In July I had a little line of blood when I wiped. 10 yrs post menopause.
Struggled to get doctors appointment but never had any blood again for weeks so assumed I had just caught myself. Same thing happened in August but had to wait 3 weeks to get appointment at GP.
In the meantime, I had a private transvaginal ultrasound which appeared normal. Went to doctor and explained about symptoms and ultrasound.. her reply "well I am not qualified to interpret scans" I showed her the report and her reply was "so what do you want from me?" She did examine me and I left with a course of vagifem. Left feeling very much like a time waster. I was 2 years overdue for smear but had had an hpv test done which was negative.
Bled again so made appointment for smear end Nov and did hpv test which came back positive. Immediately got appointment to see private gynaecologist. She was reassured by scan and said she would do the smear for me and perhaps a biopsy of lining for peace of mind.
She saw a lesion on cervix which bled with smear. She took 2 biopsies from the lesion but did think was most likely inflammation. The biopsies came back positive for cancer so she referred me to NHS.
Tomorrow I go to hospital for loop biopsy for staging but also to try to remove the 1.5 cm lesion and am awaiting mri and ct scans. I have no other symptons and feel fit as a flea but terrified that it has spread through my lymph nodes for no good reason other than in my head. Am tempted to get mri done privately just so I would get told results quicker and get my head around what I am facing.
Hi MasM and welcome to our group
It’s not always quicker to go private, but i appreciate why you might wish to do that given the delays in getting to where you are now. Are you having the loop biopsy done on the nhs?
It seems unusual in my experience to use this for staging, as the process would usually be a biopsy, then scans to determine staging-an mri to see the size and location of the lesion/tumour, and Ct scan to check for any spread. Normally from what I’ve seen from others, they wouldn’t be trying to remove a 1.5cm lesion at a biopsy (especially since you already have a cancer diagnosis) as this might increase the chance of the cancer spreading. I would have thought that the results of the scans would be required to determine the stage first before taking any action on the lesion as the stage will determine what treatment is most appropriate. In your case I think I’d be asking questions about this when you go for your appointment.
Please keep posting and let us know how you get on. We have a nice group of helpful ladies here who have experience of different treatments and we can help you through with advice and support based on our own experiences. I hope all goes well for you today.
Sarah xx
Hi MasM
Many of us have or had adenocarcinoma in this group, and it’s really not helpful to read responses like you’ve had on the other group. If you are having a hysterectomy, there may well be no heed for any chemotherapy, and in any case radiotherapy is the main form of treatment in lower stages of this cancer. The chemotherapy is Cisplatin and is given at a low dose to increase the effectiveness of the radiotherapy and you don’t lose your hair for example. Yes, other chemotherapies are used for later stages of cervical cancer, but at the moment you at at a place where they are looking at a surgery, so it’s too early to be thinking about any type of chemo yet. If it is confirmed you have a lower stage, then surgery may well be all you need.
Sarah xx
