Cervical Cancer Smear Test - the Long Wait

Cervical and breast cancer are two types of cancer which not only affect a woman physically but mentally too e.g. dealing with all the trauma after being diagnosed with the disease. A large percentage of women admit to living in fear of the big C, however cervical or breast cancer free women admit that the thought of contacting the disease never leaves their thoughts.

Sadly, self breast examination seems to be unimportant for some women who choose to ignore a health issue as vital to secure their well being, ignoring any indication that breast cancer is developing can result in the patient having to fight for their life. If an examination of the breasts had taken place in some unfortunate cases the whole scenario would have just involved treating the breast cancer and no involvement of an undertaker. Women need to wise up because if they continue to carry ignorance as an ally to help beat this battle - then they lose. Winning includes modern medicines. Early cancer treatment betters survival odds hence giving a patient the chance to carry on with their life instead of throwing it away.

Aside from bosom blunders where ignorance may have prevailed we have cervical cancer. Women need to be aware of all involvements i.e. what to expect throughout any cervical cancer treatments. The cervix is the lower part of the womb or uterus and is commonly referred to as the 'neck of the womb'.

The cervix and its purpose are to help maintain a normal pregnancy. In non-pregnant women, the cervix has no obvious function. In the UK cervical cancer is down on paper as the sixth most common cancer in women. It is of the utmost importance for a woman to keep healthy in mind body and soul by having regular cervical cancer smear tests - oft times referred to as a Pap smear test. Smear tests are commonly carried out in order to detect any cell changes that come before cancer. It's a waiting game, meaning, it can take years for these cell changes detected at the time of a cervical smear test to become cancer. Luckily some changes have been known to go away by themselves.

Women who waited in anticipation for their cancer results said they found it more of an ordeal coping with the wait than that of receiving the actual prognosis (cervical cancer).

Suffering in silence is not healthy, not all abnormal test results indicate that cervical cancer is present. It is through early diagnosis and treatment of pre-cancerous changes that development of actual cancer can be prevented. Early detection is most profound to help fight the disease.

There are two types of this cancer; the squamous cell cancer and aden-ocarcinoma. Cervical smear tests detect the early changes of squamous cell cancer. Early stage growths of certain cancers can be treated with surgery or radiotherapy thus resulting in a cure.

Regular questions asked about cervical cancer are what the causes are; well there is no definite single cause, however study points the finger at a viral infection of the cervix or cancer sticks (cigarettes). Fags are a major health hazard relating to lung cancer, smoking is said to also increase the risk of developing cervical cancer and even the number of partners in youth trial runs of intercourse have also been linked to being connected to the cause. In the UK cervical tests are routinely performed every three years, lives are being saved because of this.

Females face a silent but deadly situation because; pre-cancerous changes of the cervix that show up on cervical smear tests unfortunately do not give symptoms. Undergoing a biopsy of the cervix is the way cervical cancer is diagnosed. The process is normally done with an internal examination called a colposcopy.

Treating cancer of the cervix will purely depend upon the severity of the disuse, meaning, has it spread to the pelvis. A radical hysterectomy or Wertheim's hysterectomy may be suggested as treatment. It is at this stage that a specialist gynaecologist will conduct surgery. Radiotherapy destroys tumour cells that the gynaecologist cannot see.

Remember "out of sight out of mind", is not a healthy approach for a cure; a healthy approach is to keep it in mind and any cervical cancer symptoms must be kept in sight.