It could save your life (My Experience of Cervical Cancer)

Member Name: Volpina

Product:	My Experience of Cervical Cancer
Date:	23/06/02 (299 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It could save your life

Disadvantages: a blush or two

Let's be honest, you never think that you could be the unlucky one so you put off having it done..there is always next month after all. That month runs into six and before you know it several years have passed. I mean, a Cervical Smear Test is never high up on one's 'to do' list, is it?

There are always campaigns about the importance of having a smear test but if you are anything like me you just tend to ignore them, especially if you feel absolutely fine and think that there couldn't possibly be anything wrong.

Cervical cancer is a malignancy of the cells lining the surface of the cervix, the opening to the uterus. Cervical cancer usually develops slowly over many years. It is most common in women in their 40s, however precancerous changes can be seen in any woman who is sexually active. If left undetected or untreated, the precancerous changes can progress to cervical cancer, which can spread to other organs and cause death. However, if caught early, especially in the precancerous stage, with regular smear tests and physical examinations, complete cure is the rule. Most health authorities advise a test every 3 years.

This five minute test has been estimated to have saved the lives...I repeat SAVED THE LIVES, of tens of thousands of women.

The sad fact is that almost half of the 3,500 new cases of cervical cancer in the UK (each year) occur in women who have never had a smear test.

Some say the bad press about incorrect smear test results is to blame. I agree that everything possible should be done to eliminate the potential for error but, at the end of the day, no test is infallible. What I will say is that you have no chance in ever detecting abnormalities if you don't go at all.

Even a positive result doesn't automatically mean you have cancer - it just highlights that further diagnostic tests may be needed.

I am not going to go into the ins and outs (excuse the pu
n) of how the test is performed as I don't think it is fitting to describe it in lurid detail.
Yes, it is a little uncomfortable and it's never nice to have to reveal all to complete strangers.However, those short five minutes are worth every blush when you consider they could ultimately save your life - wouldn't you agree?
If you wish to find out more then just type 'cervical smear' or 'PAP test' into your search engine. Making the effort to find out more about it is up to you.

We all wake up every day and have a choice..a choice to be happy or sad, a choice to go to work or not etc etc. Cancer can take away the element of choice in one's life. I don't know about you but I would like to have the power to make as many choices about my own life as possible.

Maybe I am being naive in thinking that one small opinion on a website could actually go some way to preventing even 1 of those 3'500 new cases of cervical cancer mentioned above. One person can't change the world I know but I just felt I should do my bit.

Hindsight is worth a lot if you learn from it, and it's worth even more if it's another's hindsight you are learning from.

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