karen2205 | A wasted journey and squeee

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A wasted journey and squeee

Um, slightly TMI so

Having checked with the receptionist that I did need a smear even though I'm not and have never been sexually active, booking an appointment for this morning and turning up for it, the nurse told me that no, I don't need one until I'm sexually active/about 35. So yes, one wasted journey.

And look at this - I've got Support Help in gunk, which means I can approve other people's answers and do all sorts of other little bits and pieces that I couldn't do before:-) *giggles*

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I could have told you that. Stupid receptionists.

Indeed. My stupid health centre has never called me for one, much to the horror of doctors in both Manchester and Oxford. Doh.

Not really - everyone aged between 20-64 should be called every three years, at least under the old rules, so it's not all that surprising you've not been called.

The new rules IIRC say your first smear should be at 25 then it's every three years for a while before you go down to every five years as you approach 64.

I've been told to ignore any invitations until I'm sexually active/a lot older.

I see! Excellent, was panicking that I had cervical cancer. Too much Holby City [sigh] ;) xxx

Yeah, I was working under the terribly outrageous assumption that the receptionists would have a better idea than me about this kind of thing.

Ooh, congratulations about the supporthelp! Is that the first time you've got supporthelp in any category at LJ?

You explained this to me once, and I can't remember the precise ins and outs - I can remember there exist I1s, I2s which are better, supporthelp which is better still and then another sort of deity-of-support level after supporthelp which is almost impossibly hard to reach. So, a supportive but not-very-understanding Yay!

Pretty much :)

Deity-of-support is probably category admin, which is nearly impossible to reach mostly because there are a limited number of slots. Categories have from one to about three or four admins, depending on the size (number of requests / breadth of scope) and the workload.

So since there are only eight public categories, each with an average of 1.5 admins or so, that means 12 positions; pretty much the only time you can get in is if someone quits.

Then there's head of support as a whole, but that's only one person.

You also need lots of time - at least twenty hours a week if not rather more to be an admin, so I'm never going to be one, 'cos being a person with far more of a real life than most support volunteers (not derogratory - just that many of them are still at school/uni, or are not working for other reasons) I'm never going to have the time.

And umm - I could *never* replace

rahaeli;-)

At this point it's probably 30-35 hours a week for me. Which is insane. I think as an experiment I should keep careful track of how much time I spend doing support in a week, because I don't have a very good idea. But I do have a real life. And in real life I have friends to be silly with and exams to study for and religious activities. I don't spend as much time studying as I should do though. :/

Did you ever get round to counting how many hours you spend on support? Just curious. 30-35 hours in a volunteer position is crazy!

no, i didn't. and it varies. i know after i got out of school i was doing supportish things (including goofing off on IRC, but mostly poking at the board, poking at closing) from when I woke up until i went bed, so that was more like 15 hours a day or so i guess which would make 105 hours a week for several weeks-- but now i'm home in arizona and i'm visiting my mother and my friends and so i've got a lot less time for support, and it's down to 0-6 hours a day, so probably 20-40 hours a week.

Thank you! Yes, this is my first Support Help - I don't imagine I'm likely to get any more any time soon though.

yay! congratulations.

Thank you!

Congrats. :) The learning doesn't stop at SH, though, so good luck with the stuff to come. If you should need/want help, you can still feel free to poke me or the admins or whoever. (I remember about the day after I got SH, a bunch of random shit blew up in my face, at which point I sure wished I'd had a mentor once. But if the entire Support team doesn't decide to pounce on you in IRC, you're probably good.)

That's weird about the PAP smear thing, because in the States they advise us to get one at sexual activity or at 18, whichever is first. I think that the US is a little more into preventative medicine than Europe--at least, I know someone from the Netherlands who has said similar stuff about the medical system not bothering so much with preventative stuff.

I refuse to give up my mentor until, say, two weeks past supporthelp or so. And if she won't keep me, I am going to make you,

bitterlight, my honorary supporthelp mentor and come cry on your shoulder at being petrified at all the new drop-down fields and how I know I'm a bad priv and stuff. :P

Congratulations, Karen! Yay you! You will make a great priv...I saw, remember?

Thank you, sweetheart, have some *hugs*. I'm becoming a slightly-less-scared-priv now that I've spent a little while approving what I can - it's just going to take time to adjust to though.

*clings on tightly* I'm still scared - actually it's getting easier now that I've been sitting approving for an hour or so (yeah, I've not approved much....I've done a lot of thinking 'umm 90% sure on that' and left it). I just need some time & practice to get used to it.

I think we're into preventative medicine at some level eg. there's a national screening programme for cervical cancer/HPV, but we've less money spent on health care per head and (in some ways thankfully) we're far less litigious - it's highly unlikely a patient would be able to sue her doctor for not identifying the early changes that can lead to cervical cancer, unless he'd failed to ensure she was invited along to the screening.

For me the worst part is that I'd reached an almost pleasant state of being prepared for the test to be unpleasant but curious about what it's actually like and I'm now left with that curiorisity unsatisfied, but it'll be OK.

I'm not too worried though - AFAIK no virgin has ever been diagnosed with cervical cancer and I believe what I was told about me being too young for there to be any of the other kinds of pre cancerous changes. I will make sure I have one done in five-ten years or so, even if I'm not sexually active, just to be sure though. Cancer's not a nice way to go.

Not all cervical cancer is caused by HPV, I don't think, but I believe a lot of it is. I remember reading that nuns and other virgins had much lower rates than the general population.

is your icon a picture of you?

if it is then change it cuz it looks BAD! REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD

get the point? GOOD

from,
potatoe

God knows how dire yours must be then if you feel the need to post anonymously so we can't laugh at your picture.

Wow, truly you have a dizzying intellect.
A prime example of shining wit.
Oh wait, I mistyped that.

Surely you have something better to do at your nice school in florida than spam journals with crap?

Finding that wily Caps Lock key for one *snerk*

Ahhhhh, I love anonymous posters. They're so brave, you know, signing their names to everything.

Oh, wait. I forgot. I hate anonymous posters.

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A wasted journey and squeee

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