Menopause Maze

About the Book

Menopause. Not a new subject, but one that deserves a new kind of presentation. Menopause is a universal female experience - and a uniquely personal event that no two women ever quite undergo in the same way. Menopause Maze presents the reader a Cliff's Notes<-condensed style format to read about this subject.

Females worldwide can expect to undergo the menopause passage some time in their mid-forties to mid-fifties. This book focuses on changes - the good and not-so-good women live through. Even though menopause signals yet another passage in a women's physical life, it does not have to be a time fraught with confusion, embarrassment or fear. Menopause Maze provides a condensed, although comprehensive, overview to meet this state of life head on.

From weight gain to exercise, from tears to laughter, from discouragement to empowerment, and from hating themselves to loving themselves, women entering menopause are poised on the precipice of patience, tolerance, acceptance and challenged with embracing change.

This book contains information to help you approach this time in your life with dignity, confidence, knowledge and humor. It is about taking care of you. It is about feeling your feelings and perhaps, most importantly, offers reassurance that whatever you are feeling now, you are not alone. Through surveys, contemporary media, and research, we provide you with information that can be used to help you, and those around you, understand this particular time of your life.

Menopause is a doorway to a richer exploration of life - a different freer phase. This guide allows you to examine the feelings you are experiencing, and you can read comments by other women like yourself who are going through this event.

The questionnaires provide an avenue of self awareness - allowing you to answer questions on a variety of subjects pertaining to your health and well-being. But the book also goes beyond menopause in that it allows you to assess your life up to this point and encourages you to think about what is next for you - for the next thirty or more years of your life.

Information on financial planning is provided by Art Burtscher. He provides valuable information for women who are at the age when they need to think seriously about what their individual financial future and retirement goals might be and plan accordingly.

The last chapter encourages you to find balance and participate in personal asset mapping, thinking about your future and what your next phase of life might look like in the next 5, 10, or 25 years.

This is a guide for you to begin thinking about the journey of Menopause and hopefully it will act as a spring board for you to continue to research the subject in areas that are particularly meaningful to you. Internet access sites are included at the end of most of the chapters along with note pages.

We believe that you will appreciate reading this book and will benefit from having actively participated in the reading experience.

Read, enjoy and be informed.

About the Author

Connie L. Keck

Ms. Keck currently works and lives in Omaha, NE. She is the Executive Director of the United Way of the Midlands Foundation, Omaha, NE. She has published several articles - some of which include: "The Importance of Being (Not Too) Earnest", "Safety Pins for Father's Day" and "Move Over Bo, the 11's are Coming".

Ms. Keck has 4 children, two sons-in-laws and 8 grandchildren.

Keith W. Vrbicky, MD

Dr. Vrbicky earned his medical degree from Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, NE in 1979. He completed residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Creighton University Affiliated Hospitals in 1983. He served as assistant professor at Creighton University School of Medicine in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology until he began private practice in Norfolk in 1985. He maintains a faculty appointment at both Creighton University and the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE. He is Board Certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology by the American College of OB/GYN.

Some of his publications include: "Evidence for the Involvement of Beta Endorphin in the Human Menstrual Cycle" and "On the Role of Uterine Home Monitoring in a Rural Setting."

Currently Dr. Vrbicky is in private practice in Norfolk, Nebraska.

Dr. Vribcky is married to Karen. They have six children ranging in age from 9 to 27.