Next time, my next smear test... glitter.
So I got my first letter for my smear test
from my doctor when I was 25, in fact, it was two weeks before I turned 25. Yeah, exactly
the same for me. When it came through I was like, "I'm a woman!". Yeah I was like "oh
great birthday present, go off for a smear". So I booked it straight away, I have had STI
checks in the past and I knew it was going to be quite similar to that, kind of the same
routine, and I wasn't that nervous. So I went along, and my results came back abnormal which
then led to the whole process of me having colposcopies and LLETZ treatment to try and
get rid of my pre-cancerous cells on my cervix. Yeah, it was exactly the same for me. So when
I was about 21 years old, I went to the doctor because I was getting some symptoms which
were pointing towards, you know, cervical cancer and that sort of thing. What like?
Like spotting in between periods and things like that, so I went to doctor and I asked
if I could have a smear test, but they said because of my age, I was only 21, and you're
not supposed to have one until 25. So anyway, I waited and two weeks before my 25th birthday,
I got a letter so it's like, happy birthday, it's time for your smear test! You're now
an adult! I was dreading it a bit. So were you embarrassed about going for your smear?
Because I wasn't, at all. The only concern I had was, what do I wear? Do I wear jeans?
Shall I wear a long skirt so I can roll it up? I don't really know and then, do I leave
my socks on, do I take them off? I had all these things going round in my head so I was
a bit like, all over the place with it. I was more worried it would hurt. I was worried
about the pain for sure, I wasn't at all embarrassed about my vagina, I was a bit like, "should
I shave? Shouldn't I?" What's the process? But they see it all day every day, these people
that are doing the smear tests. Yeah exactly, and the whole like grooming thing, you're
like "do I want to look like I've tried too hard?". You know it's my first time meeting
somebody... Also, it's a very daunting, intimate thing. Even with a partner you don't just
sit there with your legs open and have them stare in between your legs. Yeah, with the
big lamp that they just pull down... It's very intimate and I think that freaks a lot
of girls out. I've got friends who have said, "I'm a bit worried about going because..."
and even bikini waxes and things like that, they're worried about what they look like
down there and do they look like all the other ones that these nurses or waxers are going
to see? It's true, I don't know what any of my friends'... - no it's not sort of the thing
that you - look like. It's not the sort of thing that you discuss... I only know my own
so yeah I understand how that can be really worrying, going for your smear and being like,
"am I normal?", but you know what I've found? No woman is the same, everyone is unique in
their own right and so I think to remember that whilst you're going for your smear, will
stop any embarrassment. We've got some props, haven't we? I'm so excited about these. So
this is the, it's not like a... What's it called? A speculum? There are two different
sizes - this one's a normal one and this one is the virgin one. I actually, I think, asked
for the virgin one on my first time just because I was so nervous. Yeah, and you can ask for
the smaller ones. I read a story once about this woman who used her toddler's flannel,
play flannel to clean up a bit before her smear test and she got there and she realised
she was covered in glitter. Oh no. And the gynaecologist was a bit like, "woah you've
made a..." Extra special effort. Had a vajazzle. So next time, my next smear test... glitter.
I got a letter two weeks later and I thought when I got it it was quite a chunky letter
so I thought oh, this is not good news. It said that I had, it's called severe dyskaryosis,
I think is how you say it? But that's the most - you can have mild, moderate or severe
and mine was the worst kind. And they could tell that just from your first smear? Just
from my smear yeah. Wow. I don't know how. It must have been petrifying. I was really
scared because I thought, oh my gosh this is my first one, how long has it been like
that for? Especially because I'd wanted a smear test earlier on in life when I was about
21, I thought "what if all these last four years it's been getting worse and worse?".
