Questions To Ask Your Health Care Provider

If you have cervical cell changes, your health care provider may want to do a series of tests or treatments, or may refer you to another provider.

• Tests help your health care provider learn more about the changes in your cervix (see Table 2 ¹).
• Treatments remove or destroy cells with changes so that healthy cells can grow back (see Table 4 ²).

You should always feel at ease asking your health care provider about the reason for a test or treatment and what you should expect during and after it.

"When I learned that my Pap test results were abnormal, I wondered just what the doctormeant by 'abnormal.'" NANCY, AGE 42

Here are some questions you may want to ask:

• What does my test result mean?
• What care is best for me?
• Is this a test designed to help learn more about the changes in my cervix? Or is it a treatment to cure the changes?
• What are the possible results? Will I need more care afterward?
• Are there any risks or side effects? How can I manage them?
• Do I need to do anything special to prepare for this test or treatment?
• Do I need to do anything special to care for myself afterward?
• Will this condition affect my ability to get or stay pregnant?
• Will my health insurance pay for the treatment you suggested?