STD sermon--long & graphic

[Guest guest]

Ron, I gotta agree with you on the sex change operation. Although if you do it, you can have my old leopard print bikini!

Anyway, as far as HPV, I don't know where you got your information about no black males having the disease. As a nurse-midwife for 20 years, I've seen probably hundreds of women infected with HPV. Some presented with visible warts, which often increase dramatically during pregnancy. Many more were diagnosed by their Pap smear. We always recommended that the woman have her partner(s) be checked. There are ways to make lesions visible that are invisible to the naked eye. Not many did, unfortunately. Their response was usually, "I don't have nothing on me. She must have got it from somebody else." Now many of these women had diverse sexual partners, but the majority of the black women had exclusively black partners. So, follow the evidence as Gil Grissom on CSI would say, and it's pretty clear that many black men carry the virus, but most do not develop visible lesions.

It's one of the mysteries of the universe that particulary frustrates me. Other than HIV & herpes, most of the people who have symptomatic STD's are the women. Some men do have symptoms of chlamydia, gonorrhea, etc., but not most of them. So they go on their merry way, infecting more women & girls, putting babies at risk of health problems, and usually refuse to consider that they are infected. Years ago, I had a young teen mom in my clinic, 15 or 16. She had a few small genital warts early in pregnancy, but by 20 or so weeks, they just exploded in number & size. It was horribly painful to her. There were too many to remove under local or use topical treatments, so she would require surgery. The doctor wanted to do it soon enough for her to heal before going into labor, but not so soon that the warts could grow back. Now some people would say to just do a c-section. Despite the high numbers of sections done in the U.S., it is still a major surgery, with serious risks. Doing a c-section also fails to protect the baby from developing warts on the vocal cords at a later date, another nasty little result of HPV. Anyway, I think at about 32 weeks, the girl had the surgery. They gave her a spinal to protect the baby from exposure to anesthesia. They use a special type of laser to vaporize the warts. Everyone in the operating room has to wear a special mask to prevent them from inhaling the virus. There is a special suction/venting machine right by the patient to suck the vaporized virus particles right in. It's a highly intimidating, frightening & embarrassing procedure, with the patient wide awake. Our hospital staff are very kind & insightful, so of course no one made any remarks, but this girl knew what was going on & told me later that she felt totally humiliated.

As I watched the surgeon vaporize all the abnormal tissue, leaving her flesh looking like raw hamburger meat, I suddenly felt a rage flood me, rage against the man or boy who infected this young girl. I thought about the pain she would have to endure when the spinal wore off, the discomfort of just sitting, urinating, etc. for the next few weeks, the fact that she would need frequent Pap smears for the rest of her life, and whoever infected her would probably never even have a visible wart! For those next few minutes, until the rage had subsided, I believe that I was capable of pulling a Bobbitt. But the rage passed to a sense of helplessness and sorrow.

There is lots of publicity now about the HPV vaccine. Many people are offended at the thought of immunizing girls as young as 9 or 10. I do think the immunization is a good idea, although I wouldn't mandate it. Even girls planning to delay sexual activity can be victimized by rape, including date rape, or just go further than they intended. Unfortunately, of the dozens of varieties of HPV, most of the ones that cause the warts are not the same ones that cause cancer, so while the vaccine will probably prevent many cases of cervical cancer, it won't be very effective against the warts themselves, which are a source of pain, embarrassment & body shame. Good ol' condoms are promoted for safer sex, which is true. Condoms, however, are not as effective against HPV & herpes, which are often outside the area covered by the condom. What's the answer? I don't know. A girl can ask the guy if he has any infections, but they aren't always going to be truthful, and in the case of HPV, they probably have no idea that they are infected. One test is to pour white vinegar over the area in questioned. Lesions will usually turn white with the vinegar, although it's not guaranteed. The vinegar thing would probably cool the passion a bit though, which might be a good thing!

You might share this information with your younger loved ones, but it applies to everyone, of every age. I had a friend, almost 40, who had had only 2 sexual partners in her entire life. She broke up with a longtime boyfriend, and a few months later met a guy who seemed great. Shortly after first sleeping with him, she had a very painful initial outbreak of herpes. She was ashamed, astonished & furious. A few years later, she met the man that she would eventually marry. She had to tell him, and they hve been married at least 10 years now. She was never able to conceive, so didn't have to deal with the issue of herpes & pregnancy, but will hve to deal with outbreaks for the rest of her life, plus trying not to infect her husband. There are some recent commercials about a young couple, one with herpes who is trying not to infect his partner. In very small print at the end of the ad it says that even these protections may not prevent infecting someone else.

I've been divorced for over 11 years now and have absolutely no interest in looking for another partner. One of my daughter a few years ago called me "a dried-up old prune." I retorted, "Well, I don't intend to come down with herpes, or warts, or chlamydia at my age! If I did get close to some guy, I'd have to culture him personally. If he let me do that, I might consider it!" Until then, I've got my cats & my dogs, and that's enough for me!

Ramblin' Rose

Moderator Get a FREE Web site, company branded e-mail and more from Microsoft Office Live!

