Patricia

While I was deployed to Honduras, I became ill with Pelvic Inflammatory Disease. When I returned home, I still, did not feel well and made an appointment to see my family doctor. He ran a series of test to include a Pap Smear. The test s revealed that I was anemic and had an abnormal pap.
My doctor said to follow up with him when I finished with my next tour of duty. I did this and still had an abnormal Pap. The doctor referred me to one of the best OB/GYN doctors.   More testing ensued and on December 14, 1992, I was diagnosed with CIN2/3.
                I was scheduled for a biopsy and colposcopy and went home. Doubt, disillusionment and so many questions came up. Would I be able to have children? Was this going to kill me? If I couldn’t have children, what good was I as a woman? At that time, I realized that at 24 years of age, I was not immortal or invincible.
                Weeks dragged on while I waited for my diagnosis from the biopsy. Then Dr’s office called me and said I need to come back for another Pap smear.  Which I did. Then in the beginning of May the Doctor called me personally at home and told me that the CIN3 was growing and spreading quickly and I needed to schedule surgery as soon as possible. My unit went to Italy and keeping up appearances while wondering if I had a time bomb between my legs was not easy. To see all of those monuments and the Coliseum which had stood the test of time did nothing to quell my doubts. I returned from Italy, caught up on some of my paperwork and had surgery the following week.
                The doctor performed a laser vaporization of my cervix in May, 1993. Since that time, I have been Cervical Cancer free. In 1999, I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. My pregnancy was a textbook case but the OB watched me like a hawk.
                Now I tell my story to help other women like me. In 1992/3 there was no support groups or online chat rooms to ask questions. But in 2008, I went to the National Cervical Cancer Coalition conference and met several women who shared my story. I found women who understand the shame and stigma that you go through when diagnosed with this dreaded disease. Because of them, I became the chapter president and military liason for North Carolina. For the last year, I have spread the “gospel” of prevention and testing. And I also, tell others that there is no shame in this disease-only opportunity. Together we can make cervical cancer a thing of the past.