Hi all,
I am 63 years old and have always had normal smear test results until this year. I went for what I thought would be my last smear on 14 July, whilst carrying out the test the nurse said she could see something and brought a doctor in to have a look, the doctor said my cervix didn’t look normal and rang my GP to refer me to a gynaecologist. I had an appointment at Gynaecology/Oncology on 28 July, as my smear test results weren’t back yet, the gynaecologist checked the lab online but the results were still not available. He then examined me, not colposcopy, but speculum/lamp and said he could see nabothian cysts and that they are nothing to worry about and he was happy that there was no evidence of anything sinister.
But today my smear results arrived and the letter says I have slightly abnormal changes, they have tested for HPV and found no HPV infection. Therefore, because I am now 63, they won’t be calling me for any further smear tests.
Now I don’t know what to think, the lab doing the smear didn’t know about the cysts, the gynaecologist who diagnosed the cysts didn’t know about the abnormal cells - and I won’t be having any more smear tests on the NHS.
I know that HPV negative is good, and that the cysts are harmless - but I would feel so much better if I knew I would be having a follow up smear test. If you were me would you book a private smear test in 6 months time?
Thank you in advance to anyone who is kind enough to reply, and my very best wishes to everyone here.
Now I'm even more confused. I went to see my GP this morning - the smear test results letter he received dated 29 July says the test was normal and I've to go back in 3-5 years for my next smear test. Just to re-cap - my letter dated 3 August says slightly abnormal cells found (borderline changes) and they have tested for HPV and that was negative, but because I will be over 65 when my next smear test would have been due, I won't be receiving any more invitations for tests. So we received completely different letters!
However, my GP has told me I can go to the surgery for another smear test in 3 years time.
I don't know what to think now, and which letter is the correct result, but my GP assures me that he isn't worried in the slightest, so that's good I guess.
Have got some clarification, a health advisor told me to ring the Cytology department because they would be able to explain about the two different letters. I did that and spoke with a very helpful lady who explained that the letters are worded differently, and that although I had slightly abnormal cells, because the lab tested for HPV and that was negative, and because all my previous smears were normal, that means that I can consider my smear test result as normal because the risk of the slightly abnormal smears developing into something more is so very small. She said that the letter that goes to the GP does say normal for the aforementioned reasons. She also confirmed that, because of my age, I won't be invited for any more screenings, and was surprised that my GP has said I can have one at the surgery in three years time, so that's still a bit of a grey area.
I'm feeling more reassured now and I'm not going to worry about it any more, although my husband is urging me to get a private screening done in maybe one year's time, just to make sure those slightly abnormal cells haven't progressed, and I might do that.
I hope that my story is of some use to anyone else who finds themselves in a similar situation, it can be a bit confusing as it seems that slightly abnormal but negative HPV is the new normal now.
My very best wishes to all you ladies on here, I hope you all have the best outcome. You are all very supportive of each other, that's lovely to see. xx
