The thing about O&G is everyone warns you about how bloody and disturbing obs is, but nobody tells you gynae is just as bad.
Last week I had the misfortune of attending the colposcopy clinic. To put it in laymen terms, the purpose of this looking at the vagina and cervix through a microscope is to check for lesions so that early cervical cancer can be detected, which isn't all too bad...until they do find something suspicious and decide to take biopsies, i.e. a tissue sample. For cost-effective purposes, only those ladies with positive Pap smears are referred for a colposcopy, so essentially every patient I saw that afternoon had chunks of tissue clamped off them with forceps like these...
...and the way they do it in the public setting is WITHOUT ANAESTHESIA. Aaaaahhhhh! Okay fine, the doctor reassured us that the cervix, in fact, does not have any pain receptors so patients should feel a pinch but not overt pain, but let me tell you, I don't care if there's no phase III trial proving the efficacy of local anaesthesia in this case, if I - touch wood - ever needed biopsies of my female parts, they better damn well have flooded my vagina with lignocaine before doing anything.
Anyway, the worst wasn't over. In came the most unfortunate lady with previous hysterectomy done, meaning she's already had her cervix and uterus taken out, and the back of her vagina sewn together. And, lo and behold, there were lesions that looked suspicious on staining, so biopsies were indicated. With no anaesthesia. CHUNKS OF TISSUE WERE DIRECTLY CLAMPED OFF HER VAGINA WITHOUT ANAESTHESIA. The poor patient was screaming. I wanted to scream with her. My guy friend watching next to me looked like he was going to pass out.
So ladies, if you want to save yourself from such a traumatising experience, minimise your chances of getting cervical cancer. Get vaccinated, use condoms, quit smoking and stop being a whore.
i thought the picture was bad.
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