Health update below the cut because lady things and medical words.
First and foremost: I have an appointment Friday morning with my primary care provider. She’s going to give me a check up and refer me to a neurologist if she thinks anything’s amiss. (She did not like the ‘everyone’s allowed one seizure’ line.) I spoke with the nurse before booking the appointment and told her what went down. She made me feel better about it all and told me I should never experience that level of pain during a pap smear.
After doing some research, I’ve reached some conclusions. One, the speculum used was unfamiliar to me. It was plastic. And it made a clicking sound when opened. I suppose I’m more familiar with the metal ones? Anyway, when the speculum was opened, it hit my cervix with each click. I remember distinctly three clicks and three jabs. That’s where the pain originated, not the insertion of the speculum or the swabbing. When I flinched, I must have dislodged the speculum because the clicking happened a second time and there were three more jabs to my cervix. It felt like being stabbed. I stopped breathing, which lead to me passing out once I sat up after the exam was over.
Two, the nurse or midwife doing the exam was probably inexperienced. As far as I can tell. She was younger than me. The only other times I’ve had a pap, it was handled by older men. It was in, swab, out and done. This pap took longer than normal.
Three, my blood pressure was 90/something before the pap smear and I hadn’t had time to eat or drink anything that morning. After fainting and seizing, my blood pressure was 111/something. I felt better after waking up from the seizure than before I had the pap smear, strangely.
Since yesterday, I have gone to work waiting tables and have spent time drawing. My hand/eye coordination hasn’t suffered. I was a bit clumsy at work, but that’s par for the course.