“Imagine I go to do a test for cervical cancer. I done frighten and shaky and to hear she talking about how she never hear about pap smear and she don’t know is what and all them things… I think what really wrong with these people,” she said.
“I decided to go to the doctor after a long time of having this itching on my privates and the doctor send me to take the test at the lab and you know that make me feel [scared] and then to listen to them girls in this lab talking. People don’t understand the state you does be in when you visiting for them tests,” she added.
She reached out to me following last week’s column in which I recounted a conversation I had with a young woman at a doctor’s office who felt she was having symptoms of cervical cancer and was afraid to be diagnosed.
“I read your column and I glad I go and check and so because we have to know but I just want to share my experience when I went to the lab and let people understand what you have to go through. It is not easy,” she said to me on the telephone.
“When the doctor give me the paper to go the lab I went over a little dizzy. Like right away I was not feeling good. I thought, you know, maybe she woulda just give me something for the itch and that was it. But the first thing she ask me is when last I had a pap smear test and I couldn’t really answer so she tell me she sending me for one. She did take another test too and I had to carry the sample with me,” she shared.
“When I reach the lab was a lot a people. Most was women sitting waiting and girl let me tell you, when I look at them women face, all of them look stressed out. I don’t know if I imagine it…, or was just because how I was feeling, but is like I see stress all over and it just get me feeling more bad.
“I sit there, and I wait and wait and then the guard send me, and I thought it was to go straight and do the test, but it was then to get the cost for the test and to register and everything and that take a lil time. When I thought I paying there, I had to go the cashier and is another waiting. And all this time I thinking I just want pick up me bag and leave,” she confessed.
“After I finish paying, I say well now is the test, but it was not that. I go in and two young girl in like doctor clothes [scrubs] start dealing with me. One take the paper and she looking at it, then she look at it again and turn to the other one and ask she if she know what is cervical cancer and she shake she head. I there standing up and I getting vex now, because I couldn’t understand what was happening in front of me.
“She went at the back to another girl and the girl tell she all she have to do is to label the tube and I will go to the doctor for her to take the sample. By now I am like really? I said to myself I thought is the sample they taking now.
“Anyway, she writing up now and still asking the other girl if she know how to write it up. ‘You know I never do this. What is a pap smear though?’ And the other girl say she don’t know, and I like want to get violent by then. I had to then try and explain to she what it was, and I tell she that she should get one but to tell you the truth the way she look at me is like she more confuse than me.”
She paused for a while.
“You know as soon as I read the thing, I say I have to call and speak to you but is only now I get to call,” she said, deviating a bit from her lab experience.
“I just say people need to read these things and labs must understand that is sensitive issues they dealing with and not have people training on the job in front of people. They don’t know you state of mind and they should be more professional,” she said the last part a little forcibly.
“Anyway, when I tell she should get a pap test she kinda shake she head but I don’t know if she agree or not. She just turn and went at the back to the other girl and she tell she what she had to do and then they give me the tube and me receipt which they had to look for because I give it to them when I went and they swearing they give it back to me. I had to like argue before they find it and give it to me.
“Look, I was too happy to leave that room because a lil bit more and I woulda scramble one a them. That is the mood I was in.
“I went into the doctor office after a lil wait again but then she tell me that we might have to use another room because the cleaner use too much bleach and she can’t take the smell. I was like what the hell is this? And she had a accent so you had to listen good to hear what she saying. So back outside I go, and I see the cleaner went back in. She didn’t come out, you know, even though she say the bleach smell too much fuh she. A lil while later the cleaner come back outside, and she call me back in and say we will use right there.
“I was tense when she was taking the test and she had to tell me to relax and I don’t know but to me it was painful, and she was like kinda rough, but I say to me-self let me just get this over and get out of this place. When she done, she tell me how it could take up to 14 working days for the results and that they would call me.
“So now I here counting the days. It is not even five working days good yet and I done tired waiting. I now see why some people don’t take the test. It is not easy, but you know after reading what the woman said last week and also about the woman who had the surgery, I glad I take the test,” she added.
Last week, a story was published on 29-year-old Karen Mohamed-Dias, who had a hysterectomy following her diagnosis of cervical cancer.
“Well I just wanted to call and talk to you. I does read every week but this week own [last week] really touch me so I say let me call and see if I get you. So, I would read of myself next week,” she said with a small laugh.
We chatted for a few minutes and I told her I would indeed share her experience as I understood how she felt as I would have been upset myself had it been me.
While January was designated cervical cancer awareness month, I still want to encourage women to go have their pap smear tests or Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIA) done.
You can contact the Cancer Institute of Guyana on 225-5701 or 225-5703 and make an appointment. It is an easy procedure and one that is recommended for all women.
You can also have a VIA done free of cost at the VIA clinic located in the compound of the Georgetown Public Hospital. There are also 14 VIA clinics located around Guyana and those in other regions can check the regional hospitals for further information.
The VIA procedure is simple. The health care provider simply swabs vinegar, that is acetic acid, on the cervix and looks for areas that change colour. Normal cervical tissue remains unaffected by the acetic acid, but damaged tissue – such as that found in pre-cancerous or cancerous lesions – turns white. The provider can then remove the damaged tissue on the spot or perform a biopsy for further follow-up.
And those of you who might need support to go through this procedure can contact Bibi Hassan of the Guyana Cancer Foundation on 618-2085. She will be willing to assist you.
The foundation recently started a cancer survivors’ group, and so if there is anyone who needs support, please contact Hassan.
For World Cancer Day, the foundation will be having a candlelight vigil in collaboration with Union for International Cancer Control of Geneva, tomorrow, Monday February 4, at its location Lot 9 Third Avenue and Sheriff Street, Subryanville from 6.30 pm in honour of cancer survivors.
