So I had my colop today....

Hello

Thanks everyone for all the support. I barley slept last night as was so scared. I had my colop today and it terms of the experience it wasn't to bad. The nursing team were really nice and it didn't hurt at all. I actually found it quite interesting watching it on the big screen. the nurse said the abnormal area was quite small and looked consistant with my smear result (moderate s dyskarosis). I had the loop diathermy treatment then and there which again was fine and it didnt hurt. Now I'm feeling a bit shaky and tearful and some period type pain so having the day of work. They showed me the bit they removed which was about the size of a small finger tip is this similar to the size other people have had taken? What's should I expect next? Would be grateful to hear other people's experiences.

thanks

xx

Hi Dannii,

I had my colposcopy a week ago and and have to wait a whole 3 weeks for treatment (well 2 weeks now as one slow week has now passed!) That's great that you could have treatment there and then.  Like you I barely slept the night before, in fact the whole period between being told of abnormal smear results and my colposcopy appointment was horrendous. 

I too found seeing my cervix on the big screen quite interesting!  Although I was too nervous to really take it in at the time.  I have severe changes and the abnormal area which I'm having removed by LLETZ is about the size of the end of my nose, so slightly bigger than the size of a small finger tip. 

I'm currently waiting for biopsy results which I'm told will take up to 3 weeks.  The waiting is hard isn't it? 

Were you told whether you would have much bleeding after your treatment?  I'm supposed to be going on holiday 6 days after my treatment but am concerned about whether I will be able to if I'm bleeding heavily.

Catherine xx

Hi Dannii,

I'm glad your appointment went ok :) I felt a bit rubbish (shaky, teary, period pains like I used to get as a teenager and wasnt on the pill lol) for the rest of the day of my treatment and the day after but it does wear off - you've defniitely done the right thing taking the day off work :) maybe go for a little walk later to get some fresh air but definitely chill out :)

Like you I found the screen thing quite interesting, but I'm always better when these things arent happening to me, so I did feel a bit faint when I looked haha. Did you watch the loop treatment on the screen or was it turned off? 

I didn't think to ask how big an area my nurse removed - I might ask the nurse when I go for my checkup (couple of weeks, aargh!)! from what I saw on the screen the WHOLE of my cervix seemed to be a milky colour so I guess it was quite big (as a portion of a cervix... for some reason I seem to imagine it as HUGE becuase it was on the big screen lol). 

In terms of what to expect next, everyone is different, but in my experience I seemed to spend AGES waiting for any sort of discharge or blood, I had cramps bad enough to take painkillers for a day and a half (by the second day I was only taking 1 tablet (which is my norm, I hardly ever take 2... these cramps were beauties and needed two at the start lol))

By ages, I think it was about a week, then I had some flakyness and more discharge than normal, then there was what can only be described of as a scab (eugh) and then I started bleeding on and off (not loads, but i cant compare it to a period as i use tampons usually, but enough for pads rather than liners - I wore night time pads all the time for a bit of extra security). This lasted for about 5 weeks until I had my period (I was due on the week after the LLETZ but my nurse said to run two pill packs together so I could differnentiate the LLETZ healing from my period) then stopped after that. 

I kept a chart on my calendar of how my discharge was (aren't we lucky being girls!!! Men don't have to keep a chart of their penis!!!) so although I didnt feel like it I could tell it was improving. Also, don't be surprised or worried if you bleed more after exercise - I stopped going to the gym/zumba for the whole 6 weeks (the nurse said it should be ok after about a week but I just didnt feel like it to be honest lol) and one time about 4 weeks in I was feeling energetic and jogged up ONE flight of stairs at work and all of a sudden...gush...nice bit of bright red blood. Not a waterfall or anything but everything had been slowing down and it took me quite by surprise!

If you have any questions or anything, just ask :) x x x x x

p.s. sorry for huge post!! I swear one of these days I'll limit myself to 5 lines or something! x

Hi Catherine,

Yeah it is good that I had treatment at the same time but the nurse did say before the colop that they would only do it then and there if they were sure it was consistent with my smear result. They don't want to over treat people so it may be that your abnormalitites didnt look servere at the colop and want to check your changes aren't cn1 which are likely to go back to normal on there own. The waiting is horrible Absolutley the worst part of this whole experience so far. They said I could  bleed for a week or two and maybe an infection worst case but generally people heal within four weeks So your holiday should be fine. The treatment really didnt hurt just feeling a bit low and not 100% now so it may be wise not to work on day of treatment. Hope all goes well.

Dannii

xxx

Although I forgot to say that they do say no swimming for 3 weeks so if you intend to swim on your holiday you can always ask them to postpone the treatment untill after your holiday? 

