severe dyskaryosis.Terrified. Please help!

[spina]

Hello lovely Mumsnetters.

I found out a week ago that i have severe dyskaryosis. I'm terrified. My smear was two years late due to not being able to get an appointment at my GPs on the right days of my cycle on a day I didn't have my kids(Sounds really stupid now as I 'm sure I could have left them with a friend) I had an appointment 18mths ago but the Dr was ill on the day and it was cancelled.

I know Cervical cancer takes years, but frankly I've given it a head start!

I know unless any of you out there have some (interesting!) superpowers and are able to see my cervix through the internet and tell me I havn't got cancer then I'll continue to worry myself sick until my colposcopy.

But I would appreciate any shared experiences. My DH is not coping at all with my stress which means he's just disappearing into himself. He knows I'm in bits and asked me what he can do, but I can't give him an answer.

(Bit of background. My mum died 7 yrs ago during my 1st pg from a gyno cancer so I'm a bit paranoid)

Has anyone logged on at mo, been in my shoes. How did you cope with the fear?

I had treatment for severe dyskaryosis in december, and will have my check-up colposcopy next month at the hospital, so can't tell you how its worked out yet...

I was really scared as well, I found it very hard (not helped by the fact that my partner was deployed overseas with the airforce for four months at the time), but the treatment was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be, and all the statistics are on our side.

About being two years late, it took them a year and a half to decide that I had severe dyskaryosis, I had two smears with 6 month recalls for changes, then two colposcopies and 3 biopsies before they told me I had CIN3 over the whole of my cervix and needed the whole surface removing, so don't blame yourself, because medical professionals managed to delay my diagnosis and treatment as much as you did your own. If you had gone for an earlier smear and had less severe changes they most likely would have taken a wait-and-see approach as most do not progress as ours have.

I coped by looking up everything I could and by taking my mum to all my hospital appointments with me, I felt a bit pathetic, but it really helped having her there, stopped me getting into too much of a panic. I did convince myself they were going to tell me it was cancer after the treatment, and my partner just kept saying "it'll be ok", my sympathies are all with you.

thanks. I'm surprisingly not too worried about actually having the tmt. If it sorts it then I'm happy. It's the what if...

I have IBS when I'm stressed and I've had aches all week(So I'm imagining the worst everytime I have a twinge) Didn't have the aches before I got my result but it's hard to be sane in these situations.

I'm taking my DH to the hospital with me and the kids are off loaded on my friend.

I hope your check up goes well for you.

Thank you. I completely understand what you need about the aches, I have IBS as well, and rationality went out the window. It is impossible really but try not to over-think it, I was being investigated for gyne pain at the time, and while it was all going on a random urine test at a new patient check-up turned up blood in my urine and they were both totally unrelated, despite what my mind kept trying to tell me!

The what ifs are really small, and they should be able to give you a pretty certain answer at your colposcopy. It is one of those rare ones where the internet can be reassuring - if I remember correctly then the cancer research website had a bit on it. Cervical cancer is very rare, unlike cervical cell changes, and treatment options are really good if caught early.

That's great your DH can go with you, it makes all the difference having someone to hand-hold and distract you while you're waiting.

rationality....Now where DID i leave mine?

Hi
Can I suggest that you have a look at the BSCCP website - its the colposcopists' website which has a section for women who have been referred for investigation because of an abnormal screening test.
The NHS CSP website also has info on it.
Jo's trust website has lots of information about pre-cancer and cancer. There's also a forum. I'm telling you about the last one because there are lots of ladies who are on there who don't have cancer but have had treatment for pre-cancer.

I hope your appointment goes well