abnormal smear & colposcopy

[Iobaby]

I received a letter telling me I have abnormal cells on smear test on Saturday. On Thursday I received a hospital colposcopy appointment for Monday, so am terrified. I have spoken to a GP in my practice who told me I have severe dyskariosis. All other smears have been normal.
I missed one smear three years ago as I was pregnant, and following a traumatic birth and stitched 2nd degree tear I couldn't face it post-delivery. I then became pregnant again and baby is now 9 months old ( what I am trying to say is it is 6 years since my last smear) .
Can anyone tell me what to expect at the appointment, and in the future and offer any additional reassurance please?

Lobaby - wish I could offer advice but not been through it yet. I have colposcopy on Wednesday morning.

Will hold your hand though.

I had a colposcopy a few years ago. It's a bit like a smear but they use a small camera to look at the abnormal cells and take a tiny biopsy. It stings a bit but doesn't really hurt. It also doesn't take very long.

Take a sanitary towel for afterwards as you may get a small amount of bleeding and the hospital one are horrid.

It really isn't a big procedure though so try not to worry.

I had that then had to have treatment following the biopsy results. Neither were bad, was totally fine after the biopsy and just felt a bit crap for a day. I was then on 6 monthly followed by annual smears for 10years and all have been normal since. I'm overdue now as was pregnant and have been told to book for when ds2 is 3 months by my gp.

Try not to worry (easier said than done as I immediately thought worst case scenario) but its really common.

This happened to me, i had it treated at the colposcopy, it was a bit uncomfortable but i wouldn't call it painful in fact i think my smears hurt more. They removed any abnormal cells, some of which were cancerous (this doesn't mean yours will be!) but they were all removed. That was 14 years ago, i had to have yearly smears for the following 10 years, then it went back to every three years. Really nothing to much to worry about.

Thanks Sharpkat (I will reciprocate with the hand-holding) and theonewith... for such quick replies. It's not really the procedure I'm worried about - more what they might find, the treatment that might be necessary and where all this might be heading. I'm probably being irrational as I know the emphasis is on this is PRE-cancerous and can be treated, but everytime I look at my DS and DD its all I can do not to cry

I had follow up treatment too. It was called LETTS. Usually done with local anaesthetic to remove the abnormal cells. In my case under general because the cells were so spread out. It was still a day case though.

Then what hugandroll said about the frequency of the smear tests afterwards. All mine have been normal too.

hugandroll and lucyellensmum -that is just what I needed to hear I am so grateful thank-ou.

This also happened to me 5 years ago. I had CGIN 3 changes, so severely abnormal. I had a LLETZ performed at the colposcopy, they weren't sure they had managed to remove all the bad cells so I then had a cone biopsy under GA. I then had 6 monthly smears for 3 years and I'm now on annual smears for the next 5 years. No more abnormalities have been picked up although I have my annual check next week! Good luck, they're precancerous, they've been spotted, they'll be removed and you'll be kept a close eye on.

I've had abnormal smears and colposcopies. Would agree with what others have said. I haven't required any further treatment, mine went back to normal on their own, but I am being regularly monitored.

Six of my friends have had to have treatment to remove cells and all have gone well and are now back to normal. If it is caught early, which it sounds like it has been, then you should be fine. Try not to worry. allbellyandboobs has pretty much covered it in her last sentence. Thinking of you and hope all goes well.

Hi
Useful links are: here and here
They're both on the colposcopists society website.
Severe dyskaryosis is pre-cancerous changes - most colposcopy units will make appointments for within 4 weeks as they have strict guidelines on how quickly patients should be seen. It can mean though that you get little time to digest the information that you're getting.
As the others have said if the colposcopy findings agree with the Pap test then you may be offered a LLETZ (sometimes on the day) as treatment. Many women don't need any further treatment.
Jo's trust website is for women with cervical cancer and also pre-cancerous changes (CIN). There's a forum there which can be very supportive - though please be aware it includes women discussing cancer/treatment.

i had a colposcopy this week and it really wasn't painful at all. they took a biopsy and i've now got to wait 4 weeks for the results, pending possible further treatment.

i haven't been told what they actually found in the abnormal cells, just that they found some.

i do keep worrying about it, but i can't do anything about it, so i guess i need to just put it to one side until the results come through.

i know it sounds trite, but it's beyond your control right now.

the treatments from what i've read are relatively painfree and have very high success rates as well.

hope all goes well.

I had this last September, the colposcopy was just like a smear and then I had lletz treatment which was uncomfortable but bearable, I spent the rest of the day on the sofa with chocolate and was fine the next day.

I second what belalug0s says about the jos trust website, it certainly got me through. Don't be put off by it being a cervical cancer site, they are so supportive of women going through colposcopy and lletz.

