Suspected cervical cancer scare, awaiting test results. Scared.

[Unravellingfronds]

Hi, looking for a hand hold i suppose..

I have had irregular bleeding, missed periods, abdominal pain for a few months and general sicky feeling, exhaustion, bloating (negative preg tests). Managed to see doctor today with suspected ovarian cysts. Upon an internal examination though, she found that my cervix looks abnormal and has given me an urgent referral to get it looked at further. I have accessed the referral letter shes sent to the hospital and her description says

"speculum showed area of irregular erythema with overlying/arborising vessles, small contact bleed when swabbed. thick yellow discharge- swabbed. Bimanual NAD. I would be very grateful for your further review as I am concerned about the appearance of her cervix"

Has anyone experienced this before? Does anyone know what the more medical terms in this mean? I feel like she downplayed this to me in person but all of my online medical records have updated saying things like 'suspected gynaecological cancer, urgent fast track refferal' & 'cervix appearance consistent with that of cervical cancer' ect. Is there anything else these symptoms can be? (i have a clean slate STI test wise). Im really scared.

Thanks in advance anyone

I'm sorry you are in such a stressful situation: waiting for results/tests is awful. I don't have experience with this problem specifically but I wanted to say that you did the right thing. Now you are being looked after and taken care of. It's good that they've fast tracked you.
It's perfectly normal to feel scared and worried: could you be able to ring your doctor to ask more questions if you feel you need to know more?
Have you got people irl who you can talk to and confide in?
I hope things turn out well for you. Sending my best wishes to you 🙏💚

Not the same symptoms but I recently went through something similar. I started brown spotting and was referred to gynaecology. The gynaecologist there described my cervix as 'bulky' and referred me on the 2 week pathway to colscopy. I was so worried. I got to colscopy and the doctor there said my cervix appeared completely normal and didn't take a biopsy as there was nothing to see. The wait was horrible and I spent loads of time looking online for answers. From this, I did find that there are lots of less serious things that can effect the cervix, such as cervical ectroption, friable cervix and cervicitis. Cervical ectroption can produce excess discharge, blood on contact and midcycle bleeding, yet it's not serious and often warrants a 2 week referral. They like to rule out the worst case scenario first. Sending hugs, hope you have some answers soon.

How are you doing OP? X

thankyou <3 i am still awaiting to hear from them...but i have since seen they also want me to visit a radiology unit which has added to the anxiety. just desperate from some answers soon x

Thankyou for your reply, its useful to hear others experiences. The wait is deeply anxiety inducing indeed x

Not great, My pain has continued and i've had my first period in months which in some ways is good, but its been the most agonising period i have had in my entire life. awful back ache and nausea and heavy, clumpy bleeding. Just bloody hope i hear back from doctors soon with when my colposcopy and scans will be x

OP, I hope you feel better tomorrow: in the meantime, prioritise taking care of yourself, rest and nourishment 🙏
Do you know aproximately when your tests will be? Is it a matter of days or weeks?
Have you talked about this with friends and/or family?
Sending strength 💚

thankyou <3

its 6 days since i got told i was being sent through the 2ww route, which i believe means they have to see me within 2 weeks of the gp raising the alarm as such, but i have heard nothing yet, and my pain is getting worse.

I have some supportive friends thankfully but everyone is very busy and its easy to feel quite alone in this x

Then it seems it's a matter of days, hopefully! I'm so sorry about your pain: I have endometriosis so I've suffered painful periods all my life, solidarity 🙏 If it doesn't stop with medication, though, and you sense it is increasing in intensity, you may well check with your gp.
Hang in there 💚

Can you pay to get an immediate appointment?

chased them up today and was told they're severely overrun so the wait could well be more like 3 weeks..my gp prescribed me some mefamenic acid yesterday for pain in the meantime. Sorry to hear about the endo, a nasty thing to live with from what friends have told me.

I am wondering if i actually have some kind of cysts/fibroids/the start of something more along the lines of endo type conditions rather than cancer, just based off of my symptoms and what google/forums keep looping back to x

So stressful waiting OP. When was your last smear and was it a normal result?

I was rushed for an urgent colposcopy when a doctor and nurse didn’t like the look of my cervix. Everything turned out to be fine.

Good luck.

it really is, i am 24 so havent even been invited to have a smear test before

Oh gosh, first invitation is at 24.5 so you aren’t even far off x

Ohh, @Unravellingfronds that's a shame the wait is so long! As other pp suggested: can you afford to go private, at least for a consultation and second opinion? For reassurance.

Anyway, probability indicates something like you mention: "benign" condition like endo, pcos, fibroids. Or even some sort of infection and then they treat it and that's ot. Worst case scenario: they find something else, you really are on top of it and doing what it needs to be done.

On the meantime, here we are, keeping you company 💚

Hi there @Unravellingfronds Hope all is well 🙂