Read the letters below we received from listeners about HPV

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I think it is important that you are talking about HPV and cervical cancer... In August my GYN told me I had HPV and mild dysplasia. She gave me a print out from the following website (it's a good FAQ of HPV) http://www.cdc.gov/std/HPV/STDFact-HPV.htm

I'm 90% sure I was infected in December of 2002 - my boyfriend discoverd a wart in January 2003 which was associated with HPV. I went to my GYN and she said everything was normal. I went again in Feb 2004 - nothing out of the ordinary. I didn't have insurance for a little while after that, but when to the GYN in July 2005 as soon as I had insurance. Told my new GYN about my boyfriend in the past... and the PAP came back normal. I started seeing someone new in June and after we started having sex in August, I noticed some spotting between periods. I went to the GYN and was told I had mild dysplasia caused by HPV. (I was not sexually active between Jan '03 and Aug '06 - I know, great life for a 32 yr old woman). She did a colposcopy ( http://womenshealth.about.com/cs/cevicalconditions/a/colposcopy.htm) . (she was not very understanding about my nerves and not at all personable so I switched doctors.) My new doctor analyzed the colposcopy which came back negative (usually HPV goes away on its own, so this is normal), but did a follow up PAP. this time the PAP came back severe, so she did a colposcopy, and it was severe as well - she scheduled surgery immediately. I had a cone biopsy ( http://www.webmd.com/cancer/Cone-biopsy-conization-for-abnormal-cervical-cell-changes) and according to the results, they were able to remove all the cancer cells. However, there are 2 places the cancer cells grow - one (closer to the outside) is able to be removed and usually never comes back... the other is a bit further up (closer to the uterus) and it likes to play hide-n-seek... it doesn't always grow together which means you may or may not take all of it out in a cone biopsy. For non-childbearing age women, they usually do a hysterectomy at this time... but for those of us who are younger, they just recommend regular follow-ups. So now, I see a gyn-oncologist every 4 months and he does a PAP and some additional "scraping" which he sends off to a lab to get tested.

It usually is found earlier - the doctors couldn't believe it took that long to find it.

Thanks for bringing up the subject!
Kristin Meyer

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While watching the Nightly News, they said that the inoculation is only good for 2% of the virus causing the cancer. And.. they are also unsure how many years the inoculation is good for. They are not sure whether or not you will have to have a booster shot in the future. No mention of side affects was mentioned.

Just a little side note your listener's may want to know.

Julie Bradford

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Hi Julie,
I just wanted to say thank you for airing the discussion on HPV today. I think every woman should know about it whether or not she has it because anyone can get it - like I did. I hope you post this because I am going to give out some helpful information for those women out there who tested positive on it and maybe those who currently did test positive for HPV.

I'm 30 years old and just last week I found out I have HPV. I only have slept with 3 men in my life, including my husband. This was very hard for me to overcome at first because of my minimal sexual history. I have done a lot of research on this and found one helpful website for those women who have anything from precancerous cells to cancerous cells; even just an abnormal Pap smear that came back. This website is called the National Cervical Cancer Coalition and the website is: www.nccc-online.org. On this website it gives you a lot of information including what your Pap smear test results mean and what are the next steps for your OB-GYN to do. It also has a form to fill out if she, the woman, wants to have a phone pal or email pal to talk with who shares the same circumstances.

As you know I tested positive and I didn't keep it a secret from all my female friends. I told every single one of them about it. It turns out that one of my friends have had it for a while and another friend recently got an abnormal Pap smear back and isn't aware whether she has HPV or not. She was so glad I talked to her that she was going to contact her OB-GYN to see if she tested positive for it or not. Due to me having HPV, I believe the required treatment for a woman that tests positive is to have a coloscopy and biopsy done to see if she has any precancerous cells. The OB-GYN, like mine, told me right there if he thought I had precancerous cells or not just by what he saw and it was a relief to hear it right there and then.

Unfortunately we don't know who has HPV and anyone can get it. We just have to protect ourselves. HPV can remain dormant in a peson's body and then just appear years later in a Pap smear - whether you've been married for a long time or not, or are single or not. It can show up. Please, for your own sake, talk about it to your girlfriends, share the information - it can help a friend of yours like it helped one of my friends. It can save someone's life.

Sincerely,
Cindy