A Manuscript By Awodumila Folasayo On Cervical Cancer ( TWO PHASED)

  

A MANUSCRIPT BY AWODUMILA FOLASAYO ON CERVICAL CANCER                                                

                 TWO PHASED

Aminat the first and only child of her mother, lived in a remote city in Kaduna, she had step brothers and step sisters from her step mum; Amina’s mum became the second wife of her dad as a result of the rendezvous her father had with her mum and thus resulted to her birth. Aminats mum (Fatima) was just 18 when she got pregnant, she was young, inexperienced and quite innocent, Fatima married (Isa) Aminats father cause of the pressure mounted on her by her parents that she can’t give birth in her parents’ house, she had to give birth in her husband’s house, she wasn’t ready for the whole marriage thing but she got married to satisfy her parents request. 

Fatima got married to Isa but was an unhappy young woman, she went through the stages of her pregnancy unhappy, and she eventually gave birth to Aminat but died in the process.

Aminats Step mum (Aisha) already had four children she was nursing so she saw Aminat as a burden and thus maltreated her at every opportunity, Aminat became a slave in her father’s house cause her father was never around he was a rolling Stone.

Aminat was scarcely given the opportunity to attend school, she only attended elementary school cause her step mother frustrated every effort of her furthering her education, and all she does while her step brothers and Sisters went to school is to stay back at home and do house chores. Aminat grew up with no love and no one to care for her, at sixteen, she met Zainab, Zainab was a call girl and while Aminat narrated her story to Zainab, Zainab advised her to leave her father’s house and fend for herself, she introduced Aminat to the business she does to survive. Every night Zainab and Aminat went to brothels to sleep with different men. At Sixteen Aminat was a professional sex worker. Aminat soon became an hot cake cause she was exquisitely beautiful, she had this Northern beauty, she was dark and had the most enticing figure eight (as people would call it) she had a strangely dark curly hair, she made money as a sex worker but she yearned to get an education, and so Aminat trained herself through school; she was quite smart and brilliant, so making it through school wasn’t a hard nut for her to crack.

Aminat trained herself through school while sleeping with different men; she was a different person in the morning and a totally different person at night; this went on for years; till she graduated as a lawyer; she was called to bar and then became a barrister.

Aminat secured a job at a law firm within a year after her youth service corps, while working she met Donald a nice looking young man from Delta State, Who works with one of the multinational company; Donald’s love for Aminat was simply love at first sight, he was driving home that day and decided to fuel his car, while he drove into the petrol station, he saw this young beautiful lady paying off the petrol attendant after she had gotten fuel in her car, he looked at her for minutes before she entered her car and zoomed off, Donald traced her with his car, he got to know where she lives; did some findings and got to know where she works; Donald began sending flowers to her, Chocolates and the likes. Eventually Aminat met the mystery guy. They decided to have dinner together and they connected at every level, Aminat was very free spirited and enjoyed Donald’s company; things sparked up between them and Donald proposed, Aminat accepted his proposal and thus preparation for wedding began.

Two months to their wedding, Donald and Aminat travelled to Dubai for a romantic getaway, to escape from the whole wedding preparation, it was beginning to weigh Aminat down and Donald decided she needed a break and so they planned a trip to Dubai; they had all the fun they could at Dubai, Aminat had some little time to rest and shop for her wedding as well.

One fateful Saturday afternoon, just after a week they got back from Dubai, Aminat noticed she was bleeding through her vaginal, it wasn’t time for her menses to come she said to herself, she didn’t take it too serious, she thought perhaps her menses came earlier because of all the  stress she’s been going through planning her wedding; after some weeks she started experiencing pain around her pelvis, she had abnormal vaginal discharge; she started losing weight and so she went to the hospital, getting to the hospital, they ran a test on her and it was discovered Aminat had Cervical Cancer; worst still she had an advanced stage of cervical cancer. Aminat broke down in tears, she was meant to be married to the most amazing man on earth in a months’ time, her whole world came crashing down before her very face, how did she get cervical cancer she kept asking herself, she stayed in door for days, refused to pick Donald’s calls.

Donald on the other side became worried and drove down to her place, he knocked several times but got no response, he was certain she’s around, cause her car was well parked in the compound; he kept knocking still got no response, called her lines got no response, he became scared, he called on people to help him break the door, when they broke the door in, Aminat was lying on the floor, almost dead, she had drank to stupor, Donald quickly rushed her to the hospital. After she regained consciousness, she told Donald of her status and that she only had few days to live, Donald was devastated; he saw his whole world crumbling and he can’t do anything about it.

Aminat died some days after and Donald started a cervical cancer awareness foundation in her name. While we live life at the fullest lets always remember that everything in this life has its repercussions, it might not come at that time you are living your best life, but it might come at the time you need your life the most, be moderate in all you do.

CERVICAL CANCER is a cancer that arises in the cervix of the uterus (womb) 

In the Early Stages of Cervical Cancer, it may not cause symptoms, as the cancer IQ progresses, the most common signs and symptoms of cervical cancer include 

Abnormal Vaginal bleeding

Increased vaginal discharge

Bleeding after going through menopause

Pain during Sex

Pelvic Pain

CAUSES OF CERVICAL CANCER:

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection

Having many sexual partners

Smoking

Birth Control Pills (Oral Contraceptive) used over the long term

Engaging in early sexual contact

                           

            STAGES IN CERVICAL CANCER

Stage 0 : This Stage is not a true invasive Cancer

Stage i: There is a small amount of tumor present that has not spread to any lymph nodes, organs, or distant areas of the body.

Stage ii: The Tumor has spread beyond the cervix and uterus, but does not invade the pelvic walls or lower part of the vagina

Stage iii: The Cancer has grown into the lower part of the vagina or the walls of the pelvis. The Tumor may be blocking the uterers (tubes that carry urine from the kidneys to the bladder)there is no spread to other sites in the body

Stage IV: This is the most advanced stage, in which the most advanced stage, in which the cancer has spread to the bladder or rectum, or to sites in other areas of the body.

REDUCING THE RISK OF CERVICAL CANCER

Go for routine pap tests

Follow up on abnormal pap smears

Get vaccinated: We have a Vaccine for Cancer (Two vaccines, Cervarix and Gardasil are available to protect against the types of HPV that cause the most cervical cancers, as well as anal cancers in men. Your doctor will discuss the dosing schedule with you. These are the recommendations for HPV vaccination, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Practice safe sex

Quit Smoking