You Can’t Saddle Up Without The Stirrups
June 3, 2011 2 Comments
You’re laying there on your back waiting, anticipating the dreaded cold metal tongs. Getting your Pap smear is never a fun experience, but it’s essential.
Think of it as cervical upkeep. If there’s any type of cancer that health care professionals can detect early, it’s cervical. That is, if you’re getting a test done regularly.
But it’s not so much getting the test done in the first place as it is getting a follow-up if your initial test was abnormal. One in 4 women with abnormal Pap smears don’t go back for a follow-up, according to the Canadian Press.
While the blame may be placed on doctors for not following up with the patient to set up another appointment, it’s largely the responsibility of the patient. Not being pro-active about your own health is not an inherent flaw within the health care system.
Most women are aware that Pap smears “identify precancerous cells or lesions on the cervix which can be easily treated so they don’t develop into cancer.” It’s not like they’re uniformed or anything.
However, not all fault should be placed on the patient. The problem may stem from a general “breakdown in communications,” said Dr. Rachel Kupets, the lead investigator of the study.
Dr. Kupets believes that if the numbers of cervical cancer are going to remain low (only an estimated 400 women die of the disease in Canada each year), it’s going to have to be a two-way street between health care professionals and patients.
Doctor’s offices and clinics should certainly need to take initiative when it comes to their patients. Increasing wait times may be annoying, but neglecting your Pap could be fatal down the road.
The responsibility can only go this far though. Patients have to have to be genuinely concerned and understand the importance of regular tests. Many women go every year and wonder why they have to keep going if nothing is coming up.
Truth is, though, you can have abnormal squamous cells turn up at any time. You won’t believe it until it happens to you. It’s no reason for panic or paranoia, but a healthy dose of worry is to your benefit so more serious measures don’t have to be taken.
So now it’s up to you to follow up. Your cervix depends on it.
Contact the author here: tinybart@morningquickie.com
Did you know that the false positive rate for a pap smear is between 60% and 90%? You urge all the women in Canada to subject themselves to these exams because 400 women die of cervical cancer each year. How many women are there in Canada? The World Bank estimated the population of Canada at 33M as of 2009, so roughly half the population is women, so you are urging roughly 17M women to have this invasive and uncomfortable exam to save the lives of 400? Do you know how incredibly low that percentage is? I’m not saying that the health of women is unimportant. My point is that women need to be knowledgeable about their bodies, have open and honest conversations with their doctors and get the medical treatments and preventative care that is right for them. Society at large pushes on women the idea that yearly pap and pelvic exams are the answer, and yet the evidence does not back this up. Why not encourage women to have a yearly check up and have conversations with their doctors about their overall health and well being and determine together the best course of preventive medical care???
I totally agree that women should have a yearly check up regarding their overall health and well-being to determine what’s right for them apart from “all women.” However, the health of the cervix should be part of women’s general health. Yes, the test results are imperfect, but with such low numbers of cervical cancer in Canada, we can’t deny that it’s a test that is preventive and does save lives. If you don’t follow-up it’s possible that you could be at risk. It’s unpleasant, but isn’t it best to go back, have another test and make sure? There’s a lot of false positives, but wouldn’t it give you peace of mind to get that negative? Of course this isn’t the answer to women’s health, but being proactive sure is something we can do. And society hasn’t convinced every woman. Some women in their ’20s have never even had a Pap test.