Prevent the Inevitable

Today i woke up on 6.10 am, while perfectly aware that i have lecture starting at 7, but even as the clock hit 6.45, i had not moved my lazy ass up (well, jangan ditiru ya :) ) Nevertheless, i just cant bear the idea of skipping lectures. It happened many times before, when i really wanted to skip a lecture, but in the end my slight guilt won. So i was off to lecture at 7.03

The first session was quite boring, but the second session about "Early Detection of Cervical Cancer and Breast Cancer" was great! The lecturer (Dr. Ovi from Ob-Gyn Department) was very cool. She confided us on surprising facts about cervical cancer: The only cancer (aside from Colorectal) with known cause, which is Human Papiloma Virus (HPV), and still, is the commonest cancer killing women. The pathologist even say: Not a day passed without diagnosing Cervical cancer! Despite the fact that detecting it very soon is easy, and there's even a vaccine available for HPV in Indonesia, many women still cant get away from Cervical Ca's grip. We might wonder why is that?

Old saying "Prevent is better than cure" is very right. In case of Cervical Ca, early prevention can lead to much better prognosis (i mean better outcome and hope for live longer) for the patient. We can even caught Cervical Ca red-handed from its earliest attempt on causing our life a mess! The progression of this cancer is slow, compared to its fellow cancerous friends, might be years from pre-cancer stage to the real stadium one stage, so there's fat chance we'll caught it early. The detection is also very easy: by well-known Pap-smear test or much simpler IVA test. Problem is, not many people are aware of the importance of this early detection. They do not like the idea of some scary-looking device (like this) being inserted to their most intimate organ. (gee, even i must admit i do not like it!) But this is the easier and most effective, efficacious way, so doctors can get a closer look at our cervices and decide whether or not we have pre-cancer lesion. The insertion itself does not hurt, juts a bit uncomfortable. One swab, and the answer becomes clear. If the doctor find the sign of dysplasia (that is, abnormal cells not behaving like they should), earlier action of removing the misbehaved cells can be done, and we're free of cancer! Wonderful, hm?

But there's one little problem: we do not want to be Pap-smeared, and i can't blame us (what a pun) for that. Who in earth want to lie flat, legs open, and let someone insert a hideous device on their vagina? Then again, we must remember the danger a Cervical Ca can cause, and how close it is to us. Research said, 75% of us has been exposed on HPV, are we sure enough we're the lucky 25%? No one can be so sure, because HPV can be everywhere and attack anyone! From fancy-looking actresses to simple-minded housewives, cervical ca is everyone's threat. That's why, early detection by yearly Pap-smear or IVA is not only recommended, but compulsory.

Dr. Ovi assigned us students to persuade women around us to have themselves Pap-smeared.  If they have no money, then just request an IVA test. This is a very cheap test using acetic acid swabbed on cervix portion, and see if there's color change. One bottle of common table vinegar, diluted five times, and it is enough to test a hundred women. How easy :) What's not easy is to get the patient's consent to do the test, and that's what we (medstudents or anyone who understand the danger of Cervical Ca) are required to do.