Hi Guys,
So I’m new to the forum but have found it so so helpful in the last few mad days after a shock CIN3 result after smear and next day colposcopy.
I thought I would describe, in detail my experience for anybody else, experiencing the same and then ask some questions, you might be able to help with.
So basically I had a smear last year, was HPV positive with no abnormal results.
This year, almost a year to date I was booked in. The procedure, as always was very uncomfortable but was told I had cervical ectropy and that’s why I always found smears painful.
I wasn’t worried. It had only been a year since my last smear and all my previous ones (I’m 29) had been fine.
On Monday I had a phone call from the hospital urging me to come in the next morning so ‘The doctor could have a look at these cells that had moved round’ At first I thought, OH it must be the ectropy or something, I asked the lady to give me more detail but she said she couldn’t and I should have had my results in the post, which I hadn’t. I agreed to the appointment, thinking it was just a check up. I rang my GP for more detail and he said I had come back HPV positive with severe dyskaryosis and the doctor would perform a colposcopy to decide what I might need doing. He was very kind and light-hearted and although I was worried about my high-grade changes, nobody seemed to be worried. I tried not to think about it and got up and went to the hospital.
When I arrived a consultant told me before I even undressed that he would be performing LLETZ. I was hysterical and totally un-prepared, however the nurses were all wonderful and helped me to relax and get on with it. The procedure wasn’t AS bad as I thought. The initial speculum was as uncomfortable as ever (I have some intense vaginismus in a speculum setting) but again the nurses were great and despite the needle for the anesthetic being quite possibly one of the weirdest and most unpleasant things I have ever experienced (not nessesarily painful, just very very weird. Reminded me of having my abdominal stitches removed) I had a quite a strong reaction to the local and shaked violently and had a racing and I mean zooming heart. The doctor gave me another shot without adrenalin and I calmed down. After that I felt nothing of the LLETZ at all. It was much quicker than I thought and the nurses were fantastic, holding my hand and chatting to me about my holiday.
I was asked, when I was ready to get dressed and they made me and my mum and brew and said I could sit in a side room till I felt well enough to go home.
I had to grab the staff nurse and ask her about aftercare as they hadn’t said anything and were preparing for the next lady. She was astounded that I hadn’t received anything prior and when I explained i had no idea I was even coming in for this, she kindly talked though a few things, like the no sex/swimming/tampons for 4 weeks, advised I didn’t go back to work for the day and avoid heavy lifting and exercise for a while and then a few of the signs of infection and we went on our way.
It was all rushed and, although the procedure itself wasn’t as scary or painful as I might have imagined, had I had time to worry, I feel as though I wasn’t prepared for it or given any real advice afterwards, so if any of you guys can help out with a few questions, whilst I spend the next 4-6 weeks terrified of my results I would be eternally grateful.
1: After the procedure I felt fine, had a few cramps and was bloated in the evening but by teatime, did not need any painkillers. The discharge was yellow and watery until day two. I had, had tickets for a big comedy gig for my christmas present booked off with my partner for ages, I felt fine and went ahead. I felt so OK that we went shopping and ate lunch and I may have over-exerted myself. A few hours later I started to get bad cramps again and when I went to change my pad I had what (and I apologise for the grossness) looked like a big chunk of like pulled pork. It was huge and really scared me. I googled and googled and couldn’t find anything and it’s made me paranoid that I over-exerted and injured myself or something. Today I am still passing similar things, though the last one as even bigger and had a pea-sized lump of crumbly black stuff in it. It’s like something out of Alien, I’m horrified!!! Anybody got any answers? Should I be worried?
2: I haven’t had a period in probably over 2 years. I have been on the pill for a good while and have had complications with other things like cysts on my ovaries and pelvic pain, so I do tend to run packs together to avoid periods as they are so painful, anyway, I don’t have them anymore, even when I do have a break. My consultant tells me this is nothing to worry about. The bleed I have been told to expect 2-4 weeks after treatment, is this a period? do other ladies who don’t have periods, still get it? I have had no blood so far.
3:I go on holiday in 7 weeks. I am terrified. It is my dream holiday and I have been saving up for it for years. Do you think I will be OK for then? Could I be bleeding etc still? Also if I do have to cancel because of unfortunate lab results (fingers crossed) anybody had any travel insurance experience here?
4:Thank you to everybody on here for helping me cure some of my anxieties and essentially making me feel so much less alone. xx
25/4/16-Smear
9/05/16-HPV positive with severe dyskaryosis
10/05/16-colposcopy and LLETZ
…awaiting results
