I have a confession to make
It has been 7 years since my last pap smear, this in not something I am proud of, but i loathe the speculum and scrape so much i made many efforts to avoid it until my dear sweet knit nite girlfriends convinced me to go and have one.
I am so glad they were so persistant and that i finally went and had the dreaded test on the 29th of April and thought no more of it.
At 5.45pm on the 4th of May my phone rang and my heart dropped, it was my GP telling me that my Pap Smear results was back and showed some abnormalities and he wanted to see me first thing in the morning.
Dr H was fantastic, he explained everything to me and that i the i had a
High Grade Squamous Intraepithelial Lesions ( HSIL ) and that he was going to refer me to my OBGYN for a colposcopy and biopsy. The following day i went off the the OBGYN and he explained the colposcopy procedure, what would happen, how it's done and why it's done and booked me in for Wednesday the 12th to have the procedure done.
I had to wait 6 days, in this time of course I stupidly consulted my friend "Dr Google", who of course is of no help as he is not a real Dr, but at least i knew what we were looking for the grades, the prognosis and all the other details about the procedure i was about to have and what to expect.
Now, if there can be one highlight to this story it is this - seeing your own cervix on a big screen TV, i mean WOW, unfortunantley my cervix was not looking terribly pretty :( the lesion is quiet large about 2/3 - 3/4 of the surface, now with out getting gross about it they spray an acid solution, which is basically white viniger onto the cervix as a pre-prep then an iodine solution which stains the healthy parts of the cervix dark brown and leaves the lesion/s yellowish, it's quiet fasinating really.
Now however i began to really worry, having seen the size of the lesion and it's nastiness, and after several nights of worry and anxiety that was making me physically ill, i decided to go to the GP and get some sleeping pills, knowing that it would be another 4 days before i would have any conclusive results. To my suprise the Dr informed me that he had recieved a copy of the results today, i burst into tears, i wanted to know but i didn;t... he put his hand on my shoulder and said " Everything is going to be ok, it's not cancer" and i cried some more.
I have CIN-2 which is
Cervical Intraeipithelial Neoplasia it will require some sort of treatment but i won't know what this treatment will be until Thursday when i see the OBGYN.
I am relieved but the reason i am sharing my story is to encourage all women to ensure that they have a pap test every 2 years, don't just sit there !
DON'T JUST SIT THERE !
and if anyone is wondering where i get the crazy from, yeah , it's my mum !
