I used to let things slide because I either assumed I was totally healthy, or I'd get to it "when there's time," or I assume the (usually male) doctors were smarter than I was.
I had a friend in a similar situation to Lori H's sister-in-law - breast lump and the doctor said "recheck in 6 months" and "If this were in my wife or sister, I'd tell them the same thing." Unfortunately, in 6 months, the cancer had spread to the breast bone and beyond.
My husband had a bizarre condition 2 years ago - it looked like heart failure and AFib, bu that didn't make total sense. He spent 4 days in Cardiac ICU, and after the 8th time they couldn't produce an up-to-date medication list, took him out of one hospital and put him in a cardiologist's office at a major Boston hospital. They were also struggling to figure out what was going on, but I had a big notebook I had started in the ICU and in the appointments leading up to that, including an off-the-wall suggestion by the ER attending. Because heart failure didn't make sense in someone who didn't have some of the classic symptoms, they looked at this other suggestions - an endocrine tumor. So, he went to endocrinology and, after lab work and scans and MRI and PET they found the tumor (not the one the ER doctor suggested but a very close "cousin" of it). So , after surgery, he was fine. My point is, if I hadn't pushed, he'd be taking massive heart meds that he didn't need, when in fact it was the endocrine tumor making excess stress hormones and pounding his heart with them.
You know you are the only source of stability and wisdom for your kids, so I would suggest that you follow the flight attendant directive to "put the oxygen mask on yourself first before attending to the needs of others." We women don't take care of ourselves as much as we should.