Hi. I've recently turned 25 too, and had my first smear a few weeks ago. 2 weeks after I got a letter with the results, high grade dyskaryosis, with an appointment for a colposcopy the following Thursday (which was thursday just gone 23rd May). I was so scared. I haven't had any CC symptoms, but as it was my first smear, it was impossible to know how long the cells had been abnormal. I read online though that it can take 10 years or more for them to become cancer.
I spent a week worrying that I had cancer, and I know completely how you feel, it is the scariest thing ever, the not knowing. I won't say don't worry as of course you are going to worry. I felt like although it was so unlikely, I would already have CC and it would be too late. I have a 2 year old son, and I spent the week terrified that I wouldn't see him grow up.
I had my colopscopy on Thursday and it went so well. I had a female doctor and 2 nurses, and my husband was allowed into the room with me too, which really helped so I could hold his hand! When we first went in, the doctor sat down and answered any questions etc, and really reassured me that it would be ok, then talked me through what they were going to do. She was so kind and understanding. Then we went through to another room, and I went behind the curtain to take off my trousers and underwear and put on a hospital gown. Then they helped position me on the bed/chair thing and put my legs up into the stirrups. It's not the most dignified thing, but once you've had a baby you don't really care about that do you?!! The actual procedure itself was just like a smear really. She used the speculum thing to open you up, and then used a microscope type thing, which looks a bit like binoculars lol. This doesn't go inside you, or even touch you. She was just sat in front of me with the binocular things right there. There was a tv screen in front of me, and this showed up a very magnified version of my cervix. Then she used a vinegar and iodine solution and dabbed it on my cervix with a cotton bud. This didn't hurt but did feel a little bit odd. This showed up any abnormal cells in white. She said straight away that she could see it wasn't cancer and wouldn't be for a very long time, if at all. There were just 2 abnormal cells. They gave me the option of having them removed there and then, or coming back at a later date to have them removed. I decided to have them removed right then, as I had psyched myself up for it.
The removal of them didn't hurt. They use a local anaesthetic. I won't lie, the bit when they inject the anaesthetic does hurt, but only for a few seconds. As I said before, my husband was with me, and I squeezed his hand very hard at this point which really helped! Once it was all numb, they used the Lletz loop (not sure if you have googled treatments?). It's a heated wire type thing which burns off the bad cells. I didn't watch this on the monitor as I'm quite squeamish ,but my husband did and said it was fascinating to see! This didn't hurt at all, but felt quite weird, like you could feel funny movements down there. The only bad thing was the smell of the burning skin. It was all over so quickly, and then I was allowed to get dressed again.
Afterwards, they advised me to rest for the rest of the day, which I took full advantage of!!! I took some ibuprofen a few hours later as I felt quite achey once the anaesthetic had worn off. It's been 3 days now, and I haven't really had much pain. I've had period type stomach aches (but reading your post it sounds like you are used to those lol!), and it aches a little down there when I go to the toilet. I have also had (sorry for tmi) browny black bits of skin coming out a few times when I've been to the toilet, but looked online and that is quite normal apparently!
Sorry this is such a long post. I just wanted to give you as much detail as poss to try and put your mind at rest. Just remember it is very unlikely that you have cancer (although I know that doesn't help!). Please ask if you want to know any more details, and keep me updated :) . Have you got a date for your colposcopy? I'll be thinking of you :) xxx
xx
