Rachel's colposcopy top tips

"My first cervical screening was no problem. It was a bit uncomfortable, but the result showed everything to be clear. Things changed when I went for my second. My results letter said HPV positive. 

I had no idea what it meant.  

My first reaction was panic. I had the idea that cervical screening was a test for cancer and my letter was full of medical jargon that I didn’t understand. So, I went to Google. Most people would recommend staying away from Dr Google, but I was lucky I found Jo’s in my search. Finding out the facts about HPV helped me a lot. Knowing it’s really common and that eight in 10 people will have it in their lifetime made me realise I wasn’t alone. 

I was a bit nervous going into my first colposcopy appointment.  I couldn’t relax and got told very bluntly that if I didn’t relax then I would have to come back. That previous experience made me even more unsure about my 2nd colposcopy, but it went a lot better. The doctor was very nice, allowed me to take my time and made me feel much more relaxed.  

Now I’ve been for five colposcopy appointments, my advice would be: 

• Take pain killers – better to be prepared just in case. 
• Take someone to wait with you (I have taken my mum and best friend and it’s always so nice getting out of your appointment to see a familiar face) 
• Tell your work about your appointment. They can’t help or understand about why you need time off if you hide it from them. I told HR at first as I wasn’t comfortable telling my male boss but now, I’m very open and tell anyone who is interested. 
• You don’t have to get used to it. I mentioned to someone that you would think by the fourth colposcopy appointment I would have gotten used to it” and they said, “Why?”.  It’s not something you have to get used to and you should take whatever time you need to heal physically or emotionally.  

For Cervical Cancer Prevention Week, we had a coffee morning at work. It was so nice to speak openly with my older and younger colleagues about HPV, and our experiences. I learnt that a lot of my colleagues have had the HPV vaccine whereas I just missed in school. That gives me hope for the future and the potential for ending cervical cancer. 

The scary bit was not knowing what it meant and thinking, “This is it; I’m going to find out I have cancer”. But I hoped for everything to be okay, researched as much as I could and found people in my friendship group who had been through the same thing. That’s my big piece of advice for anyone who has just received their HPV positive letter – talk about it, talk about your feelings, and normalise it. It’s the only way to reduce the stigma surrounding HPV."

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