Exactly 6 weeks after I delivered Rayyan, my gynae, the famous Dr Raja Juhaidah (she's the author of alamhamil.com!) set me up on an appointment with her - for subsequent check of my stitches and..for pap smear.
When I first heard, I almost shrieked.
"How can?! My stitches would be okay for you to do pap smear by then?!"
Days leading to the appointment, I had sleepless nights.
The husband said,
"What are you so worried about? Dr Raja confident je, OK lah tu"
Sigh. Fine, it wasn't your part of the body being torn apart and stitched up -_-"
Pap smear is a test to check your cell, to see if there are any cancerous cells being formed at the area of your cervix. It is called cervical cancer. The test can also detect if any changes your cells are undergoing which have tendencies to become cancer - even before they were formed. The cells are being collected by a speculum, where your doctor will seluk his or her hands in down there, use the speculum to take a bit of cells from the area, and that's it. I read that it's done within 5 minutes.
That relieved me, somehow, though it didn't stop me from checking the stitches everyday to see if it's fully healed. (don't ask why) But I guess I'm really lucky my stitches are fairly small, according to the midwife (yes I asked!). I've heard from some of my friends had stitches up to their rear :O
The day came. We went into her room after our turn came up. She was delighted to see us, asked me how I've been (coping), saw Rayyan.
Then, she asked me to lie on the bed by the scan machine thingy.
Uh-oh.
Get yourself together, woman. So I listened to my inner voice and trusted Dr Raja completely. I was calm.
She prepared her things, wore the latex gloves, and reach out down there to seluk in there.
And.. IT BLOODY HURTS. LIKE ****.
Had to hold something in my hand, so I grabbed the hand rest of the bed pretty tight. But soon enough, I saw her handing the nurse the sample and said,
"Ok dah!"
And that was it.
The pain? It's no longer there afterwards, it came as fast as it goes. But those 5 minutes were the worst - they're in number 2, after childbirth, to me. Dr Raja said my stitches has fully healed - even though I still felt uncomfortable when she did the deed.
So I guess it's safe to do pap smear after delivery.
Dr Raja said the result will be out after a week, and her clinic will call me to inform. She also said that she'd advise all her patients to do pap smear after delivery - especially if you've never done it before. It's an essential practice for us women, she said, because cervical cancer cases are increasing and if there's anything we could do to help our body get better, it's identifying the problem sooner than later.
A week later, I got a phone call from one of the nurses. "Puan, result puan semua OK"
And that was it. I'm cancer-free!
If you've never done the test, do your body a favor and go for it.
She prepared her things, wore the latex gloves, and reach out down there to seluk in there.
ReplyDeleteAnd.. IT BLOODY HURTS. LIKE ****.
Baca this part. Dengan tak sengaja I said, "Ohhhh ff**kkkkkkkk" out loud dekat office.
Kantoi guna vulgar word, kantoi buat smthg other than kerja dekat office. Anyway, serius anon tak boleh imagine ada org seluk tangan down there. ya Allah horror nya.
Yang pap smear tu, hanya for sexually active/married woman je ke? sbb selalu dgr psl pap smear ni from org yg dah kahwin.
Oh dear hahaha sorry I spoiled your reputation dekat office! XD
DeleteYes to me sangat horror, but then again my pain threshold is veryy low hehe.
Hmm I think for the married ones, because for the unmarried girls, doctors have this concern that it might jeopardize your ehem, virginity because we're talking about the doctor seluk-ing his hands into down there (I hope no boys would read this comment haha). So most (Malay) doctors would advise this to be done after marriage, unless there's some medical need for you to do the pap smear test. The speculum is NOT that small ok (nervous laugh) T.T
Salam dear, honestly a good gynae wont hurt u.. Papsmear is not painful unless the doc did it so rough!!! In ur case, i hope u will change ur gynae or if u want to do papsmear next year, I suggest u to book appt with Prof Siti Zawiyah of Umsc (private of ppum). Inshaa Allah u dont even realised the procedures is done within 5 minutes! She was the best gynae so far! I have done more than 5 times I think with so many gynaes..
ReplyDeleteSalam, ooh ok haha tulah I don't know why it hurts so much T.T will do if I want to do it again hehe. Thank you :)
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