Romy says in the message that the letter with the call to participate in the population screening had been waiting for months, but that she kept putting it off because of corona because it did not feel ‘urgent’. “Because I didn’t expect any complaints and I hoped that everything would just be fine, but the result of my Pap smear was not what it should be,” she writes.
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Just to be sure, Romy was sent to the hospital for more research. The gynecologist there suspected on sight that it would be nothing serious and that it concerned ‘slightly abnormal cells’, which had also emerged from the smear. As a precaution, a biopsy was taken and two weeks later Romy was called with the results: it was a preliminary stage of cervical cancer.
In the meantime, the layer of her cervix with the abnormal cells has been removed by means of a loop excision. No further treatment is necessary. By sharing her story, Romy hopes to make other women aware of the importance of having a Pap smear. ‘Because even without symptoms you can turn out to have a pre-cancerous stage of cervical cancer and being there on time can make all the difference.’
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