Lobaby - hand holding for tomorrow.

We will get through this x

how are you doing OP?

hope all was Ok today.

HI, Thanks everyone for your support you have been reassuring and really helpful.
Sharpkat - Tecnichal issues have prevented me posting until now, but I have been thinking of you today - I hope everything was as ok as it can be for you.

My procedure was pretty much as I expected to be honest, although the nurse colposcopist didn't really impress me that much as she was not really able to answer my questions - I will definitely have a look at the websites that BelaLug0si recommended.
I too am now waiting for biopsy results, from one "very active" area, and have been told that as long as they match the smear results I should be called back for treatment on that and multiple "less active areas". I felt that the colposcopist was pretty vague in what she told me (I have a medical background to some extent), and basically from the leaflet I had been sent was hoping for a one-stop shop so to speak.
Sharpkat and themysterycat, please let me know how you get on - I am in on the hand-holding.

iobaby i know exactly how you feel about the lack of info and it not matching up to the leaflet.

i phoned today to find out why the discrepancies - for example why no treatment as part of colposcopy, when the leaflet said there would be.

i was told it's because they'd rather wait for the biopsy results to be sure of what the best treatment would be, which is completely fair enough, but the sodding leaflet doesn't say that! grumble, grumble.

i hope they come back with your results quickly and can get any treatment they may need to do done quickly too.

it's such a lousy waiting game.

Colposcopists can take slightly different approaches e.g. Some favour offering treatment rather than a biopsy or multiple biopsies at first visit.
There's a few variables that they will consider so e.g. the size of the active areas, if there's a mixture of areas showing less/more active changes that could influence them. Other colposcopists prefer to only assess the cervix at first visit and not take any biopsies.
The colposcopy website I linked IIRC does give more info.

The vagueness I can understand is frustrating, is probably because they prefer to verify the colposcopy appearance with the biopsy results.

TheMysteryCat - can I suggest that you feed back to them about the leaflet not covering that you might have biopsies rather than treatment.
Each colposcopy unit is supposed to do a patient survey (can't remember if it's annually sorry) and your comments should be fed in.

I can post more information about the how the findings of smears, colposcopy and biopsies relate if anyone's interested; there is (I think) a section on the BSCCP site as well.

thanks belalugosi

I'll definitely feedback to them. the other discrepancy was timings for response. the leaflet says biopsy results within 2 weeks; the clinic says 4 weeks (apparently to cover themselves if miss the two week deadlines!!). then it's another 4 weeks wait for a follow up appointment.

so all in all it's 16 weeks from smear to treatment post biopsy, which feels far too long.

i read the links and they are very useful, Jo's Trust are very good too.

Hello all - just remembered about this thread and you are all thinking the same as me.

I had the biopsy yesterday but in my head they were going to treat it as well then as per the leaflet. So I am with you on the 4 week wait.

Also the person doing the procedure told me twice that I could not shower for a week. First time my jaw hit the ground as I was not expecting that. He meant have a bath! He got it wrong later as well! Not a good way to put someone at ease.

They didn't tell me anything yesterday so now just playing the waiting game.

Will check in when the results are back and will be thinking of you whilst we wait.

As far as the time for getting the biopsy results is concerned there are national standards which the colposcopy and histology (where the biopsy is sent) departments have to meet.
It is in this publication on page 19, section 5.2.1
"information concerning the visit to the clinic and the results of investigations should be communicated to the patient within four weeks of her attendance (best practice 90%) or eight weeks (minimum standard 100%)"

This performance (along with many other things!) is monitored by a quality assurance centre for each region, they review the data each quarter and will want to know why if the result letters aren't going out to patients quick enough and action is taken.

Hi Lobaby - just wondered if you had heard anything.

I got the all clear in the post today which was exactly 2 weeks after I had the biopsy.

Hadn't realised how anxious I was waiting and opening the envelope I had very shaky hand. Very relieved.

Must make sure I keep to regular smears now.

Hope all is ok with you. thanks to everyone who posted support and advice.

Sharpkat x

Hi Sharpkat - I'm pleased all was OK for you, I have not had any results yet, still waiting. Did you not need any treatment? That is excellent news, you must be so relieved.

Hi lobaby

No treatment needed. Just a smear in 6 months.

Will keep my fingers crossed for you x

Not such great news here. I have to have a lletz treatment and further examination. Still a bit shocked.

Happy for your news sharpkat x.

I had to have the lletz treatment too 6 months ago - wasn't too awful although a a bit uncomfortable, not really any different from the coloscopy (or however you spell it) but a bit of stinging with the local anasthetic. Was bleeding for a few weeks afterwards though, but not heavily.
Just had my lastest smear results come back as normal x