A month ago I received my cervical smear test result as abnormal - CIN 3 / HSIL. My colposcopy appointment was for four weeks later (this week) but has just been cancelled due to the doctor being unavailable at the last minute. The clinic were not able to give me any idea of when a new appointment would be available, but they indicated it might be some time.
Is that normal to have a long wait to get a colposcopy after a CIN 3 smear result? I’m also not sure if a smear is as conclusive as a biopsy? I have never had an abnormal result before (smears every 3 years) but I’m worried as I know that CIN 3 is the more severe of the cell changes and I’m 32 years old so I know it is likely I will need some kind of treatment to remove them. I just feel a bit lost and not really sure what to expect.
I have CIN3 and my GP said in my area (Leeds) they will see CIN3 patients within 2 weeks. I’m only new to all of this but I would push for an appointment or if possible to use a different hospital. But also, don’t panic as it is a slow progression for the cells too. Keep calling and pushing to be seen x
I’m going to leave it a day or two and then will ring the gynaecology hospital department again to see if anything has changed. I think you are right that I need to keep pushing because they say 4 weeks maximum to be seen for a CIN3 result and it has been over that now and when I rang today there is still no appointment scheduled for me to be seen. It is hard not to feel like I’m making a fuss, but I don’t have much of a frame of reference for wait times except other peoples experiences and my own research, most people don’t seem to wait this long.
I hope everything goes well for you, if you feel like sharing your CIN3 / colposcopy experience I would be interested to hear, but if not thank you for just responding to my comment x
I had treatment for CIN3 yesterday and all went ok. My smear originally came back as borderline and was booked in for my colposcopy appointment about 5 weeks later. I had a biopsy taken and the results came back as CIN3, my appointment for lletz was then less than 2 weeks.
I hope you get your appointment soon so you can have the treatment you need x
Make a fuss and don’t even feel bad about it, you’re in charge of making sure you’re fit and healthy and if the doctor isn’t doing what they’re supposed to be doing then definitely make a fuss.
My experience was a positive one. I got my letter stating CIN3 on Tuesday last week, Tuesday afternoon the Colposcopy clinic called me and booked me in for the Thursday, I was in bits with worry so they transferred me to a Colposcopy nurse who talked me through the whole thing and put me at ease. I was panicked as it felt like it must be an emergency to see me within 2 days but I was reassured we have a very efficient clinic.
Thursday I went prepared for the LLETZ procedure, I had 2 nurses and they were amazing. Answered all my questions, put me at ease and the helping nurse held my hand throughout LLETZ. It was uncomfortable at times but I wouldn’t say it hurt. Also you can watch on a screen and it was a good distraction (they turn it off for procedure). She agreed CIN3, I asked if she would be able to see if anything sinister was there and she said yes and that she couldnt see anything that she was concerned about. I had 4 injections for the anaesthetic but they just felt kinda crampy and only felt 2 of them, the LLETZ was done in seconds, it took longer for her setting up! So now it has to go for testing but she told me so many times she is confident its just CIN3 and shes got it all. So heres hoping!
Afterwards I was quite light headed so I sat for a while whilst she went over recovery and she gave me the direct number to the nurses in the clinic and said I can call anytime. So, really positive experience. As for recovery, I was totally fine for a couple of days, but now I’m cramping if I overdo things like housework or walk too far. Not sure if its related but I’ve gone a bit irregular for the toilet too which is giving me extra cramps!
Sorry if none of that was useful. I hope you get yours sorted soon x
Hi there, I’m so sorry it has taken me so long to respond to your comments. I think I put off replying because I knew it was going to be a long wait for my colposcopy and a part of my brain just decided I couldn’t engage with it and just shut it out, so I apologise that I didn’t respond right away. I wanted to say thanks again for your responses, it honestly has helped so much while I was waiting for the colposcopy. It can be easy to go down a rabbit hole in these situations and it really helped to put things into perspective. Citylife, thank you so much for going into detail about your procedure and saying that you had a positive experience, it really made me feel better about the whole thing. Hoping that you are completely in the clear now!
I just had my colposcopy a couple of hours ago. The women who saw me were absolutely lovely and explained everything as we went along, I opted to see on the screen what they were doing and found the whole experience painless. They took 2 biopsies, but because of the visible extent of the cell changes the doctor was able to tell me during the appointment that I will definitely need to go back to get them removed, almost definitely under a general anaesthetic because the margins are quite big and in a slightly difficult location. While that isn’t the best news, I’m just happy to have a plan in place.
Fingers crossed it all goes well and they are able to get it all. My appointment wont be for another 2 months or so I was told - I think in general wait times here in New Zealand are much longer than in the UK (we have only just started to have Covid spreading in the community here though so that must be having an impact). I might update on here incase anyone is going through the same thing in the future and wants to read about the experience.
