Hello, everyone. I hope I'm posting this in the right place. I'm mostly on here to speak with people who are going through the same or similar situation and for emotional support, because honestly I just feel so lost right now. :(
About a year ago, I had an abnormal pap smear or low grade dysplasia, so they did the colposcopy and biopsy. When the results came back, the doctor said that the biopsy showed only some irritation and it wasn't precancer or anything to be concerned about much to my relief.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago. I had another colpo and biopsy. This biopsy came back that I have CIN III and will need to have LEEP done under GA at the hospital. How could it go from just irritation and not precancerous cells to CIN III in just a year? I thought this was supposed to be a slow growing disease, right? Am I missing something? The only thing I can think of is that he either missed some areas during the biopsy a year ago, or I have a particularly bad case. They also told me that they do the LEEP and then send off the tissue for further testing to make sure it's not cancer. I thought that was the point of the biopsy they already did... Is it possible I already have cervical cancer and not CIN III? Is it something you can only see after a LEEP or similar invasive procedure?
I'm sorry for all the questions, but I'd really appreciate some advice from people who are knowledgable about the disease or just people that are in this situation that want to talk and offer emotional support to one another. Thank you in advance. x
I know exactly what you mean. I went from a normal pap to CIN3 in 2 years- and they initially said it was already cancer and I was like how can it be cancer in two years when its meant to be slow growing i.e. an average of 10 years to develop?!?
I think unfortunately that is the average length of time and is not true to all cases. However, in regards to your question - I have read a lot about this and apparently it actually can take quite quick for the cells to progress from normal to severe abnormality but then for them to go from abnormal to cancer is takes a longer time i.e. 10 years on average in most cases.
I just had a cone biopsy for my CIN3 and they also said that although the smaller biopsy said it was just CIN3, the larger biopsy is more accurate because it is getting more cells, especially those further up and deeper into the cervix and would give a better reading of what was going on. They said the chances of it being cancer were small and if it was positive to cancer it would most likely be very early stages ( and treated most likely with just the surgery, if not two lots of surgery) as they couldnt see any obviously sinister in the colposcopy but I think they need to say there is still the chance of cancer to cover themselves as there is still that slight risk the smaller biopsy missed something. What they do is test the edges of the sample once its removed and there is chances this shows cancer. It depends on the stage of cancer but I think what I've read is that during a colposcopy some cancers are very obviously there, as in a tumour is already there or the cells show cancer when they put that solution on the cells.
Its still really nerve racking as although you've got the good news its just CIN3 but when they say oh but there is a small chance it still could be cancer your like oh.... and have to wait even longer to find out if thats the case!! But try not to worry too much (easier said than done I know) - just try to be reassured that they obviosuly didnt see anything sinister in the colposcopy and the results have come back precancerous so the likley hood of anything being cancer is slim. xxx
I am confused as well, this is what's happening to me.
I had a pap smear that came out High grade, the Dr. told me CIN III back in May. When I had my colposcopy done the dr. said that with High-grade levels, that it wasn't going to be just taking a look. That they had to do a biopsy as well that day. They ended up taking four samples to test. I just got my results this past Friday and I was told that the results were not what they expected. All four samples came out normal. I was thinking great!!! But then she said that they wanted to do the LEEP procedure just to make sure because she might have missed something during the biopsy. They told me the same thing, that the tissue from the LEEP will be tested as well. So I'm confused too, it just doesn't make sense to me. The first thing that comes to mind is that maybe I got someone else's pap results. But then I'm like who am I kidding because if that was true then they wouldn't have found anything during the colposcopy/ biopsy.
So maybe in your case, they might have missed something as well during the first colposcopy.
