Don't put your health on the back burner!

How hard is it to visit your doctor once every 2 years to have a pap smear?

Not hard at all is it, so why are you putting it off then? It's not something you should put off and they are given for a reason! A pap test or pap smear, is a simple painless 60 sec procedure that could ultimately save your life. A Pap smear checks for changes & abnormalities in the cells of your cervix, the cervix is the lowest part of the uterus (womb) that opens into the vagina or 'birth canal'. A pap smear can tell a Dr. a few things, it will check for abnormalities or 'un-healthy' cells, lets them know if there's an infection that needs to be looked after, and the main one, can catch the onset of cervical cancer!

I can't stress enough you need to have a pap done once every two years, I'm not just saying this, it could literally save your life! A pap smear allows the Dr. to catch the cancer at it's earliest. Caught early, the greater your chances are for beating and overcoming cervical cancer! Early treatment and signs can greatly prevent most cases of full blown cervical cancer.

All women NEED pap tests done, along with routine pelvic exams. You should be getting regular pap tests if you are past the age of 21 (once every two years). Women who have gone through or are going through menopause still need regular paps preformed (every 3 years). Women ages 65 and over, may talk to their doctors about stopping after 3 normal paps, and no abnormal results in the last 10 years!

The only excuse to not have one, would be if you didn't have a cervix.

Why would you not have a cervix? Well more than likely you've had a 'total hysterectomy' . If this is you, and you've had it removed because of abnormalities in a pap, or because of increased risk of cervical cancer, you should still speak to your Dr. about receiving paps, more than likely you will need 3 clear paps before you can stop. However you can be at a risk now for Vaginal cancer so it's always better to be safe than sorry.

Women who have had only their uterus removed with cervix still intact, should of course be attending routine paps. You are not invincible you are still at risk.

It's simple, painless and not excusable. It's straight forward to prepare for your pap as well! It's not advised to have a pap when on your period. For reasons that are pretty self explanatory.

If you have never had a pap, and are now considering it, the procedure is done as followed; You'll be asked to undress from the waist down, removing all clothing underneath your belly button area.( you will do this in private) When the Dr. returns you will be asked to lay on the exam table. The Dr. will gently insert something called a speculum into your vagina, this will open everything allowing the Dr. a clear view of your cervix. The Dr. will then take a swab, or thin brush, and wipe your cervix. The cells are saved and sent for testing. Pap smears are completely painless, however they can be uncomfortable.

It will take 3 weeks to hear back about your test results. Most of the time, the tests come back normal with no abnormalities. However when they don't it can be alarming. More than likely having an abnormal pap does not mean you have cancer! Usually there's just a minute problem with your cervix. The doctor will discuss this with you and more likely than not, book some additional tests. Some abnormal cells will turn into cancer, however mostly these abnormal cells will vanish on their own! If these cells are treated on time, then almost all cases of cervical cancer will be prevented.

So if you are one who has been given the results of an abnormal pap. The Dr. will first preform an additional pap before moving forward with anything else. If that test comes back abnormal as well, or there has been a significant change in the cells then your Dr. will suggest tests that pack more punch. Tests such as these include;

Colposcopy , Endocervical Curettage , Biopsy. (Dr. will remove a small piece of the cervix to send away for extensive testing. )

So.....what exactly are you putting off? Do you value your life enough to take your pants off one day every two years?

Trust me... I know it could save your life!

I know it can save your life, because my partner's mother was one of the unfortunate few, who didn't routinely have her testing done.

For a year leading up to the diagnosis that would ultimately take her life, she had been complaining about being sick. Every morning she would rise for work, and find herself RUNNING to the bathroom to vomit multiple times before she even had her coffee made. She was loosing weight, and feeling extremely run down. We confronted her, and asked her if she planned on seeing a Dr. and when was the last time she even had. It had been years since she'd even looked her Dr. in the face, and she had no plans on coming face to face with her Dr. anytime in the near future either! What was holding her back, we will never know..

We pressed, and stressed, and begged her to see the Dr. (this point not thinking things were as serious as they were). I always think it's better to be safe. If you feel something's off then it probably is. I would tell my partner behind closed doors, that i was worried.. Throwing up religiously everyday is not right, and there is something wrong.. Shortly after all this hell started, she developed shooting pains on her right side near her liver. Finally they got to be to much to bear and she went to her Dr. The Dr, ran some tests & did some blood work. Tests and bloodwork did not come back as planned, and it was an emergency after that, a whirl wind of biopsy's and ultrasounds and additional testing...

They found a tumor.

Originally they had spotted the tumor on her liver. Makes sense right? Throwing up, loosing weight feeling run down. Additional tests and ultrasounds confirmed it was not just any tumor, it was a malignant tumor, that had attached itself to approximately 90% of her liver. (about the size of a grapefruit) unfortunately that was extremely dis-heartening news, because now the possibility of removing the tumor safely was gone. They could not remove the massive tumor, and leave her with enough of a liver to survive.

The tumor was so large, and so healthy that they figure it had been feeding off of her for a good 2-3 years before any of this started). Around the time she started expressing discomfort, and ill feelings.

After the diagnosis and the tests, she took a turn for the worse, and ultimately turned down a road that she would never get off of.

Took 5 months.

Five short months from the time we received the news the tumor was malignant. We were burying her. Nobody really had any chance to absorb any of this information, We were all trying to figure out treatments and the fastest way to get her healthy again. Unfortunately that was not going to be a possibility.

A couple months passed, and he stomach starting retaining fluids. So much so, it was unbearable for her to move, or really even roll over in bed. It was so uncomfortable for her, and the Dr.s had made a promise they would drain the fluid when she became a little stronger! There were highs and lows the last couple months, she would seem to get a little better, be able to eat and keep food down, her chemo wasn't taking as much of a toll on her as we all imagined (she had only 3 treatments), and there seemed to be a whit of hope. But that hope turned to sorrow, when she had her fluid drained (13 L in total) . She was too weak & her body just couldn't support the procedure, and she ended up in the hospital, that night because she was feeling funny. She should have been feeling better. After that her condition at the hospital deteriorated and only a few short days after arriving she was in a coma, and passed.

It was shocking, it was heartbreaking, it wasn't expected and no one was prepared.

Turns out that, the tumor on the liver was the secondary cancer source. So there was a primary, and they determined that to be, her cervix. It all started out as CERVICAL CANCER, and within 2 short years was taking up most of her abdominal cavity. There was no hope.

If she had ONLY had her routine pap the two years before it would have been caught and my kids would have their grandmother. It unfortunately didn't play out that way, and the outcome that was, is the outcome we will have to live with, and learn to move on from.

--So PLEASE, for your kids, Grandkids, partner or yourself, get your routine pap done. There is NO excuse!!