Cervical Cancer

Something that I find is near and dear to me is cervical cancer awareness. In April 2001, I got a phone call that changed my life. I was called and told that my pap smear from my postpartum check-up had come back abnormal and I needed to come in to the clinic to discuss the results. I received the call on a Saturday morning and although the nurse reassured me that I did not have cancer, that did not make me feel better. I was 21, living in Japan with a brand new baby and had all weekend to obsess about the phone call.

My journey with frequent pap smears and biopsies lasted until after I had Kodie. I was lucky...mine always remained low grade and was labeled as CIN 1 and CIN 2. What that means is it was something to keep an eye on but nothing to be too scared of. I only realize now, 11 years later, just how lucky I was.

I was lucky because I had regular pap smears and when you have them regularly, it often times means any changes will be discovered early. I was lucky because I had insurance...women without insurance often times do not have yearly pap smears and when they go in, they sometimes get results back saying they do in fact have cervical cancer.

What has been discovered is that 99.7% of the time, abnormal pap results are a results of HPV. Some strains of HPV are described as high risk and are more likely to cause cervical cancer. There is an HPV vaccine out there now that is recommended for girls to receive. It's a personal choice when deciding whether to let your daughters and even your sons for that matter receive it. From my stand point, I have a different view of how the HPV vaccine can be beneficial. I'm looking at it from the perspective of having lived through being scared that I could end up with cervical cancer.

January is cervical cancer awareness month and I just feel it's so important to bring awareness to something that can sometimes have a stigma attached to it and also to bring awareness to it because it is so preventable.