My First Cervical Cancer Awareness Workshop + Colposcopy Screening

the cervical awareness workshop

This is an embarrassing post because it's all about your cervix BUT most importantly it's about preventing cervical cancer. Did you know that cervical cancer claims the lives of more than 270k women in the world every year? While it is one of the deadliest cancer in the world, it is also one of the easiest cancer to prevent. Yes, that's right, with early detection you can nip cervical cancer in the bud.

I must confess that even with all the awareness and education going on about STD, STI, HPV, I was still ignorant due to fear. Fear of going for a Pap Smear, which was just a simple, easy and quick procedure and you're out of the clinic as soon as you get in.  It was all because I attended the San Ai Global's Cervical Health talk about cervical cancer. It gave me the courage to find out more.

I attended the workshop at Amante Spa Aman Suria outlet after Maggie, a friend invited me. I have refused her many times but I decided, this is for my own good too and I said yes finally.  The workshop was held right in the lobby of the spa. A fairly simple, and cozy workshop but the things you see on the projector screen are not simple, or unimportant.


thank you for opening my eyes, Margeret Wong!

I watched in horror as registered TCM Margaret Wong explained the various cervical health issues women on the screen affecting women. She spoke in Cantonese but Maggie translated it in English to the audience. I could hear my heart beating harder at the photographs shown. I learn many things, like...

An itch, it more often a signal of something happening. An itch could turn into a green or yellow discharge, become inflame or infected and gets more serious. It could be STD, HPV, STI related or bacterial, viral, or parasitic. AND it's when things become serious, left untreated could potentially become cancerous.

P.S: I'm not an expert or a doctor on this subject, so it is better you hear it from the workshop.


the cervical cancer workshop


they also manufacture their own products - sprays, pads, gels
(e.g their pads vs commercial pads which is full of chemicals)

all the cervical problems

The workshop also talks about early screening as a prevention and how you could help spread cervical cancer awareness. Since this is very much a taboo subject and it affects women who are sexually active or has been, it would be difficult step for Asian women to come out of their shell and very much talk about it.

I urged bloggers to attend the workshop and to blog about it but most were too embarrassed to even register for the workshop. Afraid of knowing what's inside and probably afraid of what people might think. Well, don't worry bloggers, the purpose is to raise awareness of cervical cancer by attending this workshop. I'm not asking you to reveal your personal experience doing the screening or if you had sex.

I understand it takes some balls to go, especially when the workshop comes with a Colposcopy screening (optional, you don't have to do it if you don't want to) conducted by R TCM Margaret Wong in a one-on-one session.

I've been googling about Colposcopy, and usually, if your pap smear results come back abnormal, your doctor would advise you to go for a Colposcopy check. Now this costs anywhere from RM1,800 - RM2,000 at hospitals (not inclusive of consultation which will cost from RM150 onwards). A Pap Smear can cost from RM100 onwards at clinics or hospitals. It's RM1 at Klinik Kesihatan (Health Clinic). For this workshop which comes with the screening comes at a promotional rate of RM128 (np RM380) because the people behind it, are all about educating women about the issue.

However, this is conducted the TCM way (TCM = Traditional Chinese Medicine) so they don't do test lab results like hospitals but R TCM Margaret Wong is an experienced TCM practitioner who has dedicated herself to raising awareness about cervical cancer. Through the Colposcopy screening that she shows you, you could see in a bird's eye view if your cervix if is in a healthy state. You can also see if it's in any stages of cervical erosion (stage 1, 2, 3, 4). Stages 3 - 4 would be a high risk of cervical cancer.

I would like to share a personal review here, that yes I did the Colposcopy - for the first time. It wasn't painful, Margaret was gentle. You may be surprised (well who wouldn't, being open that way). You see, a special instrument called Colposcope is used in this session. It has a scope which will show an enlarged view of your cervix on the monitor screen. Pretty scary when I first saw mine. A swab test was done to see the pH level as well. Margaret explained to me what I'm seeing, and advise me on what's next.

It's here that I discovered that there's inflammation in there. I didn't even suspect anything (sigh). I didn't experience any symptoms this year but last year, I had reoccurring yeast infection episode (itchy like omg). That was the first sign, and I thought it all went away, all good and better from using yeast infection pills from the pharmacy. Well, guess it didn't...


bacterial infections


tofu-discharge is it a yeast infection?

In short, this workshop opens your eyes to the topics of cervical health and cervical cancer, while the screening gives you an opportunity to see if your cervix is in a healthy state (an affordable one too). After this, it is all up to you, go to your Gynae if you're at risk, or if you would take the TCM natural healing way to treat or heal your cervix. The choice is in your hands.

Maybe it's an unusual discharge, an itch, yeast infection, maybe it's bacterial vaginosis, severe PMS, maybe it's something else but what's actually happening down there? You can attend the workshop, get to know more about cervical health and do the Colposcopy check. You may never know what's going on. You're not losing out by knowing more.

More information on their cervical health and screening workshops, visit San Ai Global FB

Thank you San Ai Global & Amante Spa for inviting me to your workshop talk. I'm glad I took the first step to attend and check my cervix as I have never dared to do so before. Readers, I hope you can take advantage of this workshop to find our more about cervical cancer and ways to prevent it.

Comments

  1. Thank you for doing this post!!! In the Philippines it's very rare to see blog posts like these done. Very informative.

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