It's a weird one, getting swabbed. It's impersonal, it hurts a lot, and then you're alone with the results. Alone, alone, alone. For those asking when the story originally ran, Eve's "decision" to get a pap smear had nothing to do with Park's visit - just a mundane part of life, with mundane complications, for a sexually active person on birth control.
I wanted the close-up on Eve to mirror the kind of pain she suffers this whole arc: the pain of her past, the betrayal of her own body, and maybe - on a distant, sun-drenched horizon - the pain of others.
6 thoughts on “#894 – leave the door open”
Kay
I've never had pain during a pap smear but I always feel bad that other people do
Rachel Shu
Hey, I made a chrome extension which toggles between the old original run version of pages and the new author commentary reruns, for anyone who's interested in reading the old comments. It's something I was doing pretty often, so I'm hoping this makes it easier for other people too. There's still some bugs (like not working on OTSAN pages), and I want to make the interface a little better, but here it is: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/octopus…
I hope to make a Firefox version soon as well.
joe
You're a hero!
jeybork
Thank you, that's really cool
edit: Ah, doesn't seem to work for me on any pages yet. Clicking on the icon just brings up the right-click menu.
Matt Bixler
I really like the contrast between the empathy and engagement in the doctor's dialog with how impersonally she's staged here, especially in the left panel.
Polly
Bit messed up they withhold the Pill if you don't get a pap. In Ontario and Saskatchewan Canada, they advise a Pap every 3 years and even if you are overdue, they still let you have it as long as blood pressure is good for your age.