I was overdue for my cervical screening test. I knew it. I’d known it for a while.
Like a lot of people, I had a dozen reasons for putting it off — none of them particularly good. Too busy. I’ll book it next week. It’s probably fine. Eventually, I went. And the results showed abnormal cells and HPV.
I’m sharing this because what happened next — the referrals, the monitoring, the procedure, and eventually the recovery at home — turned into something I hadn’t expected. It became the reason NORMA exists.
What Happened After the Screening
My GP referred me to a gynaecologist. She was calm and thorough. She explained that the changes were low-risk at that stage, that HPV is extremely common, and that abnormal cells often resolve on their own without any intervention. The plan was monitoring — a follow-up in six months.
Six months later, some of those cells had progressed. The classification had moved to CIN2 — high-grade changes. Still pre-cancer. But closer than before, and not the direction anyone wants things to go.
My specialist recommended a LEEP procedure, also called a cervical cone. It removes the affected area, and the tissue is then tested. Recovery involves a few weeks of rest and restrictions, with follow-up appointments to monitor healing and check for recurrence. It’s a well-established, common procedure. She’d done hundreds of them.
I felt confronted. I also felt genuinely well supported. I trusted my specialist completely. And I kept returning to one thought: it had been caught early. That was the whole point of screening.
How Common Is This, Really?
One of the things that struck me most during this time was how many women I know have had almost exactly the same experience — and never talked about it.
When I started mentioning what was happening, the responses were striking. Some version of “oh, I had that too” came back far more often than I expected. Or: “I really must book mine…” — said with the slight guilt of someone who’s been putting it off, just as I had.
This is not a rare, frightening disease story. HPV is one of the most common viral infections in the world. Most sexually active people will have it at some point in their lives. The majority of cases clear on their own without causing any problems at all. Abnormal cervical cells are common. Follow-up procedures like LEEP are more common than people realise. When caught early — which is exactly what cervical screening is designed to do — these things are very treatable.
The problem isn’t the condition. The problem is the silence around it, and the appointments we keep meaning to book.
What Cervical Screening Actually Involves
Australia updated its cervical screening program in 2017. The old Pap smear (every two years) was replaced by the Cervical Screening Test, which looks for HPV directly and is recommended every five years for people aged 25 to 74 who have ever been sexually active.
The five-year interval feels long. For some people, that length actually becomes a reason to delay further — the sense that there’s plenty of time. But if you’re already overdue, or you’ve been putting it off, the interval doesn’t matter. What matters is booking it.
The test itself takes a few minutes with a GP or nurse practitioner. It’s not painful for most people, though it can be uncomfortable. If you have anxiety around pelvic examinations, you can talk to your GP about options to make the experience more manageable — including self-collection, which is now available for eligible people in Australia and allows you to collect the sample yourself.
What Happens If Results Are Abnormal
An abnormal result doesn’t mean cancer. It’s worth saying that plainly, because the word “abnormal” carries a weight that isn’t always warranted.
Depending on the type and degree of change, your GP may refer you for a colposcopy — a more detailed examination of the cervix using a magnifying instrument. From there, options range from watchful waiting to biopsy to treatment, depending on what’s found.
The grading system your specialist uses — low-grade, high-grade, CIN1, CIN2, CIN3 — describes how abnormal the cells look and how much of the cervical tissue is affected. Higher grades are more likely to need treatment rather than monitoring. But even high-grade changes are caught before they become cancer. That’s the whole point of the screening pathway.
Recovery — and What Nobody Tells You
After my procedure in November, I was given clear discharge instructions. What to expect. What was normal. What would be a concern. The information was good.
But once I was home, actually living through recovery day by day, I kept running into the same gap. What did “some bleeding” actually mean for me, right now, on day four? Was this level of fatigue still normal at this stage? Was what I was experiencing part of an expected recovery curve, or something that warranted a call to my specialist?
I didn’t want to burden a busy healthcare team with questions that might be nothing. I didn’t want to spiral through alarming search results. I just wanted accurate, contextual reassurance — the kind that takes into account my specific procedure, my specific timing, my specific symptoms.
That gap — the space between leaving clinical care and your next appointment — is where NORMA was born. And that’s a different story, which I’ll tell separately. But it starts here, with a test that was overdue, results that were confronting, and a recovery that raised questions no discharge summary quite answered.
If You’re Overdue, Book It
I’m not going to tell you this with statistics and scare tactics. You know the screening exists. You probably know you should go. This is just a reminder from someone who put it off, and who is glad — genuinely glad — that she eventually went.
Early detection works. The whole system is designed around catching changes before they become problems. It only works if you show up.
If you’ve been putting yours off, consider this the nudge. Book it today. It takes about two minutes to make the call, five minutes in the chair, and it matters.
This article was written by NORMA’s founder, sharing her personal experience to encourage others to stay on top of their cervical screening. If you have questions about cervical screening in Australia, speak with your GP or visit the National Cervical Screening Program at health.gov.au.