Another Thousand Circles Round the Sun

So, once again I have found myself playing the waiting game. I reported for my routine colposcopy this afternoon. My doctor had assured me that the only reason she had recommended me to have the procedure done was because of my past history of surgery. Well. Of course I agreed. Cervical cancer is no joke. It kills. Seriously people, it is not something to take lightly. The specialist explained that she agreed with my doctor and that she didn't expect anything to come of the procedure. She started off the appointment by explaining everything she was going to do to both me and to her student. When she said that she would give me an injection of lidocaine before taking a biopsy I tried to joke that we wouldn't be needing to take any biopsies today. Everything was going to be normal. I also told her that I have had to have this procedure twice before and both times I needed biopsies and neither time was I offered lidocaine. My doctor explained that it typically makes you more...

Chances are pretty good that you are familiar with the fact that women need to have yearly pelvic exams. And if you are a woman then chances are even higher that you are all too familiar with everything that this exam entails. It's a great topic of conversation is it not? No? It should be. There is too much of a social taboo on women's health, and it is time for that to change. Women choose not be ashamed of themselves or the care that they need to stay healthy. I want to help women of all ages feel more comfortable with themselves and not be embarrassed to speak out, if they so choose. I had my first pelvic exam at 14. I was a terrified high school freshmen that was in a hospital gown at my local ER. I was scared and in a lot of pain. The pain in my abdomen woke me up that morning. My mother, being the super-mom that she is, immediately knew that something wasn't right. The triage nurse at the ER told my mother that there was either something wrong with my bladder or my ...

If you have read part 1 (if you haven't you can find it here ) then you will know that I got unexpectedly sick while driving. And, I don't just mean that I felt really bad. I mean uncontrollably vomiting while driving late at night on my own kind of sick. My oh-so-wonderful boyfriend drove out to the empty gas station where  I was desperately trying to clean the vomit from my car. He then followed me home and took care of my dog while I tried to clean my car a little more so it wouldn't smell so bad in the morning. I know that I did not look remotely attractive. I know there were dried bits of vomit on my face, legs, and arms. I quickly looked up online how I should clean my car's interior, and found that it would not be something I could do in the dark. To help prevent unpleasant odors in the summer heat I sprinkled a generous amount of baking soda over my seat and floor. When we were finally clean we settled in to bed. Both of us were just thankful that the roads we...

The other night I picked up my boyfriend and we went to a bonfire at a coworkers house. We were sending off another coworker that was moving away. It was a great time. Since I was driving I limited myself to two beers and stopped drinking and switched to water several hours before we left. Everyone had brought food. Now, it was your typical bbq food and nothing was out of the ordinary. Since the event was quite far from where I lived and I still had to take my boyfriend home (who at the time lived about 45 minutes away from me) we left a little before all the fun was done. When I got to my boyfriend's house I decided to come in to take a nap. Yes, we just took a nap. About an hour later I woke up, still tired but a little better to drive. Or so I thought. My stomach felt a little weird. I didn't quite feel that I needed to vomit, I wasn't hungry, and it wasn't gas. I just didn't feel right. My boyfriend didn't have any pepto or tumms so I decided that I would ...