It’s been two weeks and my writing job order is still stuck on reproductive health or should I say the total lack of it. Now it seems my prolonged encounter with descriptions and images of disease-infested reproductive organs has successfully squashed my appetite for—EVERYTHING. More importantly though, it has also finally convinced me to visit my gynecologist three years after she told me I was due for a pap smear.
The images that have turned my stomach inside out have finally convinced me that reproductive cancer is not the way to go, at least not in the Philippines where instant deaths (like instant noodles, instant juice and instant white skin) are infinitely preferred over expensive languishing. Yep, a quick heart attack or getting swatted on the highway is a whole lot better.
The doctor’s visit was hardly pleasant. My undignified position on the clinic bed made me feel like a cockroach on its back about to be stuck with needles and torched dead by a 4 year old sadist. Nonetheless, the seemingly endless swabs and poking were far better than the pitter patter of cancer cells. My doctor says I’d have to bear the indignity over and over again for as long as I live. Married women, she says, are at great risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases and the HP virus that could cause cervical cancer.
I don’t think though that married women are the only ones at particular risk anymore. If the figures are right, 25% of sexually active teenagers in the U.S. have STD. One in four get STD infections every year. Among women in America, gonorrhea is most common among teenagers 15 years old and up.
That kinda ruins the seemingly pure young adolescent love that we so often read about or see on the Disney Channel. Imagine a boy with just a hint of his first facial hair about to lean over to kiss his first girlfriend when the car stereo suddenly spits out a tune that eerily fits “gonorrhea” when you say it in singsong.
Should my third world sensibilities be shocked, alarmed, agitated? Does this prove beyond a reasonable doubt that man isn’t a better philosopher than beasts under the sway of the pleasure principle? That’s as far as I dare go about what I think lest I be pelted with sticks and stones by both the prudish and the liberal alike. Besides I’ve already strayed too far from my musings on feeling like a cockroach.
*Image credit: Powerbacks
Maging sa Pilipinas GMs sa tingin ko eh malaking porsyento din ng mga kabataan gaya ng sa Amerika ang infected ng STD. Siguro dapat na talagang ieducate ng husto ang mga kabataan. Aba kung hindi maiwasan eh siguro walang ibang paraan kundi ang alamin ang tamang pag-iingat. Mas prone pa naman daw sa cervical cancer ang mga babaeng na maagang nagkakaroon ng sexual contact. Totoo ba yun?
oo. that’s true. most cases ng cervical cancer kasi eh caused by human papillomavirus na nakukuha sa sexual contact. how sad talaga.
There’s actually a new vaccine that protects young girls against the types of HPV that causes cervical cancer. There’s 2 – one is Gardasil. Gardasil is designed to prevent infection with HPV types 16, 18, 6, and 11. HPV types 16 and 18 cause about 70% of HPV-related cervical cancer cases. In addition, some types of HPV, particularly type 16, have been found to be associated with oropharyngeal squamous-cell carcinoma, a form of throat cancer.
I’m actually thinking about getting it pero medyo mahal. one shot is 6k and you’ll need 3-4 shots over a period of 2 years. but its worth it.
hi rocky 🙂 yeah my gyne also told me i have to get the shots pero as you said, mahal gyud kaayo.
wait sis may tanong lng po pano kung ung guy never had sex with others,khit b un at un lng ang ka sex nya may tendency p din magkacervical cancer ung girl?eh pano nmn ung marami ng experience?im confuse?
actually tantrum, based lang sa nabasa ko ha. ang mga STD at viruses katulad ng human papillomavirus ay nakukuha ng babae mula sa lalaki na maari namang nakuha rin niya sa isang babae na nainfected na. in other words kung ang girl and boy parehong 100% walang prior experience e di hindi nila pwedeng ma infect ang each other kasi they never had the virus in the first place.
ang problem kasi minsan kahit yung mga naka experience lang ng first time e pwede na sila mainfect right away kung yung ka first time nila meron nang virus or bacteria.
mas high risk ma infect ang mga taong maraming naka partner.
by the way, hindi lahat ng tao na may STD ay nagkakaroon ng symtomas. maaring infected na ang isang lalaki pero hindi nya alam kasi no symtoms nga eh. meaning pwedeng makipag talik siya sa isang babae with pure intentions yun pala natratransfer na niya yung bacteria or virus niya sa partner niya
i’m not sure kung 100% correct ako basta yun ang nabasa ko