DOING MY DUTY AS A WOMAN

I had my visit with the Gynecologist today.  I am now on a three year rotation for Pap Exams, so it has been a while. When the doctor asked me why I made the appointment I said I was doing my duty - she liked that.

I found it interesting that there is now a whole speech that the doctor gives about cervical cancer and the  Human  Papillomavirus Virus (HPV). 

Just last week I heard that a young woman I worked with years ago (who had been infected with HPV by a

wandering former fiancee and has been fighting cervical cancer since she was 26 years old) just found out for certain that she would not be able to get pregnant.  Such a shame and so sad. 

When Kaiser first started offering the HPV vaccine for girls I jumped on board and had both my daughters vaccinated and tried really hard to get them to vaccinate my son, too.  They wouldn't then and by the time they offered it for boys they said he was "too old" at 22.

I know I have written about this before.  I just want to keep putting it out there that the vaccine is safe and it is the only vaccine against cancer that exists.  Our sons can be infected and they can spread that virus to their sexual partners without knowing it. Healthy men who contact HPV usually don't have side effects and the virus passes through their system without creating health problems.  However, they can get genital warts and in about 17% of the cases, they can get cancer of the penis or anus (this is most likely for gay men engaging in unprotected sex but can occur in straight males, too.)

So I am continuing to do my duty by passing on this important message to vaccinate our kids and grand kids and try to eradicate this cancer which is causing so much pain and misery.