I have fought for months and months to get a smear test due to severe abdominal pain to the point of where I couldn’t go to work.
They told me it was down to my polycystic ovaries but I wasn’t happy with the outcome as the pain was so bad.
I eventually got seen (after being told more than three times that I was too young to have cancer)and the results came back two days later and said they needed me in for a colcoscopy and biopsy.
As soon as the doctor looked she confirmed straight away they were CIN3 cells. She explained the biopsy would be sent off to the lab to confirm this.
The biopsy has confirmed that they are in fact CIN3 and severe.
I spoke with the nurse today and I asked her if this would mean they know if these cells had actually developed into cancer. She told me that she didn’t want to give me false hope and said that she cannot confirm that it hasn’t developed into cancer until I have the operation to remove them.
I am so confused, can someone please explain to me how they are able to tell if the cells have developed into cancer? Will they be able to tell when doing the procedure?
Over the last few months I have been in and out of hospital so often, so I’ve had many blood tests taken and procedures done like transvaginal scans, an ultrasound scan and a colonoscopy. Would any of these have shown if I had something to worry about cancer wise?
I’m obviously really worried like everyone on here and just feel so uninformed about everything.
I carry the BRCA1 cancer gene which consists of breast and ovarian cancer and had a double mastectomy when I was 20 which they completely messed up, so I feel very scared alone and anxious about the duty of care I have received in recent years.
I'm not surprised you're worried, after having such a lousy experience with your previous surgery. If it reassures you at all, most of the people on here have said that the medical staff looking after them for treatment have been lovely, and very efficient.
The reason that the nurse couldn't guarantee they won't later find some microscopic cells that have already turned cancerous is that they have only got the punch biopsies to analyse so far. If you think about it, they've just taken a little nip of cervical tissue in the areas that the nurse thought looked like CIN3, in order to confirm that the CIN3 theory is accurate. They don't want to overtreat anyone, so if the biopsies came back as much less severe than she thought, they could take a 'wait and see' approach for a bit. The body does sometimes get rid of minor changes on its own.
You've now got your biopsy results and it is confirmed as CIN3, or severe changes, so they will give you treatment to remove the bad cells before they have a chance to turn into anything dodgy. This is the LLETZ procedure you will have seen people talking about on here. They will remove a piece of cervix with the bad cells on it, plus a little bit extra to be on the safe side. This piece is also sent off to the lab for a thorough check over, kind of like a giant biopsy. Now it is possible (but unlikely) that the lab might find a few cells in the sample that have already turned cancerous. It does happen, but it's quite unusual - of all of the ladies who have LLETZ for CIN3, only a few have come back on here to report that traces of cancer were found.
I know it's hard, but try not to worry. I am sure the nurse was just trying to be responsible, because there is a slim chance that when they analyse the LLETZ sample, they find something else - you would be pretty fed up if she told you there was no chance at all of that, and then they found something, right? So she can't say there's no chance of it ...... but it really is quite unlikely. I can totally understand why your history would make it hard not to worry though!
Hang in there, and hopefully you will soon be able to put all of this behind you
I think what the lady above says explained it perfectly. I had cin3 removed a few months ago and got the all clear they didn't even say if it was cin3 on my lletz results just it was removed with clear margins and a test for cure in 6 months so you may never know like me. I asked my dr if it could be cancer and he said yes it could just like if someone was to wal up to him in the streets and say do I have cancer the answer would always be yes you could. He also mentioned about how they could be sued if he said no it's not cancer then it was so they have to air on the side of caution. he also said its not often it is cancer. I think he was trying to make me feel better after dropping on me its cin3 and your having a lletz after telling me a few weeks prior it was only a boarderline abnormal smear so will probably only be cin1 a probably won't need treatment.
I completely appreciate if you go up to someone in the street and ask if they have cancer they could have it, but this is actually a little bit different.
Can completely appreciate you have been through this, so I really do appreciate your comments.
I have had an extremely traumatic experience with everything that has happened to me in the past with my BRCA1 Cancer gene, and I have had many operations and had the talk of getting cancer since I was 19.
Everyone "COULD" have cancer but actually, these cells are, from my understand cancerous cells and CIN3 especially are the cell at an advanced and later stage so I do think it is a little bit different to walking up to someone in the street and asking them if they have cancer.
They may worry about being sued, and I have to point out there are nurses, consultants and doctors that are absolutely fantastic but unfortunately I am the latter whereby I have been nothing but let down by the health service through my experience so that is a touchy subject for me about them worrying about being sued which would never happen anyway because to take a case forward - you have to have evidence.
Thank you so much for your message to me, it has really meant a lot.
I think just I have high anxiety about this as I have had such a horrific experience and since the age of 19 I have actually had to go through consistent talks of having cancer and it's just really upsetting and difficult at times.
It's more of a psychological affect than anything else which I have to carry with me for the rest of my life.
This is really helpful and has really made me feel at ease that most of the time it isn't actually that sinister.
I am so glad it helped. Hopefully once you have your colposcopy out of the way, it will be confirmed to be as expected, with just the abnormalities identified by the biopsy (and those will have been removed!).
Given your history it's probably also worth mentioning that I read that cervical cancer is not hormone-related, so despite your genetic BRCA, you are not any more likely to have CC than the next person.
Sending you a big hug, hope all of this is resolved for you soon
Hi Hollie, I totally understand what you mean, these arnt my views it's what the dr told me when I asked him if it could be cancer. I know also that having these changes means you are high risk for cancer so fully understand, I was in and out of dr's with pain in my cervix for months before my abnormal smear. I don't mean I personally trust or believe everything the gyne said It was just what he told me, probably to calm me. I'm sorry about your experience and I know how hard it is when something has gone seriously wrong to trust them to do it right , the hospital nearly killed me and my son when I was pregnant and we ended up on intensive care for 2 month, and various other issues I have no trust in dr's and have ended up with bad anxiety, but didn't want to scare people so just relayed what I was told by my dr.
