LegArmpits
Mon 26-Nov-12 10:40:41
Please help, apologies if this is long.
I had a smear test, results August 2011 were abnormal. Was only mild changes so waited a year (my choice) then went to colposcopy in September 2012. Consultant couldn't see any area that needed biopsy so just took another smear. I've today received a letter saying abnormalities were present in smear and I would need treatment.
So I phoned and they were reassuring but have terrified me further. Apparently the new smear is CIN 3, so rather than doing a biopsy they will just treat me with LLETZ. I have to wait until the end of January for this as I can't make the end of December appointment.
I'm just terrified. I could cry. I'm level headed usually but due to a bad experience in my twenties, it's my one big fear and I just think I'm going to go to pieces.
Am 38 with three beautiful young children. No symptoms.
Please please hold my hand. Please.
digerd
Tue 27-Nov-12 19:21:20
Thanks Bela
I thought in 20 years procedures would have changed for the better.
Apparently, I have an awful scar that healed wonky - german doc looking down his nose at it 3 years later. I have not been able to find why my cervix was all black when called back to the clinic. After the first biopsy, I had a letter stating that the whole of the rim was full of displasia grade 4, and that a bed had been booked for me in the next few days for the cone biopsy, to have it removed and take further biopsies to see how far it had progressed. It was also called Carcinoma In Situ, on my records at GPs.
BelaLug0si
Tue 27-Nov-12 20:18:01
Well the LLETZ is arguably better than the cone was/is. It can be done in outpatients, with local anaesthetic and home a short while later.
The black could be due to the use of silver nitrate which is sometimes used to stop bleeding (chemical cauterisation), it makes the skin look black or blue.
Carcinoma in situ is the equivalent of CIN3 now - the terminology has changed quite a bit since 1992. In 1996 national guidelines were introduced standardisation across the NHS.
digerd
Tue 27-Nov-12 20:45:47
I was in a large ward, and was the only one having that op, most of the other women had hysterectomies.
The black cervix was discovered before I had the ops, and the clinic nurse said it needed quaterizing. It was 18 months after my last smear when they informed me that they had found abnormal cells and to make an appt to see them urgently.
It never returned and I never worried about it doing so.
My daughter was worried as once she had an abnormal smear, but had a repeat one after 6 months and the cells were back to normal.
