‘You’re too young to get tested for cancer’
At the Iowa University Hospital and Clinics, the wait time for an appointment was three months
Yesterday was World Cancer Day and January marked Cervical Cancer Awareness month.
This led me to think… everywhere you look around campus you can find information that shows you how to get help for your mental health, but signs for physical health help are no where to be seen.
Why hasn’t the university done anything to inform the young women who go here about cervical cancer, or any gender specific cancer in general? Women of university age are in the prime age for cervical cancer, and men are also in the prime age for testicular cancer.
Why isn’t there been any information readably available on cancer screening?
I decided to go to the doctor, just to see what would happen.
Simply making the appointment was almost impossible. When I initially rang the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics, I was told it would take 3 months to get an appointment.
Calling the hospital’s number and asking to see someone to get tested for female cancers must have been a difficult task – they sent me to the wrong section of the hospital three times before I impatiently hung up and asked my mom for the number I needed.
A week later, I hitched a ride 45 minutes to the Iowa River Landing.
Once I got there and they had me change into a snazzy blue hospital poncho. The nurse left and in came the doctor, who never once informed me of any symptoms that could come with any female specific cancers.
When told that there was cancer in my family history they said, “That’s too bad.”
I then asked if I could be checked for cervical cancer just because I wanted to be safe. They responded:
“No, you’re too young. Maybe talk to the family member who had cancer and come back in two years.”
This was pretty surprising to me to me. I’m not medically trained, but 18-24 is the prime age for the cancer to occur, yet they wouldn’t give me a pap smear because, “We don’t do that at 18”.
I found this concerning – and especially on the eve of the University of Iowa Dance Marathon, and on World Cancer Day.
In December, I shaved my head in solidarity for a seven-year-old cancer sufferer. I had heard the story of a little girl who was going through chemotherapy. When she was asked what she wanted most for Christmas, she responded that all she wanted was her “pretty hair back”. I donated my hair with the help of wigsforkids, and made a wig to give her the pretty hair she deserved.
My hair will grow back, but for someone harboring the ‘silent killer’ that is cervical cancer, the change to their life could be irreparable.
Cervical cancer is known as one of the silent killers of young women everywhere, with an estimated 12,900 women diagnosed each year, and 4,100 passing away. That is a whopping 31 percent of all people diagnosed passing on.
It is known as a silent killer because of the symptoms, or lack there of that come with it. Most women do not have any signs or symptoms of a precancer or early-stage cervical cancer. Symptoms usually do not appear until the cancer has spread to other tissues and organs, and once that happens the survival rate goes down exponentially, going from a 91 percent five year survival to a 57 percent five year survival when the cancer travels to the surrounding tissue and or lymph nodes. If the cancer travels further it drops to a devastating 16 percent survival rate.
After spending the $30 for my co-pay, I left feeling more anxious about my health than I was walking into the appointment.
So now not only is my age making me too young to drink legally, but in the eyes of one of the doctors at the University of Iowa, I am too young for a mere cervical screen.
Kim Leslie, the head of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Iowa Hospitals and clinics, said:
“A family history of cervical cancer is not a risk factor given that cervical cancer has almost no genetic based factor that would lead to the contraction of the disease. The primary cause of cervical cancer is becoming infected with Human Papillomavirus. There is a very effective vaccine that prevents HPV.”
She recommend that all men and women obtain the HPV vaccine, and said that a family history of the cancer wouldn’t change their recommendations.
It was also suggested pap smears for cervical cancer screening should begin from the age of 21 and should continue until the age of 60.
Another spokesperson from the hospital said: “The University of Iowa takes very seriously the patient experience at our hospital. If any student has concerns about their their experience, they should ring The Patient Experience helpline on 319 356 1802”.