Having read these posts I urge you All to have regular testing.

2011 was a bad year for us - we lost a close family friend to cervical cancer and my sister (45) in November to breast cancer.  I myself had breast cancer in 2010 at 40 which was only found because of my family history.  Post BC,  you get a “hands on” check every 3 months and mammograms are given annually until the age of 50 when they return to a 3 yearly cycle and cervical cancer screening is only 3 yearly anyway (if everything looks ok).  These things only take minutes and whilst being uncomfortable and embarrassing are quite frankly better of than dying slowly and painfully!

Please, please, please take the tests and don’t put them off - sorry to be so OTT but I hope you understand why.

DD x

Thank you all for replying….having heard from some mama’s who have had some life saving treatment because of it I can see the importance of having our tests done, but I also see what Sam (sjpereira) means when she says that she wouldn’t choose to have the treatment that would be prescribed if something was found…I too have heard of women who have been cured through *alternative* approaches and I do see where you’re coming from, I guess having thought of this I would still have the test, mostly from a responsibility to my DS, DH and our hopes to have more children, but at least then I could decide what to do, having being given choices.

Claire, I hold your hand and give you the support to know you *can* do it, it’s taken me 8 years to build myself up to doing it, from the horrors of the last one. I would suggest making an appointment with your nurse/doctor, whoever you feel more comfortable with (from experience, nurses tend to have more time to allocate), when you book the appointment ask to see the nicest/most compassionate nurse. For this appointment though, the purpose is to just talk to the nurse, explain your anxieties and history and reasons why you don’t want it done, then if you feel comfortable having talked to the nurse, you can book an appointment to have the examination. Let us know how you’re feeling about this, we’re here to support you x x