False positives for pap smear results?

hiya robyn. thanks for the tip . it seems quite hard to find reliable info and stuff. thank goodness for sites like this, hey? i'll msg you.

I have had several colposcopies. I experienced spotting afterward and cramping like that of a bad period. I also had a LEEP 4 months before my hysterectomy, I thought that it would be awful but the pain wasnt to bad. I hope you can get in soon. Take it one day at a time. I let my mind run away with me too with google searches... hang in there! let me know how things go because I have been there and hopefully can help by sharing my experiences. Much love and prayers sent your way.

had a bit of a melt down yesterday. i was in tears and felt like i couldn't breath. anxiety levels were through the roof and i just didn't know what to do with myself. i called my social worker and she convinced me to go see a different doctor and get some proper information, seeings as my own dr had been so vague and uniformative.

I am sooooo glad i did what she suggested. the new doctor was very reassuring and matter of fact. despite what i'd seen online, my pap reading was nowhere near the worst i could have gotten. i am in fact only about half way down that line between normal and cancer. what my doctor described (very badly, as it turns out) as ulcers on my cervix is actually called ectropion, which is very common and is not a cause for concern. it normally resolves itself and doesn't even need any treatment. he said waiting 3 months for a colposcopy with a reading like mine wouldn't be a problem, so 3 weeks is really quite good.

the most likely course of event for me will be the colposcoly, probably with a biopsy or 2 being taken. the cervix has very little sensation, so in all probabilty, having the biopsies taken will be no worse than having a pap smear. it's not a major procedure in any way, and there's no reason i won't be able to drive myself home from it. after that, i will probably go in for day surgery to have any abnormal cells taken out. in most cases, this fixes things totally and there will be no further problems. it's only the unlucky few who have recurring incidents.

i also saw a poster on the wall when i went to the loo at the surgery. it said approximately 90 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year in western australia. considering how many women live here, that makes it pretty good odds that i don't have it.

the doctor made it all sound so normal and routine and i left feeling so much better. i don't think i realised just how stressed and anxious i was. it was like a vice clamp had been released from around my chest and i could suddenly breath again. i've said before that something had taken a weight off my shoulders, and i'd always thought that was just a figure of speech, but it was an actual physical sensation yesterday. i felt a lightness in my shoulders and felt somehow taller. strange, hey?

there is always a chance things will not turn out that simply, of course, but for now, i am happy to go with what the doctor told me. i'm still a bit worried and scared, but nothing like the last week. here's to doctors who take the time to sit and explain things and be reassuring

Now that all sounds much better. I'm sure you do feel relieved, what a different explanation. I'm sure when you get the testing done you'll feel even better. Waiting is still hard but at least now you can breathe.

yes, greyown. it feels really good to breath. and i hadn't even realised i'd been holding my breath!

Kay,
I am glad your panic has subsided and you can breath!!
I have had abnormal paps and the resulting biopsy. You may want to have someone go with you for the biopsy..just to wait in the waiting room and be there afterward just in case.
If you are one who does not flinch at a pap then you will probably do fine..but it does hurt when they punch out the biopsy. I climb the walls for a pap. Paps hurt like crazy for me....hopefully you are less of a baby than I ... HUG.

PS my subsequent biopsy and all the following paps came back normal!! I kept my cervix and it is still healthy!

ok, so my colpocopy is confirmed for august 3rd and i have a ride up to the gynos organised, which makes me feel much more comfortable about it.

twitch ... i've only ever had 2 pap smears that hurt, and strangely enough, they were the only 2 i've had done by female doctors. the first one felt like she was shoving a hot poker into me when she took the sample. with the second one, it felt like the speculum had teeth. i have no idea why the first one hurt, but i think i know why the second one did. after telling me to relax, the dr asked me to lift my butt off the table so she get a better angle. that of course made all my muscles tense up, hence the pain.

i can't imagine how it wouldn't hurt to have a chunk of flesh ripped out, but i guess if there's not a lot of nerve ending in the cervix and the boipsy doesn't hit any of the nerve ending that are there, it could be painless. i don't know.

i'm trying hard to be fatalistic about it all and just say to myself "what will be, will be". me tying myself up in knots is not going to change the outcome in the slightest, so i just gotta take a deep breath, hold on tight and see where this ride takes me. despite the days dragging and seeming interminable, suddenly i'm only 2 weeks away from the colposcopy and the day is gonna be here before i know it. so que sera sera and fingers crossed!

got a call late yesterday afternoon from the gyno's office saying there's been a cancellation on monday at 2pm. i took the appointment but as soon as i hung up the phone, i remember that my period was due any moment. i rang back and asked if the colposcopy could be done if i was mentruating, and was told no, so another appointment was blocked in for me on thursday at 9am. i was to call on monday morning and let them know if my period has started or not, and whether i would be at the monday or thursday appointment. anyway, my period started about an hour later, so i'll be ringing monday morning and confirming the thursday appointment. pretty good, hey, to get in so soon.

but ... (there's always a 'but', isn't there) ... now my head is yammering at me about how strange it was that when i first spoke to them, there were no appointment for like 6 weeks, and now all of a sudden there's 2 available next week. i'm probably reading way more into it than there is, but my head is telling me this is what they do when they think something is urgent. rather than ringing and saying dr is concerned and wants to see you asap, they ring and say there's been a cancellation, just so they don't panic you.

i asked to go on the cancellation list, for goodness sake. why can't i just be grateful an earlier appointment has come up? my silly brain is turning it into a major "thing" and i hate it. i'm trying so hard to just say "que sera sera" and let events unfold as they will.

i can't stop thinking about that fact that the ectropion wasn't mentioned on the lab report. something i read said it is indistinguishable to the naked eye from cervical cancer, so surely it should be noted somewhere. then i think maybe the gyno got a more comprehensive report than i did and it is on there. then i think maybe the dr i saw last week called and told them about it, and that's why they're calling me in for an earlier appointment.

statistically, the probability of this being anything super serious is pretty small. most likely i'll have the colposcopy and some sort of procedure to remove any nasty cells and all will be fine. statistics aren't shutting my head up though. i am seriously hating this

i am really glad i have an earlier appointment. i am really glad my period started yesterday, because it means i go on thursday instead of monday. on monday, no one could have given me a lift. on thursday they can. monday is my birthday and who wants to be on a table with their legs in stirrups getting chunks cut out of them for their birthday? if my period had been late and not started til monday, it would have still been going on thursday and i would have missed both appointments. i only have 6 days to wait instead of 2 weeks which means that part of things will be over that much sooner.

so there in amongst the angst and stress, there are things to be grateful for. just gotta hang on to that for now