to Hystersisters!
I am sorry to hear that you received bad news--especially just before Christmas. I'm sure that really put a damper on your holidays.
Adenocarcinoma-in-situ is not invasive cancer. Technically, the word "carcinoma" is equivalent to "cancer" but the "in situ" means "in place" when literally translated. So translated it means "cancer in place" which is where all the confusion comes from. It's not truly cancer until it has invaded. It would probably be better translated as "cancer that is likely to happen if you don't take care of it". So what you have is a preinvasive cancer situation which gets shortened to "pre-cancer". The concern of some docs is that precancer doesn't sound very urgent and so in an effort to make sure that women are tending these situations expediently, some do refer to it as cancer, calling it noninvasive cancer.
The big difference in statistics is that noninvasive (or pre-invasive) cancer or carcinoma-in-situ has 100% cure rate when it's removed. Once it's invasive, that story changes. That's a huge, important difference.
I have not read any statistic that says if you have an in situ situation that it's going to be cancer in 6 months. Typically, cervical cancer takes years to become invasive. HOWEVER, adenocarcinoma-in-situ is taken very seriously (with good reason) because it is very difficult to monitor due to its high position in the cervix, and it tends to be a much more aggressive cancer than squamous cell carcinoma. So your doc is absolutely right, it does need to be taken care of. It would most likely become invasive cancer if left untreated for too long. Hopefully, your cone biopsy has removed all of the abnormal cells. You will be watching for the pathology report to say "clean margins".
Is your doc a gynecologic oncologist? If not, I would highly recommend that you request a second opinion to see a gyn/onc prior to making any further treatment decisions (whether that be no more treatment or additional treatment). They are the experts when it comes to female cancers and precancers and they are extensively trained in the most current medical and surgical treatment techniques.
Good luck! I do hope your pathology shows that indeed your situation is still noninvasive. Please keep us posted.