Did you get the letter, did you get it through letter or phone call? I got the letter through
saying that there were abnormalities, and I freaked out, I panicked. I think I'm a bit
of a hypochondriac - Yeah I can be too - I worry about everything. And obviously you
get on to Google and you're like "what's happened, what does that mean?" But I booked in for
my colposcopy straight after, I remember them sending me pamphlets about a colposcopy and
what was going to happen. But yeah, I was petrified. So, I'm guessing I have had HPV
as well, haven't I? It said, CN3 in my letter. Yeah, so CN3 is to do with the cell changes
I think, so that's the worst kind so that's the same as what I had as well. But then when
they do a pap smear, you'll sometimes get a result where it'll say, "you also tested
positive for HPV", which I think, I'm going to try and say this, stands for the human
papillomavirus. Basically, they think that 80-90 percent of people who are sexually active
will have it at some point in their lives. But your body can get rid of it by itself
over the course of two years? Yeah. So that's why they don't really check for it in like
STI checks or anything like that because your immune system will just fight it off. But
there are so many different strains of it, and a few of the strains can cause the pre-cancerous
cells and I think pretty much all cervical cancer cases will have been triggered and
caused by HPV. I think though, it's nothing to be ashamed about. No definitely not. You
don't just get it from sexual contact, it is sometimes just skin to skin contact as
well. Skin to skin, yep. You're probably going to be exposed to it at some point in your
life anyway. So basically, don't freak out that your partner is cheating on you - yeah,
definitely not the case - because it's just come up with this. That isn't the case at
all, you can catch it a number of ways. I took my mum with me to my colposcopy and they
said they were going to take some biopsies but on the camera, the nurse could actually
see that there were potentially pre-cancerous cells there from the colour changes and the
lotion that they put on - not lotion, the dye. Isn't it like vinegar? It's some sort
of liquid. It stings a little bit, but it's not terrible. So they could see and they said
to me, "right you can have the LLETZ treatment, here, right now". Wow. So I didn't get any
time to prepare for that. So you had it straight away? So in my first colposcopy, they said,
"Instead of getting you back in, have the LLETZ treatment", which is basically, I can't
remember what LLETZ stands for... It's like electronic loop, I think. They kind of zap
them off. I took my mum with me, she was looking at the screen, she was fascinated with, watching
my cervix, and I didn't want to have any part of that, I don't want to see - I think it
would've made me freak out a bit more. But the nurse was like, "look you've got a pretty
flower pattern on your cervix", and I was like "that means it's bad, something is
odd!". You don't want the pattern, you want a nice clear screen. When they're doing the
removal of the bad cells, it just feels like bad period pains. I would recommend as well
taking a sanitary towel along with you, just in case there is bleeding. For the colposcopy
and LLETZ, there will 100 percent be bleeding afterwards. Yeah, definitely. Mine was, I
was bleeding for a long - oh and there's stuff like, you can't have a bath after for like
a month. And you can't have sex for a long time after you have a LLETZ treatment. And a colposcopy
as well. I think it's 6 weeks you can't have sex for afterwards. Or a bath. I just missed
the baths. I missed the baths as well, I really did. All you want after you've had something
like that done is just a nice warm bath to make you feel better. From beginning to end,
from my first smear test to when I got the all clear, it was about two years. Yeah, same
for me. It was a long process. After that LLETZ treatment, then you wait three months
again for a smear, but then I was quite unlucky because on my follow-up smear to that one,
they hadn't quite got enough cells on the - so it's actually this little thing. So this
is what goes in when you have a smear test. They kind of wiggle around like that to collect
all the cells on the end of here. It's like a little brush. About two years after it all
kind of started, I finally got a result back that said, "okay, you're all clear now and
you don't have to come and see us again for three years" and I was so relieved. It's the
best feeling. I was so relieved. I thought it was never going to end. My next smear is
coming up - perhaps this year? Oh really? And I'm excited. You're excited? I can't wait,
I'm just praying for the same results. If there was bad results, I know what to expect
now. I wouldn't be frightened about it. And, we're still here, it's so much easier than
not going at all and then finding out too late that you have got cancerous cells on
your cervix. I think a lot of people are like, "oh it's never going to happen to me, it's
my first smear test, I can just delay it and put it off", but we are both living examples
that we went to our first smear tests and came back with abnormalities. It's so important,
it could save your life. And it's over so quickly. Hey, It's OK to have a smear test
and find out you've got abnormal results. It's really nothing to worry about, the doctors
know what they're doing and it's much better to have a smear test and find out you've got
abnormal cells there than to not have one and not know what's going on. If you liked
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