[Guest guest]

Rose, I like your attitude toward life. I like your compassion and empathy toward your patients. I like your respect for people and I love your rant scores. I would have been proud to have worked with you as a nurse. BarbRose wrote: Ron, I gotta agree with you on the sex change operation. Although if you do it, you can have my old leopard print bikini! Anyway, as far as HPV, I don't know where you

got your information about no black males having the disease. As a nurse-midwife for 20 years, I've seen probably hundreds of women infected with HPV. Some presented with visible warts, which often increase dramatically during pregnancy. Many more were diagnosed by their Pap smear. We always recommended that the woman have her partner(s) be checked. There are ways to make lesions visible that are invisible to the naked eye. Not many did, unfortunately. Their response was usually, "I don't have nothing on me. She must have got it from somebody else." Now many of these women had diverse sexual partners, but the majority of the black women had exclusively black partners. So, follow the evidence as Gil Grissom on CSI would say, and it's pretty clear that many black men carry the virus, but most do not develop visible lesions. It's one of the mysteries of the universe that particulary

frustrates me. Other than HIV & herpes, most of the people who have symptomatic STD's are the women. Some men do have symptoms of chlamydia, gonorrhea, etc., but not most of them. So they go on their merry way, infecting more women & girls, putting babies at risk of health problems, and usually refuse to consider that they are infected. Years ago, I had a young teen mom in my clinic, 15 or 16. She had a few small genital warts early in pregnancy, but by 20 or so weeks, they just exploded in number & size. It was horribly painful to her. There were too many to remove under local or use topical treatments, so she would require surgery. The doctor wanted to do it soon enough for her to heal before going into labor, but not so soon that the warts could grow back. Now some people would say to just do a c-section. Despite the high numbers of sections done in the U.S., it is still a major surgery, with

serious risks. Doing a c-section also fails to protect the baby from developing warts on the vocal cords at a later date, another nasty little result of HPV. Anyway, I think at about 32 weeks, the girl had the surgery. They gave her a spinal to protect the baby from exposure to anesthesia. They use a special type of laser to vaporize the warts. Everyone in the operating room has to wear a special mask to prevent them from inhaling the virus. There is a special suction/venting machine right by the patient to suck the vaporized virus particles right in. It's a highly intimidating, frightening & embarrassing procedure, with the patient wide awake. Our hospital staff are very kind & insightful, so of course no one made any remarks, but this girl knew what was going on & told me later that she felt totally humiliated. As I watched the surgeon vaporize all the abnormal tissue, leaving her

flesh looking like raw hamburger meat, I suddenly felt a rage flood me, rage against the man or boy who infected this young girl. I thought about the pain she would have to endure when the spinal wore off, the discomfort of just sitting, urinating, etc. for the next few weeks, the fact that she would need frequent Pap smears for the rest of her life, and whoever infected her would probably never even have a visible wart! For those next few minutes, until the rage had subsided, I believe that I was capable of pulling a Bobbitt. But the rage passed to a sense of helplessness and sorrow. There is lots of publicity now about the HPV vaccine. Many people are offended at the thought of immunizing girls as young as 9 or 10. I do think the immunization is a good idea, although I wouldn't mandate it. Even girls planning to delay sexual activity can be victimized by rape, including date rape, or just go

further than they intended. Unfortunately, of the dozens of varieties of HPV, most of the ones that cause the warts are not the same ones that cause cancer, so while the vaccine will probably prevent many cases of cervical cancer, it won't be very effective against the warts themselves, which are a source of pain, embarrassment & body shame. Good ol' condoms are promoted for safer sex, which is true. Condoms, however, are not as effective against HPV & herpes, which are often outside the area covered by the condom. What's the answer? I don't know. A girl can ask the guy if he has any infections, but they aren't always going to be truthful, and in the case of HPV, they probably have no idea that they are infected. One test is to pour white vinegar over the area in questioned. Lesions will usually turn white with the vinegar, although it's not guaranteed. The vinegar thing would probably cool the passion a bit

though, which might be a good thing! You might share this information with your younger loved ones, but it applies to everyone, of every age. I had a friend, almost 40, who had had only 2 sexual partners in her entire life. She broke up with a longtime boyfriend, and a few months later met a guy who seemed great. Shortly after first sleeping with him, she had a very painful initial outbreak of herpes. She was ashamed, astonished & furious. A few years later, she met the man that she would eventually marry. She had to tell him, and they hve been married at least 10 years now. She was never able to conceive, so didn't have to deal with the issue of herpes & pregnancy, but will hve to deal with outbreaks for the rest of her life, plus trying not to infect her husband. There are some recent commercials about a young couple, one with herpes who is trying not to infect his partner. In

very small print at the end of the ad it says that even these protections may not prevent infecting someone else. I've been divorced for over 11 years now and have absolutely no interest in looking for another partner. One of my daughter a few years ago called me "a dried-up old prune." I retorted, "Well, I don't intend to come down with herpes, or warts, or chlamydia at my age! If I did get close to some guy, I'd have to culture him personally. If he let me do that, I might consider it!" Until then, I've got my cats & my dogs, and that's enough for me! Ramblin' Rose Moderator Get a FREE Web site, company branded e-mail and more from Microsoft Office Live!

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