Global Women's Voices: Share Personal Stories

Mina and Nesha, Kosovo

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By the end of the working time, after the corridor was emptied by patients, in the stationary ambulance enters a girl and begs for the visit. She was dressed as teenagers all over the world, with a discreet make up which adds to her beauty and feminism. Only the spots remained from acnes in her skin spoke about her delayed teen aging.

I say yes, you can come in and get a visit. She was staying with her bended head and cracking her fingers like she wanted to say; “I am familiar with the taboo of our society, that girls should not enter gynecological ambulances.” I noticed her shaking and the way she tried to avoid my look. Then, we started to build up the bridge of confidence by presenting her the work we do in Medica and its specifics. My assistant, an experienced nurse and trained for psychosomatic approach, interferes by saying that here confidentiality is guaranteed and we want to have her feel safe. She says in her half voice, “Yes, this is the reason why I came here, as I have so much of vaginal secret and period disorders since I was 16”.

We start with our ordinary anamnesis and constantly following her body reactions. We stop at psychosocial anamnesis which usually leads us to traumatic and stressing experiences, but from her talking we notice nothing. In our modified questions about flashback, personality changes, forgetness, fear, suicidal thinking etc, she gives a negative response. In one moment she says: “Doctor I don’t have other problems, I live as ordinary girls of my age in Kosova. Only the vaginal secret makes me feel bad”.

“OK, I say, can I make a complete examination, thinking in vaginal visit. She looks around the room and stops her look at the assistant. “Yes”, she says and puts her head down. Nevertheless, I was not sure that she understood me well, and I took the small specula showing that this is the instrument I have to use in order to pick the vaginal secret. She pauses. Again looking at the assistant. After a while we approach her and explain in a simpler language. On the gyn table she moves excited, covers her face and constantly apologizes for her behavior and the time using from us. We assure her that we want to use the time on her behalf and the reactions she shows are normal for us by saying that this is the way many other women react even those coming regularly for visits. Indeed, she had so much secret, cervix reddish and edematous. Means errythrroplaci which does not fit to a girl who has never had birth deliveries or had abortions. We make the tests, vaginal strisho, secret and PAP test.

After a while I continued to visit her with abdominal ultrasound as I was afraid that she could faint. Anyway she said it was not so hard to have the visit. But she has a big fear from doctors ever since she was a child. I make an abdominal probe visit and what to see! She was pregnant. Not single moments during the anamnesis she spoke about any changes or gave any hints about the situation, except her somatic reactions which made me suspect that something is wrong. I tried to give her this information carefully telling her if she had noticed any changes in her health situation so far in her body. She says no. I try to excuse my question by explaining that even the lack of menstruation speaks about pregnancy. She jumps off the bed with a frozen body and with a feared glance: Does this mean that I am pregnant!? I was forced to confirm briefly, yes.

We know how girls react in such situations, but what was more concerning for me, she starts to talk about her experience when one night while she was coming back from the city in darkness which is usual in our country, next to her door step, someone drags her from the back and puts her in the car by beating her. She only remembers that someone torn her clothes off and she does not remember the rest as she was severely beaten and lost her consciousness. And the moment she gets back she finds herself half naked in front of her door. She could not imag

updated: 7/2/2004