A girly issue

**ManDownUnder** · 3rd July 2007, 10:50

Originally Posted by Hitcher

a rectal examination (shudders visibly)

Been there every few years. Get ya pride, put it aside and just f'n do it...

And women's issues... cool post. Very cool post.

**Bass** · 3rd July 2007, 13:10

Originally Posted by ManDownUnder

Been there every few years. Get ya pride, put it aside and just f'n do it...

And women's issues... cool post. Very cool post.

Gotta agree!

**Paul in NZ** · 3rd July 2007, 13:22

Originally Posted by ManDownUnder

Been there every few years. Get ya pride, put it aside and just f'n do it....

When you consider what I've been pushing out through that hole for the last 50 years a finger going up is nothing... I agree - just do it (I was gunna say harden up but thats just soooo wrong on so many levels...)

Al · 3rd July 2007, 15:36

Thoughts are with you Buffy!

Men need to have the prostate cancer test done!
I have had the blood test done and as result was clear, did not have to have the "probe".
As ghastly as it may be, I think the "probe" is better and less invasive than having the gland removed.

Best of luck again

Al

**Curious_AJ** · 3rd July 2007, 18:23

the thing is about the jab here... I'd get it, only, if its before relations... too late she cried...

and speaking of huge, mega, ultra, boxes of condoms.. how intriguing...

**007XX** · 3rd July 2007, 19:24

Originally Posted by ManDownUnder

Been there every few years. Get ya pride, put it aside and just f'n do it...

And women's issues... cool post. Very cool post.

All hail MDU and Hitcher on this post..

You guys rock!!

**007XX** · 3rd July 2007, 19:38

Originally Posted by BuFfY

But in thinking that... I have already paid the amount of the jabs and I would much rather a jab in my arm than scraping in my.... uhh...

Oh yeah...i hear you there! all my happy and get well thoughts out to you Buffy.

Went through the whole "OMG I have a lump in my boob" bit last year (2 weeks before Xmas) and had to fork out $500 to find out it was just a " hormonal increase of fluid in a gland"..I was not impressed, I can tell you...shit scared while waiting for the results and like you, I don't like to ask for help.

But eh, sometimes talking to a stranger is easier, so PM if you need...

and yes, I get myself tested every year, and I make sure I'm wearing my HTFU t-shirt at the time....Just to remind me to look staunch and calm while a turkey baster is being stuck up my hooha...

Lest I bite my doctor and give him rabbies...

**kevfromcoro** · 4th July 2007, 10:14

just had a prostate test.it aint pleasant .. the doc told me to take my pants down.and bend over...felt his finger go in my backside.then i felt 2 arms on my shoulder...WTF..SHIT Happens

**Bloody Mad Woman (BMW)** · 4th July 2007, 10:24

Thoughts are with you Buffy. Had my Dr ring me and say I'm due. But I had one at Family Planning late last year - she then said Oh you can now wait 3 years. I said No. Yearly thank you. My body - as you say, alot can happen in a very short time. The procedure does not bother me either - I remember my last Dr I had had for 20 years - was more uncomfortable about it than me - but he just kept up a flow of conversation. I noticed in the last 3 years he always asked whether I wanted a Nurse in the room. How times have changed. I always said NO - crikey he'd been doing them for years.

**terbang** · 4th July 2007, 11:03

All the best to yer there buffy. I fortunatly have to do a yearly medical examination for my licence and get the 'digital' prostate check done as well! Yup its not beautiful thing at all but it could help keep me riding bikes for another couple of decades. So its worth it.

**NotaGoth** · 4th July 2007, 12:06

I thought they were meant to warm that thingy up that they stick up you?????

Doc keeps on hounding me to get mine done, but after they demonstrated on a dummy, and managed to get it stuck and have to "yank" and "twist" it back out again I've been put off..

**buellbabe** · 4th July 2007, 12:22

Originally Posted by BuFfY

mmm yes but what is uncomfortable is when they cut bits out of you....
So yeah.. not the funnest thing I have ever done!

I guess I am hoping others will learn from my misfortune

I just hope I don't loose my hair

My thoughts are with you...

been there... after years of normal smears I get a ph call from my GP .
he tells me my smear has come back abnormal and he has made an appointment for me with a specialist.
I was in surgery the next week.

My GP is GREAT.

no mucking around, he took care of everything.

Now cos of that I have to have them every year and I freak out every time cos a few times the results have been 'inconclusive' which means a re-do.

Heres an interesting fact straight from the Specialists mouth:
She asked if I had been thru any stress or trauma recently.
I said "well yeah, my partner died a few months ago"
She then told me that a majority cervical cancer cases are a result of emotional/mental trauma!

So ladies stay positive and keep those stress levels to a minmum!

**NinjaNanna** · 4th July 2007, 12:30

Originally Posted by Grub

You guys have it sweet, you're so lucky.

5 times more men die from Prostate Cancer than women die from Cervical Cancer ... and there's no test, free or otherwise, to detect it. Once you've got it, you're history.

Not entirely true there Grub.

Prostate cancer rarely kills a man if it is detected early, the problem is men are entirely less likely to visit a doctor to have a finger jammed up our butt to check for a swollen prostate than a woman is to have a smear test done.

I suspect that education is to blame here more than anything, woman have been taught that their test is necessary, men haven't, and I doubt that either is any more comfortable than the other.

**Hitcher** · 4th July 2007, 12:37

Family Planning Disappointed At Refusal Of Vaccine Funding
NewsRoom.co.nz Agency Story at 12:33 pm, 04 Jul 2007

The Family Planning Association says it is disappointed to learn the Government declined to fund a cervical cancer vaccine despite the Health Ministry's strong recommendation.

Documents obtained by Radio New Zealand under the Official Information Act show the Health Ministry and its advisers recommended that adding the Gardasil vaccine to the national immunisation schedule be a priority.

The Government opted not to do that yet.

Family Planning national clinical advisor Dr Christine Roke says it is frustrating to know there is a highly effective vaccine that could make a difference to so many womens' lives, but that is not readily available to those who need it most.

The Government announced shortly before the 2007 Budget that it would not fund Gardasil.

But the documents show the ministry and its immunisation advisers wanted it and three other vaccines added to the national immunisation schedule. The Government decided to fund only one of them.

The Ministry says there has been an explosion of new vaccines, but they are costly and pose difficult choices.

Gardasil became available here about six months ago at a cost of $450. Many doctors want it publicly funded through the national immunisation schedule - which Australia is rolling out for girls and women aged 12 to 26.

It is a human papillomavirus, or HPV vaccine, which is given to girls and young women before the onset of sexual activity, to provide the best possible protection from genital warts and cervical cancer.

About 60 women per year die in this country from cervical cancer.

© NewsRoom 2007

**NinjaNanna** · 4th July 2007, 12:37

Originally Posted by Stella

I had my first smear at 19 (now 27). Had been sexually active for a year.

Came back abnormal with grade three pre-cancerous cells. That level is as close to cancer as it gets without being cancer, and it aint much of a gap.

Had a wee op to get rid of them. Went under general anaesthetic, had the option. A bit of heavy bleeding afterwards, some yucky gunk to insert for a week, all a bit gross but hey I DON'T HAVE CANCER BECAUSE I HAD A SMEAR!!!

My wife has the same story, its not uncommon people. Don't avoid your tests