Long wait for inadequate biopsy results

Treatment for cell changes (abnormal cells)
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Hi everyone, looking for a bit of advice and to be honest a bit of a vent, as I just got my biopsy “results” today - nearly 8 weeks after my colposcopy / biopsy appointment.

My “results” letter says that my biopsies were inadequate and I will be invited back for another colposcopy and biopsy in three months time. Three months from when, I don’t know, as it has been nearly two months since my colposcopy… :upside_down_face:

I’m feeling so frustrated as I have no idea why it took almost two months for me to get a letter stating absolutely nothing. I have been in quite a state about whether or not I would have to have LLETZ treatment as I’m aware you can’t / shouldn’t exercise for around 4 weeks after the procedure, and as someone who does gym classes 6 days a week, this would massively affect my mental health!

I know this is a cervical cancer forum but on top of my experience with HPV and abnormal cells, I’ve also just had investigation into my ovaries (which have since been diagnosed as polycystic) and my mum was diagnosed with ovarian cancer over the Easter weekend, currently awaiting her own biopsy results - the delay in my results has certainly not given me any confidence that she is going to be looked after and treated quickly enough to give her the best chance of beating it :frowning: so it has been difficult to stay positive as I’m so worried about her and my family.

On my cervical biopsy, I was wondering if there’s any point calling the hospital to find out more about the results / lack of, and when the follow up appointment will be as considering I had my initial smear in January that flagged all of this up, I’m quite worried about waiting until July/August for another colposcopy and then another 2 months for biopsy results again! I thought I was being a ‘good’ patient by waiting as directed but now I’m wondering if I should be a bit more ‘pushy’ to ensure my own sanity…

Any thoughts, advice or experiences of a similar thing would be very welcome, thank you in advance :hearts:

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That does sound stressful, when I had mine done the nurse pointed out a contact number and said to call if I had any questions,

I don’t think this is even being pushy, you have a right to ask for more information into what these results mean and what could have caused this result. By inadequate do they mean not enough to test? Or not a CIN result? If it is CIN1 they wouldn’t normally do Lettz as it can clear up in a year.

I hope your Mum is doing ok I would expect it to be far quicker for her results due to her diagnosis. Biopsy results are up to 6 weeks and to call if not heard in 6 weeks. Sometimes you have to chase things up don’t be afraid to call them and ask any questions even if it feels like a small question!

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Hi Emy, thank you so much for your reply.

I emailed the colposcopy department in the end (after not being able to get through to them on the phone) and yesterday managed to get myself booked in for repeat colposcopy and biopsy mid-June (about 3 months after the original one), which makes me feel somewhat better. They weren’t able to answer why the results took so long but said they’d look into it… so being a little pushy is definitely needed I think!

In all honestly the letter was really bad - I think the gist was that they didn’t get enough cells so couldn’t confirm the CIN result. They had confirmed at least CIN1 during the colposcopy but wanted to do a biopsy to check for CIN2/3. They only took one punch biopsy so this time I’ll be insisting they do two or three!

Thank you as well for the kind words about my mum. Thankfully her biopsy results came yesterday and she was discussed at the MDT so sort of has a treatment plan now. They have no capacity for any treatment for her until start of June which is a concern as they found the cancer mid-April and she is an urgent case :frowning: but at least there is some sort of plan!

Thanks again for taking the time to reply,
Char