Worried

Cervical screening (smear test)
1

My routine smear is now a year late as I was meant to get it when I found out I was pregnant so had to wait. I’ve had pre cancerous cells removed around 10yrs ago and I’m now terrified it’s back and I can’t stop thinking about it. I had my smear last week but it’s going to take 4wks for results. Whilst I was pregnant I was referred to gynaecology as they thought I had a polyp on my cervix which turned out to be scarring from my precious surgery. What I would like to know is if my last smear before the one I just had was 4 years ago is this enough time for cervical cancer to develop ? If I did have it would it have been visible when I was referred to gynaecology last April when I was pregnant ? Can’t stop worrying over it. Thanks

2

I was told 7-10 years for cancer to develop when I went to colposcopy so please try not to worry too much.

here's hoping your results come back clear. Looking after a baby is stressful enough without all this too!

3

Thanks for replying ! I'm just getting myself so worried about it, hopefully it's all ok. I watch for the post every day! My last smear was around 4 years ago so hopefully that's not enough time for cancer to develop then. And I think surely the gynacologist would have seen something if it was thay far advanced ? Considering they specialise in that region Lol xx

4

Hi Indie,

I think having had abnormal cells is one of those things that never really leaves you. I have had 2 lots of LLETZ and am already obsessing about my next test. Is there something else specific which is making you feel worried about it? They must have been very confident about the polyp being scar tissue as they would not leave something like that to chance. If you have recently had a baby that is certainly something to make you dwell on your own mortality and also mess up your system. Hopefully your smear results will come back a bit quicker and you can get some reassurance asap. If you are still worried you can always request a colposcopy if you are concerned about anything at all. Big hugs

xxx

5

Thanks for that huni. I think ur right about having my baby and now worrying about mortality etc I didn't really think about it that way but it defo makes sense. When I was getting my smear the nurse said to me she was going to get the doctor through to have a look as it looked 'different'. It was then that I mentioned about being referred to gynaecology recently before that so she looked up my notes on the computer and said ah yes ok that's fine it must just be your scar tissue I'm seeing. But it's still worried me as I've had that scar tissue for 10 yrs and no one has ever mentioned it at subsequent smears until this recent one. Hopefully it is just the scar tissue she was seeing. I didn mention to her about cancer and she said no that's not what she meant when she said it looked different. But it's just really worried me now. Hopefully ur right and that if there was anything of concern when I visited gynaecology that they would have investigated it further. That was 10 months ago now surely that's not enough time for full blown cancer to develop and be seen ? Just wish my results would hurry up :( xx