Becky thanks for your post, dont worry about the length your posts make me make Laugh and you always say sorry for writing to much lol. Yeah I pretty much watched the whole thing except the injections. It looked like they had taken a huge chunk when I was watching on screen and then they showed me after in the little pot and it only looked about the size of a small finger tipp. I'm a gym goer to so hope I don't have to wait to long. Also Im meant to be going to London to see girls aloud on Saturday so hopefully I will be ok to do that. My boyfriend came in and watched to so I keep quizzing him onn how big he thought the white area looked because I wasn't to sure myself?

xx

Hi Dannii

Well done you, that's great you've got it out the way! Lucky to get the lletz done too, I had a wait between colp and lletz and it was rubbish - specially as I'd managed to convince myself I wouldn't need a lletz, so you can imagine the unpleasant surprise of finding out I did!

I didn't look too closely but I think two bits the size of a fingernail was removed at my lletz (bear in mind they remove more than they need to just in case). I was mild dysk, CIN2.

In terms of recovery, well as Becky says we're all different, but I feel fortunate with how well mine went. Only a week of mild charcoal discharge (lovely) and then...nothing. I kept expecting blood but nothing ever arrived! It's been 5 weeks since my lletz and I'm back to normal - got into my exercise this week and it feels great to be doing it again! Also (TMI alert!) sex is totally fine too - no pain or bleeding, not even feeling tender which I'd thought I would do.

It was frustrating at times taking it easy as I didn't feel there was anything wrong with me - it's not like a wound on the outside of your body that you can see and feel is it! But I'm glad I did observe their advice. In terms of swimming Catherine, I'd avoid it, just to be on the safe side.

Anyway Dannii, hope you rest and take it easy! I had pizza, chocolate and Heat magazine to tide me over. I did feel very weepy and low for a few hours, and was annoyed at myself cos I thought I should be feeling happy it was over! But it does seem to bring on period type emotions. I was wiped out though for the two days after, even though it was just a local they used on me. Maybe it was the stress of it all? I'd also avoid drinking a lot - I had a night out the Friday of the weke of my lletz, drank a bit too much and ended up getitng messy and emotional all over my long suffering boyfriend!

Take care xxx

 

Oh yeah, I forgot about sex haha! i think the worst thing for me with sex was myself! I was all tense and kept flinching whenever my boyfriend tried to touch me. I then cried (which isn't a good look when you're trying to be intimate) and had to tell him that I was scared it'd feel different (for him as well as me!). He pointed out that, although he was sure it wouldnt, we'd never know unless I chilled out, which is true. Needless today it was fine :) I did go to the loo every 20 mnutes for the rest of the evening just to double check I wasnt bleeding though... I swear if a psychiatrist got their hands on me they'd be in heaven! 

I can't believe you watched the LLETZ! What did it look like? I'd have been fascinated to watch, but I think me and my mum both looked a bit green so the nurse turned it off saying 'I don't think you need to see this' haha. x

Hi Dannii. Well done you for having the colpo and treatment. Like you I went for what I thought was a quick Colpo only to end up having the treatment there and then. I also felt weepy, teary and worn out afterwards. As my job involves some lifting I not only took the rest of the day off work but the following day just to give my body some rest to heal. It was the period pain/low ache that made me feel bleurgh. I followed the advice of no sex, swimming or heavy exercise for 4 weeks and I was lucky in that I had the discharge but no massive bleeding or infection. Sadly, they didn't get all of the abnormal cells 1st time round so I had to have a second attempt 2 months on. However, I got my first lot of results in just 3 weeks (but it always feels like forever lol). If your letter states they are taking your case to a correlation meeting or a mult-disciplinary meeting do not be alarmed. My GP explained that this is quite normal. My hospital has one about once every month and the consultant, histology etc bascially get together and look at cases and check what the next step is. I guess it's a double-check system to make sure everyone is in agreement and that mistakes don't happen. I actually felt quite reassured and at the moment I'm waiting to hear the outcome of my last colpo. Good luck Dannii and thankyou for sharing your experience.

hi i am wondering if anyone can help me. i have had a loop excision today of cin 3 cells it looked like quite a arge chunnk was taken. I know that they test these cells i am just worrying incase it is cancer i have had bleeding after sex in decempber and then last night which i thought was the start of my period but since the loop this morning i have had no blood at all. I am getting worried can they normally tell if it is cance by looking or is it just after sending the cells after loop tjat determine whether i have cancer or not. i am 23 and got sent for smear over 2 years ago due to heavy bleeding with coopper coil

Hey

Becky the lletz just looked like a loop of wire scooping off a chunk of circular tissue ( they took what looked like loads of normal cells around the white cells) then they burn the area around it which looked pretty grim so you may have been better of not watching but I reaally wanted to know what was going on (im nosey haha).  I had to go back to work today and my tummy has been quite painful :(

Kristina, the tissue they cut off may have looked bigger than it was if you saw it on the screen as it is like 10x magnified. Did they say anything about the size of the area? Had they biopsed the area before the lletz? I think they can tell if its obviously advanced  cancer just by looking at the colop but they have to test it properly for any microscopic cancer changes. Im very worried about this to as I have had no biopsy just the lletz so dont know what grade the abnormal cells are although my smear said moderate dyskarosis and the nurse said it looked consistant with that?  If you have already been diagnosed from biopsy before the lletz with cn3 then its just precancerous changes but they will still test the lletz excision to?

xxx