It's Up To You: Cancer

these women are gathering here because they share a deep concern all individuals all ages all different backgrounds different ways of [Music] life a grandmother [Applause] a [Music] teacher a housewife [Music] what could bring these women together it is important to realize that all women are vulnerable to uterine cancer this may affect women of every age and occupation it is for this reason that even though there are no symptoms of abnormal bleeding and discharge that even though everything appears normal to you you should see your physician at regular intervals a Pap test will ordinarily show no cancer is present and that knowledge will give you peace of mind if cancer is present the Pap test will usually detect it while it is still curable there's no doubt about it if every woman had a Pap test as part of her yearly Health checkup we could markedly decrease death from uterine cancer I want to thank you all for attending this lecture [Applause] thank you so much Dr I'm sure he's given us a great deal to think about I hope you'll all join us now in the cafeteria for coffee and [Applause] cake so much energy and emotion is wasted living with fear of the unknown with questions which can be answered doctor how now with a pth test how long before symptoms appear can you tell if there are cancerous conditions oh it's possible by means of the P test to detect a early cancer uh much before symptoms appear sometimes as much as years uh they've reported this in cases uh earli as 2 three years before there are any symptoms uh you can go ahead have a examination pme taken and a an early cancer found oh actually a cancer found I mean or just without symptoms oh without symptom without symptoms I see oh and this is one of the values of going ahead when you don't have symptoms and having the uh the papsmear and the examination by the doctor the longer the cancer persists undetected the greater the difficulty in the treatment in other words uh if you can detect it early you can treat it early the operation or the uh treatment that we have to Institute is usually simple as a disease has been undetected uh it spreads more and that doesn't mean that there won't be cures doctor is there any sort of a place uh hospitals or even City Hall where you can go to get a test very quickly the way you do for the tuberculosis test when you have to get a job or something uh well I don't know about City Hall I think you go down there for marriage license or but uh well sure they the Gynecology clinics and various hospitals uh private doctors both specialists in Gynecology and general practitioners are all qualified to do pap smears you don't have to go to the hospital oh no this is done in the doctor's office or it maybe done in the in the hospital in the clinic our patient department but the doctor in his office can do this smear very easily what is a smear what do they talk about a smear first let me point out that when we say pap smear and Pap test we're talking about the same thing the papola or papsmear is the way doctors speak of it but the Pap test is used more in everyday conversation but you were asking for an explanation of what Pap test actually consists of now you know what a pelvic examination is you know the doctor uses an instrument to allow him to see inside the vagina well while this instrument is in place he can take a sample of cells which come from the cix which is the neck of the uterus does the test Hurt No the test doesn't hurt at all you can hardly feel it you may not even know what's happening getting back to the cells these cells are smeared on a slide and that's where the term papsmear comes in and they can be examined under a microscope this is when we can tell whether the cells are normal or not and this is where the term test comes in if abnormal cells are found in the papsmear then further investigation is necessary and the doctor would notify you and you go back to his office how long does it take the actual uh the testing and the well the doctor will go ahead and take a history he'll do a routine examination very often check your breasts at the same time blood pressure and do a pelvic examination and then while he's doing the pelvic exam he does a papsmear oh how often should a a middle-aged person uh go for an examination minimally I would say once a year this is really surprising I I had never thought about it really I I always thought I was I was too young to to bother with it but apparently that's not so no because as I said we can detect what we call a very early cancer or a can carcinome inight to and this can be easily treated and uh usually easily cured and you think um that one should make a practice of going once a year that's correct they should go uh for the possibility of an early detection and they should go uh for uh correction of any anxiety that they may have and uh other words if they go to their doctor and they find that there's no difficulties uh this will certainly give them peace of mind and they don't have to worry so really there's two reasons one for the early detection uh with a knowledge that they'll be cured and uh with the possibility also that everything is negative and that they can have peace of mind if there are abnormal symptoms and what I mean by abnormal symptoms such as uh irregular bleeding uh bleeding between the period uh bleeding after having relations abnormal discharge pain then I would consult the doctor at that time and if you're thinking about your family more even if woman doesn't think that much that she hasn't got the time or thinks about herself too much she certainly should consider a family well I would say that if she's worried about this uh she's not being fair to her own family she's probably a little annoyed at them and picks up little things you know and sort of puts what she's feeling within herself worrying about the fact that you may have cancer and the fact that a child didn't pick up his toys or the husband put down his pipe in the wrong place or something of that type so that I think if she does go and have this and it's normal I think she'll feel better feel and have a better relationship with her family I think this is so very important that each one of us should talk to our friends and in turn they talk to their friends I think this is I'm think is very worthwhile and very important I'm sure there are a lot of my friends who've never thought about it before well because you're not married yeah I guess single people really don't give it too much thought you don't have the opportunity that's how many children do you have I have one there's one child there one child and a dog and my husband you feel eventually doctor that um uh uterine cancer will be completely eradicated that is if everyone will go for this examination as you uh uh tell us to uh in years to come do you have that feeling I would say that uh if we could get every woman regardless of whether she's married or single to go once a year uh for a pelvic examination and a psme that uh there is a good possibility that we could almost totally eradicate cancer the Surs sounds wonderful [Music] why don't I go I keep telling myself I don't have the time that's ridiculous I find time for everything else I can't forget how mother died I'm afraid I don't want to know about myself supposing mother had had the Baptist supposing she had found out early enough she wouldn't have had to suffer that way she might be alive today enjoying her grandchild I have daughters too I don't really have the right one visit to the doctor and I'd know one way or the other I must do it as soon as I get home I'll make an appointment for tomorrow sounds like a very very good meeting I'm certainly glad you came for the Pap test let me show you how it's done I think this model will help this is the vagina this is the cervix or neck of the womb this is the uterus or the womb with an instrument in place you can see the vagina and cervix very clearly all we do is simply take a little fluid from here put that on a slide take a few cells from here put that on a slide and that's the Pap test we send it to a lab and that's all there is to it thank you very much you're welcome this is Crowley doctor what about the results I don't anticipate that you'll have any difficulty uh we just have to wait for the results of the Pap test that'll take just a few days it really is simple there's nothing to it really it's a very simple thing it just takes a few minutes and it's unfortunate that most people are not aware of the fact that it is so easy and it is painless too it is there's nothing to it about the results doctor should I call you no there's nothing to worry about I'll call you as soon as the results are back thank you very the laboratory report negative all cells normal A Year Without about fear and worry and the likelihood of many more years after that years to enjoy life to its fullest extent to be useful to love and be loved to live we have the knowledge and the techniques and the means the rest is really up to you [Music] [Applause] [Music]