On Women's Health: Annual Pap's

Okay, this is a sensitive subject but I'd feel better if no men were in the room. Most guys aren't going to read my blog anyway but...... unless you're a woman you really aren't going to understand what a woman goes through. However, if you and your wife are comfortable with this conversation together, so be it. But you've been warned.

On Pinterest, of all places, I found this article on Care 2 Make a Difference. It says in part that annual pap smears are no longer advised. Please read the article for yourself.  Honestly? Part of me is thrilled, having just gone through that thing earlier this year.  And yet... my mind is screaming. My brain is firing questions faster than I can type (and my husband will faint if he reads that sentence). Who decided this? Why? Is this really a good thing for women or is it just good for the insurance companies and the nonmedical people who come up with such great ideas as women don't need mammograms until they're 50 (because obviously that's the magic age that cancer appears in women's breasts. If you're younger and have cancer, it must not be real)? 
   It disturbs me that the article states that  "in 2009 only 4000 women died of cervical cancer...". Wait, what?? ONLY 4,000 women.  And the author's advice for handling this new set of guidelines for women's health? Enjoy the break from the "scary metal duckbill." Heal yourself. Visualize  good health and no cancer in your body.  Mmmkay.
  Ladies, wake up! I think it's fine to visualize yourself healthy, as long as you eat healthy most of the time if not all the time, get exercise, plenty of rest, and otherwise care for yourself in all matters including spiritual. But I also believe we have modern medicine for a reason (excuse me while I switch soap boxes here for a second) and it shouldn't be be used as birth control, making guys like "Hef" happy, or trying so hard to eliminate all sources of illness to the point that it backfires!
  First off, I think the definition of women's health care has gotten totally messed up, and it hasn't happened over night. Somehow we think that women's healthcare means abortions on demand for whatever reason that is not medically needed. Beaurocrats have decided that it doesn't include keeping a woman healthy. And we let them???  
  I hate having to have that exam done. It's not pleasant, to say the least. I'm also not looking forward to my first mammogram, which my doctor says I need and the beaurocrats insist I don't need for another ten years. Sorry, but I'd rather listen to the one who has a medical degree and cares about my health. I do these things because I want to stay healthy. I'm not wishing for cancer but if I am to get it, I want it caught before the doctor can only say, "Get your life in order. I'm so sorry. There's nothing we can do at this point."
 Very few abortions are done for a life threatening medical condition. Very few. Most are done because the mother is "not ready" for motherhood. As for rapes, I feel for them, I really do. I've been a rape survivor myself. But why are we punishing the child for something he or she didn't do? Her only crime was to be conceived in a horrifying, brutal act. The perpetrator often gets off scot free while the infant pays the price. Go after the rapist. Put the child up for adoption, and get therapy to handle this. That isn't health care. 
  I'm sorry. I realize I switched gears a little there instead of staying on topic. I won't delete it though because it is tied to the topic at hand: women's health.  All procedures, even elective, come with certain risks. I'm not a doctor, not a nurse. I am a woman. I want to be healthy as possible so that I can take care of my family.  There are things I disagree with in terms of modern medicine, but I do know that mammograms and pap smears have saved lives. Ladies this is the type of healthcare we need to be concerned with. The type of stuff that affects our lives. 

Okay, this is a sensitive subject but I'd feel better if no men were in the room. Most guys aren't going to read my blog anyway but...... unless you're a woman you really aren't going to understand what a woman goes through. However, if you and your wife are comfortable with this conversation together, so be it. But you've been warned.

On Pinterest, of all places, I found this article on Care 2 Make a Difference. It says in part that annual pap smears are no longer advised. Please read the article for yourself.  Honestly? Part of me is thrilled, having just gone through that thing earlier this year.  And yet... my mind is screaming. My brain is firing questions faster than I can type (and my husband will faint if he reads that sentence). Who decided this? Why? Is this really a good thing for women or is it just good for the insurance companies and the nonmedical people who come up with such great ideas as women don't need mammograms until they're 50 (because obviously that's the magic age that cancer appears in women's breasts. If you're younger and have cancer, it must not be real)? 
   It disturbs me that the article states that  "in 2009 only 4000 women died of cervical cancer...". Wait, what?? ONLY 4,000 women.  And the author's advice for handling this new set of guidelines for women's health? Enjoy the break from the "scary metal duckbill." Heal yourself. Visualize  good health and no cancer in your body.  Mmmkay.
  Ladies, wake up! I think it's fine to visualize yourself healthy, as long as you eat healthy most of the time if not all the time, get exercise, plenty of rest, and otherwise care for yourself in all matters including spiritual. But I also believe we have modern medicine for a reason (excuse me while I switch soap boxes here for a second) and it shouldn't be be used as birth control, making guys like "Hef" happy, or trying so hard to eliminate all sources of illness to the point that it backfires!
  First off, I think the definition of women's health care has gotten totally messed up, and it hasn't happened over night. Somehow we think that women's healthcare means abortions on demand for whatever reason that is not medically needed. Beaurocrats have decided that it doesn't include keeping a woman healthy. And we let them???  
  I hate having to have that exam done. It's not pleasant, to say the least. I'm also not looking forward to my first mammogram, which my doctor says I need and the beaurocrats insist I don't need for another ten years. Sorry, but I'd rather listen to the one who has a medical degree and cares about my health. I do these things because I want to stay healthy. I'm not wishing for cancer but if I am to get it, I want it caught before the doctor can only say, "Get your life in order. I'm so sorry. There's nothing we can do at this point."
 Very few abortions are done for a life threatening medical condition. Very few. Most are done because the mother is "not ready" for motherhood. As for rapes, I feel for them, I really do. I've been a rape survivor myself. But why are we punishing the child for something he or she didn't do? Her only crime was to be conceived in a horrifying, brutal act. The perpetrator often gets off scot free while the infant pays the price. Go after the rapist. Put the child up for adoption, and get therapy to handle this. That isn't health care. 
  I'm sorry. I realize I switched gears a little there instead of staying on topic. I won't delete it though because it is tied to the topic at hand: women's health.  All procedures, even elective, come with certain risks. I'm not a doctor, not a nurse. I am a woman. I want to be healthy as possible so that I can take care of my family.  There are things I disagree with in terms of modern medicine, but I do know that mammograms and pap smears have saved lives. Ladies this is the type of healthcare we need to be concerned with. The type of stuff that affects our lives.