Zingara
Well-Known Member
When I was about 23 I kept on going to the Doc with symptoms in the regions....they kept on telling me there was nothing wrong....until I saw a locum lady doctor who examined me and could see straight away all was not good....she took a smear...I think I'd had one in the past, results came back as CIN3, I think full blown cancer is CIN5.....I was sent for colposcopy straight away and was in for a cone biopsy within weeks to remove the cells and part of my cervix by surgery....I was too far gone for laser...
I had to have regular 6 monthly smears after that for 3 years ...I was lucky and I've had loads of reminders about my smear...I've just reminded myself why I must go.
Blimey...I have just Googled CIN3 and I remember at the time they told me it was carcinoma in situ...no wonder they had me in so quick!
This was also exactly my situation at age 22.....thankfully I have been fine ever since, but never miss that smear now. I am still tested annually.
I was also scanned very regularly during pregnancy because of potential cervical incompetence which is apparently considerably higher amongst women who have had cone biopsy's or loop incisions previously....so its not just your future health at stake. I wasn't thinking of a family at age 22, but I was warned that if I hadn't had it sorted than, I could have faced more problems.