January has been designated by the US Congress as the National Cervical Health Awareness Month. The question is, are you taking good care of your cervix?

Here are two good reasons why you should:

• 10,000 American women are diagnosed with cervical cancer every year and about 3,700 of these cases are fatal.
• Even if not fatal, cervical cancer can cost you your uterus, and therefore your natural reproductive potential.

Cervical cancer, however, is one of the most preventable and treatable forms of cancer. The key is regular screening and early detection. And screening is as easy and regularly visiting your gynecologist and having a Pap test.

Now, there are many misconceptions about the Pap test and cervical cancer that need to be clarified.

• First, it is not true that a Pap test is only required for sexually active women. Anybody can get cervical cancer although it is very rare in women under the age of 25. According to the National Institutes for Health, routine screening should start not later than the age of 21.
• Second, vaccination against the human papillomavirus (HPV) does not completely protect you cervical cancer. It does significantly reduce the risk of having genital warts that may lead to cancer. However the vaccine is not a substitute for the Pap test.
• Third, many women find a Pap test rather invasive. Talk with your doctor about other alternatives, such as vaginal swabs, for example.

In honor of the National Cervical Health Awareness Month, many health departments in the US are offering free! cervical cancer screenings. The National Cervical Cancer Coalition gives a list of county health departments which offer this service. Check it out!

Cervical dysplasia is considered to a precancer stage of cervical cancer. It is characterized by abnormal cells and lesions in the cervix. If left untreated, these lesions can develop into cervical cancer. Several methods are used to treat cervical dysplasia and loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP) is among the most popular. The procedure uses a low-voltage electric wire loop to remove abnormal cells in the cervical walls. It has been considered to be a safe and risk-free procedure even during pregnancy.

However, a British study indicates that performing LEEP in pregnant women to get rid of lesions may actually significantly increase the risk for pregnancy complications. These complications include preterm labor and delivery (70% increase in risk) and delivery of infants with low birth weight (82% increase in risk). Although other procedures (e.d. laser or cold knife conization) presented risks as well, LEEP seems to have the worst risk profile of all.

The researchers recommend that LEEP should not be performed in pregnant women unless absolutely necessary and only in cases of high-grade precancerous lesions.

Source: Health Day News

Tony Award winning Broadway star Marissa Jaret Winokur and her husband comedy writer Judah Miller are expecting their first baby in September. But doesn’t she look five months pregnant on Dancing With The Stars? The couple are expecting via a surrogate mother.

Marissa was diagnosed with cervical cancer at the very young age of 27. She needed a hysterectomy to treat the disease and made a full recovery, but thought she would never be able to have her own baby.

But last year, doctors implanted her fertilized egg into a surrogate mother’s womb, and now the surrogate is five months pregnant with a baby boy.

Congratulations to the Marissa and Judah! They say how grateful and excited they are to be able to become parents thanks to their surrogate.

Marissa and Judah are not the first celebrity couple to be able to have children with a surrogate mother. In November 2007, Dennis Quaid and wife Kimberly’s twins Thomas and Zoe were born. They are the biological parents of the babies, carried by the surrogate mother.

Dennis and Kimberly say of their twins, and their surrogate; “God has definitely blessed us.” I’m sure that’s a sentiment shared by every parent who has been given the gift of a child (or children!) by a wonderful surrogate mother.

Michelle Stepney was carrying twin girls. But babies weren?t all that were present in her womb. She also had a sizable tumor due to cervical cancer. And the babies’ kicking movements dislodged the tumor. In order to remove the tumor, Mrs. Stepney needed to undergo an operation but this meant terminating the pregnancy.

For Mrs. Stepney, abortion was out of the question. Instead, the doctors put her on low-dose chemotherapy to prevent the cancer from spreading. She kept her babies in her womb till they were then delivered by C-section on the 33rd week. The babies were healthy and did not suffer any side effects from the chemotherapy except for a lack of hair.

Four weeks later, Mrs. Stepney underwent a hysterectomy to remove the tumor. Thanks to the chemotherapy, the cancer did not spread to other parts of the body.

The twins’ kicking the tumor loose allowed an early diagnosis of cervical cancer, thus, saving their mother’s life. In turn, their mother risked her life by refusing to terminate her pregnancy. Trully, life begets life.

Source:

Daily Mail, 7 Feb 2008