. I was crying medium-sized dog, possibly rabid.

#2

I was grateful for my escape from a toxic and lonely marriage, but I’ve been as alone as I’ve ever been. My eldest has been living with his girlfriend in Bangkok, where he’s teaching English. My youngest is away at summer camp.

#3

I was downsized, and I couldn’t afford a home health aide or food. I was forced to go to the hospital, where my daughter brought me some blood clots that turned out to be giant blood clots. I was hemorrhaging enough already.

#4

I had no memory of entering the hospital, but a trail of blood indicated that I had. Emergency room receptionist, asking for my name. Other voices had taken over the task of speaking it. My name was unretrievable because my divorce was taking longer than expected.

#5

I had been counting the large clots that were flying out of me. My daughter had been correct: we had reached 16 clots by the time someone got in the room. I wanted to remind my daughter to cremate my body and sprinkle the ashes into the Seine if I died, but I didn’t have the strength to do so myself.

#6

I had to have my clot removed, and it was a nightmare. The surgeon was in shock that it came out on its own, and the beeping and darkness were just added to make me feel even more anxious.

#7

I was watching this all from above, a bleeding body on a slab, arms spread, wrists bound. I was Christ under the knife. The speculum went in.

#8

COBRA, an American law, is a limited number of government-mandated months of insurance continuation for workers who lose or leave a job. It’s always expensive.

Insights from Chapter 2

#1

The uterus is a symbol of motherhood, but it’s also a symbol of how difficult motherhood can be. It’s difficult to get rid of it, but the sooner you accept that you don’t need it anymore, the better.

#2

I have adenomyosis, a chronic condition of the uterus in which its inner lining breaks through the myometrium, causing extensive bleeding, anemia, heavy cramping, and severe bloating. I have endured this disease most of my adult life because I had no idea I had it.

#3

The history of treating women, though we outlive men, as the weaker and more sickly sex, stems from the fact that society has always judged our pain as being less than that of men.

#4

The lead scientist, Dr. Richard Legro, had his grant application for further studies of the effects of Viagra on dysmenorrhea not only rejected by the NIH, but no one ever reviewed it. Men do not care about or understand dysmenorrhea.

#5

Nora Ephron, screenwriter, director, novelist, and journalist, was my hero. She wrote essays in Esquire that subverted the inward-looking me-me-me of male gonzo journalism and reworked it with a self-mocking dash of Dorothy Parker to serve the higher purpose of a collective we.

#6

My husband and I were eight years into our marriage, seven years into breathing bus fumes, six years into parenthood, and five days away from seeing whether more light, air, and space could keep our marriage from collapsing.

#7

On that clear blue morning, I felt the shock of my family’s own implosion. I had no word from my husband, and was delivering photos of the burning towers to my photo agent.

#8

In 1995, my husband and I visited the Intrepid Museum, a former World War II aircraft carrier in the Hudson River. I was trapped between Memorial Day weekend tourists, and my water broke two