Hello everyone, I’ve been looking on this site for a few weeks now and have found it so helpful and informative. I just want to say thank you to everyone who posts on here – everyone seems so kind and sensible and finding this forum has been a great way to keep a lid on all my worries and has answered a lot of my questions. I had my first smear test in April (I’m 31 and have no excuse for not going sooner – I think my thinking was (having never read up about it) that I hadn’t had sex for six years and so thought I didn’t need a smear…. how wrong I was……) So I went and had it and a few weeks later got a letter saying there were ‘changes’ that needed further investigation and that I would be contacted within 8 weeks. Cue the tears thinking the worst – my sister had breast cancer at 27 and when she first went to ask someone about the lump in her breast she was told ‘it’s benign – you’re too young to have cancer’. She had a mastectomy, full chemo, radiotherapy – the works. So I think this family history made me slightly more hysterical than normal! Two days later another letter arrived saying I had been booked in for a colposcopy in three weeks’ time.
That colposcopy was on Monday (three days ago) – the doctor took me into his room, sat me down and said ‘well, it’s not cancer’, I was so shocked I said, ‘how do you know?’ (flashes of my sister’s experience etc.) I thought he hasn’t even looked yet so how can he know? It didn’t occur to me at the time that the smear test would (maybe) show up any cancerous cells. He showed me my referral letter which said I had ‘high grade severe squamous dyskaryosis’ (I assume this is CIN3 – I live in Scotland so I don’t know if they term it differently here). He did the colposcopy and also did the LLETZ right there and then. I had a bit of almost mild period pain that afternoon and evening but have otherwise felt ok apart from feeling pretty tired and washed out for the last few days.
The point of this long post is – has anyone had the LLETZ and had no bleeding? I haven’t had anything yet – hardly any watery bloody stuff even. I have read that the blood/gunk/bits come later so I’m looking out for that. And also – has anyone been sat down before the colposcopy and told ‘it’s not cancer’? I realise I have to trust the doctors and that they know what they’re doing, but I would have believed it much more if he’d said it AFTER he looked up there! I’ve also read one of the stories on this site that says how the LLETZ was sent off for biopsy and came back with tiny cancerous parts. I just feel worried that the worst is not quite over yet…
One more question – the doctor and nurse told me no sex for two weeks, yet looking on here, on the internet, even on the letter they sent me about the colposcopy says 2-4 weeks or even six weeks. Is it very much just a see what happens with bleeding and discharge and see how you feel and leave it at least two weeks? Sorry for the long post and thanks for reading.
