i'm glad it went well abaya!
And thanks for giving such a detailed discription, makes us all feel a little more comfortable if/when we need to have the same procedure.
I was lucky enough to be one of the rare women to test negative for HPV.
But i'm probably the only woman i know amongst my girlfriends who has.
statistics:
"Most sexually active adults (ages 15 to 49) will acquire HPV at some time in their lives and will never even know it."
"(6.2 million new cases each year)."
http://www.ashastd.org/hpv/hpv_overview.cfm
"What is HPV?
HPV is a virus that is very common. In fact, most men and women are infected with HPV at some time in their lives. There are approximately 100 types of HPV. Some HPV types only infect the genital area and may cause warts, some cause mild changes in cervical cells that do not turn into cancer, and some cause changes that may become cervical cancer if present for many years. The types of HPV that are found in the genital areas are usually passed on during sexual contact (sexually transmitted). HPV types that cause warts on the hands or feet do not cause genital warts or cervical cell changes, nor do genital HPV types generally spread outside the genital area."
Their section on myths and misconceptions was also a good read:
http://www.ashastd.org/learn/learn_hpv_myths.cfm
sweetpea