I have recently had some particularly horrible days at work over the holiday period – diagnosing a 43 year old mother of three with metastatic cervical cancer and telling a twenty two year old student that she needs surgery and chemotherapy for aggressive melanoma is the worst part of my job. I hate it. And perhaps what I hate most about it is that both of these situations could have had different outcomes if they had come to their GP sooner.
So I decided to compile a list. A list of resolutions I think all women should pay attention to this New Year. Don’t be that person that I have to break bad news to. Be the healthy person who gets to go home and tick off their resolution checklist with a smile on your face.
1. Get a pap smear. You’d be surprised how many women have never had one, or how many women put it off indefinitely despite getting reminder notices from their GP. If you are sexually active, you need a pap smear at least every 2 years (some people need them more often, depending on what the pap test results are). Sure it’s not fun and yes, it’s not particularly comfortable but neither is cervical cancer. Enough said.
2. Start doing a monthly breast exam. It’s not difficult and takes perhaps a minute to do. Formal breast screening is done free for women over 50 but breast cancer can, and does occur in younger women. A minute a month could save your life.