I didn’t find out until a year after I had broken up with said ex, and I was already dating the man who is now my husband. Future-hubby and I were in the first few months of our relationship- he was a virgin and I well wasnt. It was then I found out that I had HPV and cervical dysplasia, which I was told was like “pre-cervical cancer” Interesting. Not only did I have to break it to my parents, but also to my wonderful, sweet, loving man who I was SURE was going to drop me like a sack of rocks . Anyway, a costly procedure was done to remove a good chunk of my cervix (stack up three quarters, and thats what they took out) and I was left with telling Mr Wonderful Ex the news. In which I got an angry response about what a dirty slut I was and how much of a whore blah blah (even though he was my first hahaha)

I am now immune to it! So I didn’t have to get the vaccine because I had, apparently, vaccinated myself. Exciting!

Since the title of my blog includes the word “getting it,” I am generally hesitant to get into a public debate with those who don’t seem to. However, I would like to address your comment about the HPV vaccine.

The reason I didn’t write about the vaccine is because my readers likely already know about it. If they are anything like me, they probably know many things from personal experience…

1. That it costs hundreds of dollars and it’s not covered by their insurance. Personally, I got PISSED every time an “expert” told me that I needed to get something that I simply couldn’t afford or I’d die. Great. Awesome.
2. Had I decided to write about it anyway, I suppose I could have written about how, due to an insurance debacle, I had to fly from NYC to MI with a vial of Gardasil in my carry-on (packed in ice, security’s favorite), only to miss the third dose — which a Pharm friend told me was never proven effective — due to lack of funds and seriously questioning the efficacy of the first two shots.
3. I could have gone on about the efficacy thing, but I know my readers already know this — like the one who messaged me today to let me know that she got HPV after getting the vaccine. All I can say is, I hope her insurance covered it.
4. It’s likely my readers also know that its safety is being questioned. Had I written about it, I’m sure I would have gotten an equally unhappy comment from the reader who e-mailed me this morning to tell me that she was in the percentage of people who gets seriously ill from the vaccine.
5. I think that recommending a new prescription drug to a large group of people is pretty risky business. I am an advocate for women’s health, but I also fear for women’s health because I don’t always trust modern medicine, the FDA, and drug companies. Twenty years ago, I may have been blogging about the wonders of the drug Phen-Fen — and we all know how well that worked out. If you need a doctor’s prescription for something, it might be because you need to have a conversation with your doctor.
6. If you believe that my post would encourage people to go out and have unprotected sex due to the fact that I said these STDs are “fun and curable,” you’re making a similar argument to policy makers who promote abstinence-only sex education. Knowing an STD is curable isn’t going to make people have unprotected sex any more than knowing Plan B is available. However, I give my readers enough credit to know that they’re probably not going to say, “Hey, honey, put away that Trojan tonight. Rachel from Shedding It made Trich sound like a real blast!” To me, the phrase “foul-smelling discharge” does not send a message of, “But, hey, just take an antibiotic!” and I give my readers enough credit to make that distinction.
7. My readers are not a bunch of tweens in their first Sex Ed class. This post was intended as a friendly reminder to a group of women who have, at this point, either had an STD or known someone who has. The point was to remind them that STDs are popular, easily spread, sometimes don’t show symptoms, and that they can happen to you.

And if you think that I’m young and foolish and assume it’s because I haven’t watched anyone die as the result of an STD, you are mistaken; I have. But the fact is, people are still getting sick and dying. Something isn’t working. With that in mind, I believe it’s time to find a new way to talk about diseases.