e-Bug: Case Study
Dr Pia Touboul, an e-Bug partner from France, interviews a pregnant 25 year old female called Julie
about the vaccination against papillomavirus .
Hello Julie. Thank you for agreeing
to share your experiences for the e-
Bug project!
I wanted to ask you what happened
when you learned that you had
changes in the cervix?
I had a smear test 2 years ago,
although it wasn't obligatory; it was
because I was changing pill. And they
realised as a consequence that there
was a type 2 or 3 dysplasia. I had had
a smear test a year before that, so in
the normal course of events I didn't
need to have another one done.
OK. And then how did
you react?
It was a shock for me! My GP generally takes care of my gynaecological monitoring, and she called me to
explain that there was a small abnormality, nothing very serious. Except that I immediately thought
"Cancer"! Even though she had absolutely not said that and was quite reassuring. And she was very
specific and really, yes really, clear! But I didn't digest it in that way at all, and so it completely stunned
me. I called my mum straight away. She's a doctor too. She explained things a little bit more and tried to
reassure me, but I was still really concerned even so... I had cancer and that’s actually a frightening word,
AND because it was in the uterus, and so I wasn't thinking, emotion overrode reason.
And being a woman, I was also afraid for a future pregnancy...