Terrified for my wife, HSIL pap result less than a year after LEEP (back pain and pelvic pain)

Treatment for cell changes (abnormal cells)
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(First off, sorry if i’m in the wrong place as a supporter. Also, i’m American so my terminology below may be different)

My wife has HPV-16 from before we met when she was 19. She’s 32 now. We have 3 kids, (all birthed vaginally), the latest of whom was both in December 2020. She had abnormal paps in late teens, early 20s, but was told to wait due to her age. She had clean paps from about age 23 on, but got ASC-H results and AGC in March 2021. Had a colposcopy and LEEP which confirmed CIN3 removed with clear margins in Summer 2021. Fast forward to latest pap in March that came back with HSIL and ASC-H results. She has a cone biopsy scheduled later this week. She’s also been having lower back pain that comes and goes, and goes down her right leg. Also pelvic pain just inside her right hip that she’s felt her worse with intercourse over the last few months. The pains seem to come and go, and she’s had no bleeding after intercourse, between periods, and no unusual discharge. I’ve terrified myself due to the back and pelvic pain but trying not to let it show. (but she’s anxious too)

Trying to tell myself that if she had a big enough tumor to cause back and leg pain that she’d have some type of discharge, bleeding, etc, but I keep going back to the google results showing the pain as symptoms of advanced cancer.

Anyone with similar experience? I know no one can know for sure, but wouldn’t a tumor big enough to cause back and pelvic pain have caused some type of bleeding or discharge by now? My fear is the colp and LEEP might not have seen far enough up her cervix and they missed something.

Once again sorry if i’m in the wrong section- just a worried sick husband here.

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Hi there - sorry to hear about the worry you and your wife are going through. I found a site to translate the HSIL and ASC-H terms, as we simply refer to these as CIN2 and CIN3. https://www.cancer.gov/types/cervical/understanding-abnormal-hpv-and-pap-test-results

This site uses the US terms, I think. The chances of her having advanced cancer at this point in time are remote. She has cell changes, and the cone biopsy will attempt to remove these cells, and I hope they will. Cone biopsy is more invasive than LEEP or LLETZ as we call it.

Has your wife talked to her GP or her health care team about the lower back pain? The MOST common indication of cervical cancer is bleeding and discharge, but she doesn’t have this. Yes, if you had advanced cancer you would have pain (thank you Dr Google) but having pain doesn’t have to mean you have cancer. There are many reasons including pelvic inflammation - not every symptom may have the same cause. I think it’s highly unlikely from what you’ve said that there is a tumour in the cervix, and I guess they do too, or they would have ordered further investigation. But please do push to find out why she gets pain on intercourse and what the back and pelvic pain is about. A scan might be useful and if there are any dots to join, let her physicians join them - that’s not something you should be doing.

I hope the cone biopsy goes well and the source of your wife’s pain and discomfort can be identified and treated - whatever it is.