The C word: The one word no woman wants to hear
We all know what it is. We all cringe when we hear it. It is a word none of us want to think about it, much less talk about it. It is something I never dreamed would be said to me, but it was, and it threw me into a tailspin. Yes, I am talking about cancer.
It is not something I ever really worried about, much less having to deal with. My family was lucky. For generations there has not been any worry of cancer on either side, except for my great aunt who ironically enough I was named after. She had skin cancer. Other than my aunt, there was no one.
I sat and listened to the calming voice on the other end of the phone tell me I tested positive for the HPV virus with serious to severe abnormalities. My first response, of course, was disbelief. Second came the tears. How did this happen? I have been married forever. When I got off the phone, with the fury of a tornado, I began screaming at my husband who just so happened to be sitting next to me in the car.
All I knew about the HPV virus was that it was sexually transmitted and there was a vaccine. I had never had an abnormal pap screening ever, and I knew I had been faithful. We had been together for years, so there was no other explanation than he was unfaithful. Well, the look of complete confusion and horror that was on his face as I continued to scream at him in the grocery store parking lot is one I will never forget.
Once he got me to calm down enough to make any sense, I began researching HPV. What I found stunned me. I realized that he hadn’t been unfaithful. HPV can be in your body for years with no symptoms at all.
I felt such shame. I didn’t want to tell anyone. Me, who didn’t believe in casual sex and was the most faithful person on the planet had a STI. I knew I needed to talk about it. I was worried and needed some reassurance from my friends and family, but how was I going to talk about something like this?
The shame I felt is exactly why I am sharing this so publicly. I was so misinformed as many people are. We need to start talking about it and feel more comfortable doing so. The more we talk, the easier it will become, and more people will be educated about it.
“There is so much they don’t know about HPV.”
First, let’s set something straight. The HPV virus is quite common. It is said that most sexually active people will contract HPV in their lifetime, that includes men as well! According to the CDC, “about 79 million Americans are currently infected with HPV.”
There is also about 100 strains of the virus, according to the CDC. Some strains can cause genital warts, some cause cervical cancer. There are some strains than can cause other cancer, but 70 percent of the cases of HPV are from those strains that cause these two illnesses. Each year there are 14 million new cases of HPV.
From the CDC research, there are currently 11 thousand women who have cervical cancer from HPV in the United States. As scary as these statistics sound, it is completely treatable if caught early enough. It is as simple as going in for your routine pap smears. If one of the paps come back abnormal, there is no reason to worry. Sometimes, even after testing positive for HPV, you don’t test positive again.
They aren’t sure why some cases go away, and why some turn into cervical cancer or genital warts. As my OB/GYN told me, “there is so much they don’t know about HPV.” She continued by telling me that even some virgins are contracting the virus.
Although condoms do help, they do not completely prevent someone from catching HPV, that’s why it is so important for women, as well as men, to get vaccinated. The CDC recommends vaccinations be given as early as 11 years old. Although there is no cure for HPV, it is completely preventable.
This isn’t a subject I feel completely comfortable talking about yet, but the more I open up to friends and family, the more I realize how many people I know and love who have contracted HPV and never talked about it. The more we talk about it, the more aware we will become, and hopefully the shame I have felt won’t be there for others.
