CervCa: Our voices are being heard

I just wanted to share with you ladies the recorded telephone message I just got from my insurance company. It was to stress the importance of pap smears for cervical cancer (your not kidding) and mammograms for breast cancer. I think this is a step in the right direction for more attention to this horrible disease.

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Cervical cancer has been, until recently, the #1 cause of women's cancer deaths worldwide. (Breast cancer is now #1, cervical cancer #2).

So there is a long history of cervical cancer and the advent of the PAP smear has lowered cancer rates significantly. PAP smears have been covered by insurance (at least in the US) for as long as I have been around. However, with that said, even with regular screening it can be missed. PAP smears have a high failure rate. I had regular PAP smears and was getting them every 3 months wnen suddently I had a huge tumor.

I guess what I'm saying is I don't understand what you mean by "our voices are being heard".

I realize that the pap smear has been around for awhile and I also agree that it doesn't always catch abnormalities, as it didn't with me earlier on. I also know that insurance companies cover pap smears. It is just the first time I have ever received a phone call talking about cervical cancer and the importance of check-ups and pap smears. There are alot of people that feel breast cancer, for one, gets more recognition and money raised for further research. I guess what I was simply saying is maybe there is starting to be more attention on other female cancers and hopefully more research and the detection of cervical cancer found sooner and therefore higher cure rates.