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.

FRIDAY FAST ONES

1.)  Kirsty Alley is the latest celeb who can't win with those tabloids.  She was ridiculed and shamed when she gained weight.  Then she lost some on Jenny Craig but gained it back and they crowed over each pound - like they actually know her weight at any given moment.  She got serious enough about learning what worked for her that she started her own line of organic weight loss items and she has shed, she says, 100 pounds. 

She had a triumphant opportunity to walk the runway in a recent show for a designer showing off her new slimmer form.  And what do the tabloids now run as their headlines?  If you think there were compliments - forget it.  They are claiming she is bulimic and/or has gastric by-pass surgery.  She is shamed if she is fat and now they are trying to sham her when she slims down.  What a bunch of creeps - and so are the people who buy those rags.

2.)  Join the campaign Mrs. G has mounted on Facebook to support Ben & Jerry's and their Schweddy Balls ice cream!!

3.)  So who is making up the guest lists for the audiences at the Republican debates?  They booed a gay soldier last night, following their cheers for the number of inmates executed in Texas and the idea of letting uninsured people die without medical care.

At least when Carl Rove was picking the audiences for Bush, they kept out the rowdy rednecks.

4.)  I am no fan of Rick Perry and the fact that he has taken thousands of campaign dollars from the manufacturer of the HPV vaccine makes him rightly vulnerable to attack for self-dealing.  However, I support the use of the HPV vaccine wholeheartedly. 

A young woman I know contracted HPV and then cervical cancer when she was only 23.  Her former finance cheated on her and the result is that it's unlikely she will be able to carry a pregnancy.  There is no excuse for these tragic outcomes when there is a vaccine to save the next generation from this virus.

My daughters have been vaccinated and now I am urging my son to be vaccinated, too. (At the time the girls were vaccinated they were not allowing it for boys.) The physician I spoke with said that it is very important for young men to be vaccinated so they do not become carriers of the virus, plus there are other types of cancer which may be connected to the virus though more research must be done.  she also said that the vaccine works against other, similar viruses.

This seems like a no brainer to me.   It is silly to think giving them this vaccine when they are teens or pre-teens will somehow open the floodgates to early sexual activity.  They will become sexually active at some point in their lives and we should do our part to protect their health and the health of their partners.