The day before Thanksgiving, while waiting to leave for our trip to see the family in Florida, I got a phone call from my gynecologist's office. It was "Sheila," whoever that is, and she wanted to know if I'd gotten a message from her a few weeks ago. After some chit-chat back and forth about playing phone tag, she told me the reason for her call: an abnormal pap smear. She told me that they wanted to call in a prescription for me, and then re-do the pap smear after I'd used the Rx for four weeks, and that would probably take care of the problem - it usually did. She was obviously quite rushed (holiday weekend coming up, after all) and I was kind of stunned, so I didn't ask many questions and she didn't volunteer much data.
Since I was on my way out of town, so I put the issue out of my mind (I certainly wouldn't be dying of cervical cancer over a long weekend) and tried not to think about it again for a few days. It crept back to the top of mind occasionally, but mostly it was an OK weekend. I picked up my Rx on Sunday.
Sunday morning, I did some web searching on Abnormal Pap Smear on the WebMD site and got some good information. I also did some searching on my prescription, but had more luck with Google. It's a "Cervical Amino Acid Cream Kit." I thought I had everything mostly figured out until Sunday night, when I followed the very minimal package instructions for use of my Rx. Suddenly, I was very afraid. What was wrong with me? What was I using this for? What was its purpose? Could I still have sex? It was not a pleasant night. I didn't sleep well.
The next day, Monday, I called the doctor. The woman who answered the phone was very clear that my level of abnormal cell is the lowest level of abnormality; on a scale of 1-4, I was a 1. The purpose of the cream was to heal an inflamed cervix. The follow-up would probably be normal. And yes, I can have sex.
How I wish the first phone call had been more like the second. I would have been saved a lot of anxiety.
For my NOM/Foyer readers, if there are any, perhaps you will not be surprised that I had some thoughts that this was some form of punishment for my demi-apostasy.
Since I was on my way out of town, so I put the issue out of my mind (I certainly wouldn't be dying of cervical cancer over a long weekend) and tried not to think about it again for a few days. It crept back to the top of mind occasionally, but mostly it was an OK weekend. I picked up my Rx on Sunday.
Sunday morning, I did some web searching on Abnormal Pap Smear on the WebMD site and got some good information. I also did some searching on my prescription, but had more luck with Google. It's a "Cervical Amino Acid Cream Kit." I thought I had everything mostly figured out until Sunday night, when I followed the very minimal package instructions for use of my Rx. Suddenly, I was very afraid. What was wrong with me? What was I using this for? What was its purpose? Could I still have sex? It was not a pleasant night. I didn't sleep well.
The next day, Monday, I called the doctor. The woman who answered the phone was very clear that my level of abnormal cell is the lowest level of abnormality; on a scale of 1-4, I was a 1. The purpose of the cream was to heal an inflamed cervix. The follow-up would probably be normal. And yes, I can have sex.
How I wish the first phone call had been more like the second. I would have been saved a lot of anxiety.
For my NOM/Foyer readers, if there are any, perhaps you will not be surprised that I had some thoughts that this was some form of punishment for my demi-apostasy.
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