Posted July 23rd, 2003 by Michelle

You know how I was pretty certain that I’d be able to drop of my Fedex to the Peace Corps and not think about my health for a while? Well, it didn’t exactly turn out that way. Cruel, cruel world, there is much left to do. While I was thrilled, but not terrilbly suprised, to find that I am HIV-negative, I was unsettled by my PAP results. They were abnormal, quite clearly so, and said that I had squamous intraepithelial lesions, which in layman’s terms means abnormal cells that have a very slim chance of developing into cervical cancer. They are a manifestation of HVP, which is a sexually transmitted virus. Here’s the crazy thing about HVP: 80% of sexually active adults will test positive for this virus in their lifetime. It’s that common. And it can take ten to twelve years to manifest, or may never, which means there is no knowing where or when you contracted it. You will have it your whole life and it may not require any care; on the other hand, the lesions could require surgery to remove them, and it can also lead to cancer. I told a few friends about this and all three said that not only did they test positive for this virus, two of them had had surgery, and said it was no huge deal.

The next step for me is a colposcopy, which is a pelvic exam with cameras. If nothing is detected, than I am fine, but need to get a pelvic again in six months. If lesions are detected, I might have to have surgery. I was really worried at first, but really, I’d rather have that than HIV, and it is something I can watch and take care of for the rest of my life. If I have to get pelvics twice a year forever, fine. This is something I can manage, and it may never bother me again. Unfortunately, my doctor could not schedule my colposcopy until the middle of August, so I have to wait until then to find out what exactly is happening on my insides.

But then there is the Peace Corps. I called the Washington office today, and found the name of my placement officer and health screener. Both of them were wonderful, and assuaged my fears of losing my nomination since my health exams were taking so long. But my health screener said that I should Fedex everything I have right away, and that I can fax my PAP results (and colposcopy results) as soon as I get them. I can be nominated without them having every shred of paper, as long as I prove that I am fully cleared before I go. So tomorrow, everything I have to this date will finally fly towards Washington, and I start the waiting game for both my invitation and my colposcopy. My placement officer said she would start sending invitations in a couple weeks, so the waiting game may not be as long as I once thought.