Mandy Corvino Discusses Pelvic Health Issues

Gina Marinelli:
For WYSU, I’m Gina Marinelli. Today we are joined by Mandy Corvino, who is an Oncology Certified Nurse and Nurse Practitioner. Thank you so much for being here.

Mandy Corvino:
Hi, how are you?

Gina Marinelli:
Great! So there are a lot of issues that women with breast cancer have to deal with. What are some of the things in your practice that you see that maybe not everybody wants to talk about?

Mandy Corvino:
Sure. So I am certified in oncology, as you said, and I’m a nurse practitioner In neurology I specialize in a female pelvic health and especially intimacy issues. But I see all types of pelvic floor dysfunction, either pain with voiding, difficulty voiding, leaking bowel and bladder, and pain with intimacy. These topics are very hard to talk about. And locally, there’s not a lot of people who will openly talk about them to patients. But breast cancer patients specifically everyone can suffer from these issues. But breast care patients specifically have problems because of their treatment. They take chemotherapy that affects every cell in their body and hormone therapy that wipes out a lot of the hormones that help us with our pelvic health. So they come into the office and neither they’re not complaining because they’re too afraid to talk about it until you bring it up, or they are, and they have frequent urination, frequent UTIs. They’re sneezing and they’re leaking. They’re running to the bathroom and they’re leaking. And I don’t know why I’m the only one who’s upset about this, but you turn on the TV and they tell you a new poise pad came out. Women who have breast cancer survivors, they don’t need to exchange that wig for a poise pad. There can be help and there is help out there for them, and I want them to know that.

Gina Marinelli:
So what are the main things that you wanna get across to those women who are listening to you and some men I would imagine as well?

Mandy Corvino:
Absolutely. What I wanna get across to the women is that we are, I’m local. I’m in the area. I work with Dr. Michael Scolieri who’s dual board certified. He’s the only one in this area, and female pelvic medicine and reconstructive medicine as well. And together we have created a wonderful approach to handling intimacy and pelvic pain and avoiding disorders. And I want them to know that there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. My goal is when you come in as a patient, I want you to feel comfortable. I want you to feel all of these topics are very private, that they’re gonna be held with the utmost respect, but we’re gonna have solutions to solve these problems. Whether it be something as simple as the recurrent UTIs, they’re very easy. A local cream, a hormone cream that they can use that will help with their urgency, frequency pain with intimacy. And I’m sure you have listeners out there right now saying, Well, my oncologist said absolutely not. I can never use estrogen. And I want them to know that that is a hundred percent not true. There’s data and research out there. I’d be happy to provide them with any article I have from reputable medical journals that state the safety and efficacy of it. And it really is a life changing, and it’s not a pill. It’s a simple solution. It’s a cream.

Gina Marinelli:
So your patients learn a lot from you, <affirmative>. And I’m told that the interactions are a lot of fun.

Mandy Corvino:
They’re a ton of fun.

Gina Marinelli:
What do you learn from your patients and your clients?

Mandy Corvino:
What I learn from them is that, you know, have to live life to the fullest. These women have been through a lot and I’ve been there with them. I’ve given the chemo. I can see how horrible it is. And I think that they teach us that you have to take life every day and it’s a gift. But what I also learn is they’re afraid to talk. And I want them to know that they don’t need to be afraid to come talk to me about any of their intimate issues or their pelvic health issues. And it’s not about taking another pill or making all these appointments. And a lot of these times the intimacy issue, which is very hard for women to talk about, it comes at a time. They get a cancer diagnosis and their husband may be having some pelvic floor dysfunction, which we see a ton of as well. So then it gets pushed to the side. And when your intimate life is affected, it kind of spills over into every other aspect of your life. And then their quality of life goes down. And that’s not what we want after they’ve survived a horrific battle and won, now it’s time for them to live.

Gina Marinelli:
So as I mentioned, you do some public speaking. If somebody’s interested in having you talk to their organization, how do they get in touch with you?

Mandy Corvino:
They can get in touch with me by calling us at 330-337-1134. They can find me at cuiohio.com or follow me on my Instagram at Comprehensive Sexual Health. I would love to talk to anyone.

Gina Marinelli:
Okay, wonderful. So thank you so much for stopping by Mandy Corvino Certified Oncology Nurse and Nurse Practitioner. Thank you for being here.

Mandy Corvino:
Thank you

Gina Marinelli:
For WYSU, I’m Gina Marinelli.