Natalie - Interview 39

Age at interview: 40

Age at diagnosis: 34

Brief Outline:

Natalie was diagnosed with CIN3 in 2001, aged 34, and treated by LLETZ. She has been clear since treatment and has annual follow-up care.

Background:

Natalie is married with two sons. Ethnic background / nationality' White Irish

More about me...

Natalie was diagnosed with CIN3 in 2001, aged 34, and treated by LLETZ. She said she healed well after treatment and got back to her normal routine shortly after surgery. She was happy with the care and information she was given and found the Jo’s Trust website helpful (www.jotrust.co.uk).

Natalie said she was surprised to learnt how common CIN3 was and that it was usually treated successfully first time. She was concerned about telling her partner she had CIN3 because HPV is sexually transmitted. He was supportive and understanding and looked after their two sons while she was healing. Natalie has been clear since treatment and has annual follow-up care.

Natalie felt nervous before telling her husband she had CIN3. She didn't know how she'd got it...

I called my husband that evening and explained. And I was a bit nervous to tell him because I didn’t know how I got this, and was wondering if it’s something I had done. And I still don’t quite understand how I got this.

And that, you know, sort of that’s okay with me because it’s gone now. But I was a bit nervous and he was asking me questions, well he was sort of, “How are you?” And then he was going, “But how do you get that?” And so I didn’t really understand how I got that. I heard about the Papilloma Virus and I learned that, even though I’d had regular smear tests that, not all the NHS, when they do it, they don’t always check for that. And I still don’t quite understand how that works. But yeah that was my concern, that I had done something that had given this, you know, had given me this illness.

I remember asking when I went to see the doctor, the gynaecologist, and asking like what, “Have I done something?” And he reassured me no. But that he thought it might be sexually transmitted. And I thought, I’ve been so un promiscuous. I’ve been such a monogamous, careful, sexually careful person that I just thought, you know, using barrier methods. I just thought how could I have got this. And I still don’t quite understand how, but I did. Despite all my caution, but you know, that’s fine.