Cin 3 - severe cervical cell changes , anyone ?

[stacey&bump]

Hi just needed somewere to vent and maybe get some advice. Went for a smear test a few months ago because of abnormal bleeding and a teli strong gut instinct that something wasnt right , was teferred to gunae a few weeks later were they informed me i had cin 1 which is minor cervical cell changes so i then had to get a colposcopy and biopsy taken at the end of may , just 3 weeks ago i got a letter sayin i have cin 3 severe cell changes and go into hospital tomorrow for treatment. The letter didnt say what kind of treatment or nothing im petrified and cant stop crying as i have a little girl . Dont know how my
Cells went from stage 1 to 3 in such a
Small matter of time ? Has anyone been through a similar situation and can shed some light ? Thank you

 

[CanadianMaple]

I went from a normal pap to CIN4 (HGSIL) in one year. My husband passed away during that time and they think my immune system totally bottomed out and the virus was able to thrive.

The good news is that I had a LEEP done about a year ago. I have had two clean biopsies since then and they will follow me for another year. My GYN believes it's gone now.

 

[stacey&bump]

Thanks for your post im really sorry to hear about your husband. Thats what is scaring me the fact that it went frim stage one to three in a matter of a few months have treatment today they didnt say what kind butnim assuming its the lletz treatment , so nervous. Just hope they get rid of the cells and that bes the end of it heres hoping

 

[CanadianMaple]

How did you make out? Mine went quick too. My GYN wondered if my family doctor just didn't get a good sample last time. For you, pregnancy may have lowered your immune system enough to make it grow fast too. I hope you were able to ask questions.

If you ended up with a LEEP, they will be able to tell you if they got all of the cells. The best words I heard was that they had clean margins on the sample, which means that the cells on the edges of the sample were totally normal, meaning all the bad stuff was taken away...they didn't miss any.

 

[stacey&bump]

Thanks for ur post , im glad u heard that reassuring news . It wasnt ao bad just very uncomfortable and it didnt help that i was very nervous and uptight. They said they were using heat treatment i didnt quite get the name but i needed 3 injections of local anasthetic and they used suction also ? They strapped a white plaster looking thing to my thigh ? After the procedure thenconsultant said shed removed everything that was abnormal so fingers crossed i get the all clear in 6 mths wen i get my smear

 

[CanadianMaple]

Sounds a bit like the LEEP. Did the thing on your thigh get really hot? They just cut the part off that has the bad cells, it's not much. Mine also gave me epinephrine to make sure it doesn't bleed and it made my heart race for about 2 minutes. It's not fun, but I found recovery from this was easier than the biopsy.

 

[stacey&bump]

Yes then patch on my leg got quite hot , reli hoping the cells dont come back such a stressful time but glad its over . Good luck to anyone else going through it , it is scary and stressful but the procedure is not as bad as i expected thankfully

 

[Stacey_89]

I had my LLETZ on 10th July, should have my results in the week, fingers crossed for all clear! Rather stressful tho as I bled for 2 weeks and brown spotting for a week,I had the spotting when AF was due...deffo not pregnant...so I guess AF came early...now confused when to expect next proper AF!

Hope we both get the all clear

 

[jd83]

HI, just wanted to comment on the pap vs the biopsy results difference. Its more likely that you had a HGSIL at the time of the pap, as well, not that it progressed that much in the few months time. A pap smear is a random collection of cells from the surface layer, so they may have only collected the Low-grade lesional cells in that sampling, which prompted the need to look further with a biopsy to see the full extent of the lesion, which then came back as Severe Dysplasia. I do pap smear diagnostics, so I see this frequently. sometimes the pap will only have a few rare Atypical cells, prompting the need to look further, and then the biopsy comes back with something like that. It's why Paps are so important. A small pick up on a few atypical cells can prompt finding a lesion, and getting it removed quickly before it progresses any further. I know the whole thing is scary to have to undergo any procedures, but just know that the whole reason paps and biopsies are done at the frequency we do them at, is to ensure that these lesions are caught and removed before ever getting a chance to progress to cancer. That's why cervical cancer rates have dropped so dramatically since the start of pap smears.

Severe Dysplasia would not have broken through the cervical basement membrane, so should be fully contained within a LEEP or Cone biopsy, if that's the method they performed on you. Hope your results come back with negative margins, hun!

ETA: guess I should also mention that not all lesions would even need removing. A LGSIL may just be watched to see if it goes away, as many do clear up on their own. HGSIL are the lesions that are treated more aggressively.

 

[stacey&bump]

Thanks very much for ur reply , i appreciate it and understand a bit more the consultant didnt really explain much at all to me . Would there be any symptoms you would experience if the cells were to come back again ? Im 3 months post llet now so just 3 mths til i get my smear just reli hope and pray alls well good luck to anyone else in a similar situation

 

[jd83]

No, not typically any symptoms if an abnormality continues, but that's why they Wil closely monitor you until your apps have consistently returned to negatives. You'll likely get screened at least twice a year for the time being until they feel you are no longer high risk. That varies place to place the amount of time they closely monitor following a high grade lesion. I think its 2-3 years where I live for follow up monitoring to ensure fully treated and removed.