Helen - Interview 38

Age at interview: 27

Age at diagnosis: 25

Brief Outline:

Helen had mild changes to start with but was later diagnosed with CIN3, aged 25, and treated by LLETZ. She would have liked more information about healing after surgery and HPV.

Background:

Helen is a single PA Ethnic background / nationality' White British

More about me...

Helen often had unclear smear tests and had had repeat tests in the past. On one occasion, she had moderate cell changes and was given a repeat test six months later. This test showed moderate to severe changes and Helen was treated by LLETZ. She was concerned by the amount of bleeding she had afterwards and would have liked more information about healing after surgery as well as HPV.

Helen said she found it difficult telling other people she’d had HPV. She was single at the time of interview and was particularly concerned about having a relationship with a new partner because she felt wary of catching HPV again.

Helen always attended for cervical screening and advised other women to attend too.

Helen is concerned about getting HPV again, even if she and a new partner use a condom. She feels...

I’m really concerned, I know I use a condom all the time especially with someone new. I think one of the reasons I was so persistent with the smear as well was partly because I had worked in a cancer charity … also because I have slept with somebody who I found out later had a lot of partners, and that was a concern for me. And so I think now, yeah, I’d be a lot more worried about it, a lot more. It’s hard to say careful because it’s so easy to transfer, even if you are safe you could still… so I guess, I’m not sure.

If I was going to get into a long term relationship and the other partner wanted to sleep with me without a condom, it would be nice to know that I could have him tested for it first, just because I wouldn’t want to have to go through that process again.

I think I find it quite surprising that it’s sort of not talked about as an STI at all. But it is really. I guess in some ways it’s a good thing because there’s a stigma attached to talking about STI’s, and there’s not a stigma attached to having abnormal cells at all. But it is essentially that. And I think that by increasing awareness of that might actually help, and I guess, maybe just make people think twice, be more careful. I don’t know.

And then when no-one tells you, “Oh it’s skin on skin contact,” it’s so easy to transfer it. No-one thinks, “Oh I’m worried about HPV.” No one even knows what it is. So I think I find that quite strange and it might be better if it began to be treated as that, so people are worried about the risks.

Having a colposcopy was similar to having a cervical screening test (smear), and Helen found it...

I went in and the doctor sat me down and asked if I had any questions or concerns and she sort of talked me through the process a bit. Then I went and I was instructed to take off my sort of lower layers, and to lie on the bed with my legs in, they’re just rests. And then they use a speculum, they insert the speculum, the same way as you have with a smear. It’s very similar to the smear in some ways I guess. Maybe even less uncomfortable because they’re not actually using a swab or anything. There is a camera next to you, that you can actually see on the screen inside you. But you have a choice to look or not. And then basically they just have a look with a microscope and then decide
whether or not to take a biopsy, which for me again didn’t hurt.