I was only 39 and it affected my sex life because, I can’t remember at the time, but you know Freud’s theory about women’s clitoral orgasms being separate from their vaginal, you know. And I don’t remember what it was but there was an Australian doctor at the time, he was doing a lot of research into this. And it was pretty obvious to me that a lot of nerves had been damaged, and I just couldn’t reach orgasm after that. It came back, years later, partially. It wasn’t the same though. It was never, sex was never the same, no. No. So it’s not something I would recommend someone unless you know, well I didn’t have a choice.

I didn’t have a choice. And I didn’t know, well nobody said that that might be a possible, even if they knew, it was in 1984 I suppose. I mean it’s common sense now, isn’t it, that obviously if you’re going to have a huge chunk of your cervix removed, it’s going to affect you.

If you think about the clitoris and all the nerves that come from it, you know, and all, I mean it’s so obvious that it would do. If you’re going to cut through these nerves, but I think the body compensates and I think that actually you know, things return or you know you compensate in other ways. But it definitely did have a big effect.

I must say though, the last one I had last year [smear test], it was absolute butchery and I’ll never go back for another one. And I’ll be sixty- I’m 64, it was absolute hell. I had it done in the hospital and it was really painful, and very bloody.

Did you always have them at the hospital usually, or at your G.P.s surgery?

No I have them at the Gps surgery, and then when I moved I had them at a clinic but, you know, I used to worry about them. I used to read a lot about how they were supposed to be taken, that they had to be taken from three parts of the cervix. I used to ask the nurse, Are you sure you’ve done, you know And she would look at me as if I was mad, or sometimes I would feel she didn’t know what I was talking about. But I was always afraid that if it didn’t hurt, or it wasn’t painful, that it hadn’t been done thoroughly. But yes, so there was always worry surrounding it after, yeah.

And this last one you’ve had was particularly painful?

That was after, I don’t know why. She thought it was because of the change of life, that it was difficult getting access and that. And I bled a lot, bled a lot. And it was very, very painful. Or whether it was just the way she did it I don’t know.

Well it was quite an incredible story actually because it was somebody I knew whod taught English at the school I was at, and he was a psychic, he was a spiritualist. And I didn’t know him very well, but I did respect him as an academic. And at the time I didn’t know anything about spiritualism. In fact I did actually equate it with people who aren’t very intelligent. I thought it was a load of rubbish. I was surprised when I found out he was one. But he kept insisting, he insisted that I saw a friend of his.

And I went to see this guy who was psychic, and he asked me if anyone had cancer of the throat in my family. And of course I didn’t connect the two. And he said he had a woman who was telling me that I should, you know, watch my throat. And it wasn’t until weeks later I thought, oh, neck of the womb, neck of the cervix, oh, my mother. And it was quite remarkable, and I went racing along.

And when the nurse looked at my cervix, she said it looked very healthy. And I thought, oh yes it’s a load of rubbish. And then I felt quite, you know, complacent again. And then the letter popped on the mat and it said, you know, there had been severe changes, or changes in your cervical cells. And I went for a colposcopy at the colposcopy clinic.

They made an appointment for me to have this cone biopsy. Apparently it was a very long thin one, whatever that meant. But I think it was quite deep. It didn’t cover a large area, but it was, you know, quite penetrative.

So you had the treatment and then you went back every year, and every two years eventually, for cervical screening?

Yes.

Were there any more problems after that?

No absolutely none, there were none.

So you had treatment once, and that was it?

That was it yeah. Yeah, I was very fortunate.

So that was in 84, we’re now in 2009,

Yeah.

And you’ve had absolutely no problems since?

No nothing, nothing.

So that’s very good.

Is it?

Yeah.

Yeah. He did a good job.

Well a lot of people, if they watch this interview, and they’ve recently been treated, would find it quite
Encouraging.

ncouraging.

Well I hope so.

To have treatment once, and
Yes and…

0 years later, over 20 years later, you’re fine.

The trouble with this interview is that because it’s so long ago, there are things that I do remember obviously, and things obviously I can’t. The little things that have gone now and I can’t remember.