Posted 25 July 2019
Our returning guest
blogger Hanna, 35, today talks about her experience getting STI tested.
Well I never thought my last boyfriend and I were destined
to be together forever, but we’d fallen into a comfy routine of watching box
sets whilst eating take away. Plus, we’d both reached our mid-thirties and were
cohabitating in relative contentment; or so I thought…
When I found out that his ‘work’ nights out were a string of
one-night Tinder hook ups I suddenly had that dread that he’d left me with more
than just the outstanding rent; so I started looking online for ways I could
get tested, sharpish, and without anyone finding out.
It’s a mine field. The local G.U.M. (Genito-Urinary
Medicine; and yes, I had to look it up) clinics open no longer than three hours
at a time and the slots that are by appointment only are notoriously difficult
to call through and get booked on to. I looked at the NHS home test kit, but
due to a staff back log it would take 14 days to send me a kit out and then I
wouldn’t get the results for 3-4 weeks. Well, the thought of what I could
potentially be harbouring in my nether regions meant that I wanted results in
days, not weeks, and certainly not over a month – so I tootled off to my local
walk-in clinic.
Well it wasn’t the best start to the day as I had to take
last minute half-day holiday as I couldn’t get in before 08:30 (my actual
office start time) and I had no idea how long I’d be waiting there. I should be
spending my half day holidays in a beer garden, not needing a beer by 10:30. To
give the clinic its dues, the place was clean and the staff were very polite. I
was the oldest in there by a fair age gap and was by far the most conspicuously
fidgety but realised that college students don’t have to explain to their sixty-year-old
male boss that they need between 1-3 hours for a personal issue.
Two and a half hours later I was on my way with the promise
of the results being texted to me sometime in the next couple of weeks. I’ve
never been so anxious about every text I received in that time.
A month later in the pub, after a few wines for courage, I
admitted all this to my best friend. She then told me I could get a test kit
delivered straight to my home, next day delivery and the results within a week
– all for less than we spent in the pub that night. No stress, no time-off,
no-one would know. No contest, right? Well I’m actually hoping for no knob-head
boyfriends in future…
Want discreet home testing with quick results? Get your home
test kit here;
delivered within 24 hours* in discreet packaging. Safe, secure, sorted.
*to mainland UK
Posted in Sexual Health