My mother always told me that when I turned 21 I needed to get a pap smear to make sure “things on the inside” are working properly. Pap smear? What in the world is that? I’m a visual person so I turned to my favorite website, YouTube, to see exactly what that was and what the procedure looked like. Let me tell you… I was terrified. That tends to happen every time I go to YouTube for answers, whether its wisdom teeth extraction, how to fix a broken finger, and in the case, Pap smear.
I don’t do well with pain. Watching the doctor insert the clamps or speculum into the woman’s vagina and seeing what the cervix looked like up close made my knees weak. I was adamant to not get a Pap smear because I am not a fan of being “that open” and simply because I really didn’t understand the importance of having one.
I have a close friend that found out she had HPV, human papillomavirus, and there was a possibility she had a cancerous strain in her cervix. When I say I was horrified, that is probably an understatement of how I was feeling for her. I asked how she found out and she responded, “I had a Pap smear”. Here goes that word again, I thought. I was still clueless about Pap smears, but a positive aspect of it is that my friend did eventually find out that the strain of HPV wasn’t cancerous after all. Then it was finally time. I called my doctor and set up an appointment for a Pap smear.
The day was August 27, 2015 at 2:30pm. The nerves running through my body were making my hands shake as I filled out paperwork and causing my voice to crack when I asked questions. I told my doctor how I watched YouTube videos of the procedure and expressed my fears. She could visibly see how scared I was and knew it was my first so she reassured me I’ll be okay and she’ll take it slow and let me know what she was doing every step of the way. She even used a different sized speculum and showed me what Q-tip she was using to swab my cervix. Once I heard, “Okay scoot all they way down until your bottom touches the end of the examination table. Then put your feet in the stirrups”, I got nervous again. I’ve never felt so awkward in my life! My goodies were just out and open and there she was looking. She can tell I felt nervous and weird again because my knees kept closing together. She asked me to relax, so I did. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and covered my face like a 6 year old watching a scary movie. Overall, I can say I overworked myself. It is completely painless and there is no discomfort. Does it feel weird having your vagina out and a doctor sitting a foot away? Is it weird feeling like your cervix is open to the world to see? Hell yeah! But it was done so quick I thought something went wrong.
The doctor stepped out so I can get dressed and I laughed at myself. I couldn’t believe how quick and simple a Pap smear was. When the doctor came back inside we had a very good discussion on why it’s important to have Pap smears. As a sexually active woman, I want to make sure I’m healthy and being safe. I never understood how useful Pap smears are. You’re killing many birds with one stone! Not only do Pap smears check to see if you have any abnormalities suggesting cervical cancer, but they also test for STDs such as Gonorrhea or Chlamydia, and doctors can also get a visual of yeast infections.
Waiting those 7 days for my test results were the most nerve racking days of my life. My heart was beating so fast when my phone rang and my doctor’s name popped on the screen. Lets just say after the phone call I was extremely relieved. I was negative for any STDs and she saw no abnormalities in my cervix. As a woman I finally understand why I have to take care of myself and get an annual Pap smear. Sometimes women don’t have symptoms of anything and if you don’t go to the doctors regularly, you can be stuck in a life or death situation. Not curing an STD can be life threatening as well as finding out too late that you have cervical cancer.
So ladies take it from me, take care of your body. A woman’s body is a precious temple, and it’s important to keep up with maintaining its beauty. Pap smears are nothing to be afraid of and as stated before they are absolutely painless.
– Shazmine
Guys Explain What Happens At The Gynecologist
“I know it gets very cold and drafty…” Check out more awesome BuzzFeedYellow videos! http://bit.ly/YTbuzzfeedyellow MUSIC Happy & Funny Folks Licensed via Warner Chappell Production Music Inc. STILLS Speculum en métal / Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Speculum_en_m%C3%A9tal.jpg For more information on what actually happens at the Gynecologist: http://teens.webmd.com/girls-puberty-10/gynecologist-visit?page=1 http://www.webmd.com/women/guide/what-to-expect-from-an-ob-gyn-visit?page=2 http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003911.htm GET MORE BUZZFEED: www.buzzfeed.com www.buzzfeed.com/video www.buzzfeed.com/videoteam www.youtube.com/buzzfeedvideo www.youtube.com/buzzfeedyellow www.youtube.com/buzzfeedblue www.youtube.com/buzzfeedviolet www.youtube.com/buzzfeed BUZZFEED YELLOW Tasty short, fun, inspiring, funny, interesting videos from BuzzFeed.
I truly enjoyed this story. It is also a great reminder to take of your “temple.”