2 Days Till Nepal

Only 2 days left until we leave for Nepal! I don't think i've mentioned this before in this blog so i'll just quickly tell you that me, my bro and sis are going over there for 3 weeks on a volunteering and adventure holiday. We have chosen to volunteer teaching english to kids / monks and it's very exciting.

I think we are nearly ready to go, we have had all our injections (8!), started taking our malaria tablets and bought a whole load of stuff including new rucksacks and walking boots. We haven't yet got our mosquitoe nets but we are hoping to get these at the airport.

Smear Test

Im feeling totally medical at the mo. Today I had my 2nd ever smear test and it was fine as it turns out. It did seem different to the last one but granted that was 3 years ago now. The last one seemed to have more of a sharp pain involved but this one was more a pushing feeling which is a bit harder to describe. I had been on a few forums before hand and someone had mentioned that they now use plastic instruments instead of metal so maybe that has something to do with it.

The nurse (who was lovely) did say that I had a small cervix! Im not exactly sure what a cervix is but this is something I have long suspected, I think she described it as cherry like. I asked if there were many different sizes and apparently there are, plus things like having a baby (I have no kids yet) can make a difference, so maybe in the future I will have a slightly larger cervix lol.

The nurse also talked more about checking breasts this time which I don't remember them doing last time. This is something I do pretty much regularly anyway so I wasn't too worried about that.

Well I should have the results in about 6 weeks apparently so hopefully, much like the cylamidia test everything will be fine. I have a trip to Nepal in the meantime to take my mind off it :-) I do wonder if thats the last medical related thing for a while?? lol

Negative :-)

Good news! The Chlamydia test came back negative - phew. Thats a big weight off my mind @I can tell you.

Considering the fact this is not something I had ever worried about before, as soon as I took the test I really started to worry. Every now and again it would pop into my mind and even though it seems like its pretty easy to treat I was freaking out about the long term effects it can have on a persons fertility.

Luckily now all thats behind me :-) I can safely say I do not have Chlamydia, yay!

Chlamydia Test

My friend (the same one who I joined Match along with) has worried me about never having been tested for any STD's. We got merrily drunk the other night and some how got onto the topic and she was saying how she got tested after she found out about her cheating husband. I have to admit she worried me slightly, it's not something I have ever thought about doing before and now thinking about it im not sure why as I did have a bit of a time in my early 20's and perhaps wasn't as careful as I could have been.

Anyway Chlamydia seemed to be the most worrying as its the one that can effect your fertility and also has the double whammy of not always showing any symptons. Did you know that you can send away for home tests for all sorts of things now? This amazed me and I found a funky place online called the STI clinic http://www.thesticlinic.com/ There were shed loads of places that offer to send you out a home testing kit which you then pee into and post back for them to analyse, most then either post your results on a secure webpage or post you out the results.

I decided to go with the STI clinic for a couple of reasons even though at £30 they were one of the most expensive.:

They posted out the testing kit in discreet bubble wrap envelope with no mention of the STI clinic anywhere on it.

They send the kits out the same day if you order by 4.30 and you can get the results within 2 days (by far the quickest I found).

They dont have to post the results back to you, you can log back into their site and get the results online, plus they will text you when your results are ready.

If you do have chlamydia, hey will send you the treatment (in pill form) by next day courier for no extra charge.

So sure enough the kit arrived and this morning I peed into it! Some interesting facts - they prefer first thing in the morning pee and you must collect the first part of the pee thats the important part apparently! No idea why but im sure they have their reasons.

I posted the kit back today and as it's a week day hopefully I should have the results within a couple of days. What worries me however is that if it does come back positive then goodness knows how long I have had it because after that blip in my early 20's I have been careful ever since so it won't be a newly aquired thing if you get what I mean. Eeck! I really hope it's negative. xx