Do you know that cervical cancer is one of the most preventable types of the dreaded disease? Left untreated it can compromise your fertility and even kill you, but it can be detected by a simple Pap test. After you are sexually active, you need a pap test every three years, if your results are normal. In Canada, your family doctor may do the test. If you are in the U.S. and don’t have insurance, you can go to a free clinic. Planned Parenthood or friends can help you find one. If you avoid your required check-up because you don’t like your doctor — and we do this, darlings — get a new doctor. A friend can help. I know there are wait lists, but it is too important, so get a doctor you like and trust.
HPV, or human papillomavirus, causes 70 percent of cervical cancer cases. It also may cause other potentially deadly cancers. You need to get checked out because it can be treated. There is an effective vaccine to prevent it. It is not just for young girls, but you may have to pay for it. Talk to your doctor. Be smart and get informed. This is a highly contagious and serious sexually-transmitted disease.
A great organization called www.yellowumbrella.org is trying to raise awareness about cervical cancer. The site has lots of good information about the disease. A beautiful way to support the www.yellowumbrella.org and help raise awareness of cervical cancer is to buy celebrity make-up artist Debra Macki’s Mineral Eye Shadow Palette. It comes in soft skin-flattering shades of highly-pigmented minerals. It sells for $38, and 80 percent of the proceeds go Yellow Umbrella. You can buy it from www.debramacki.com. Remember, this makes a great gift for friends on March 8th, International Women’s Day!
