Hi all I’m new here.
I had a hysterectomy on 17th October for failed ablation following years of really heavy periods, as I have had hpv on 3 smears i opted to have my cervix removed also.
after 3 positive hpv smear but negative cytology and having a smear and no hpv was evident on it, it’s come as quiet a shock that my cervix revelled cin 3 after only having a colposcopy in April this year. Of course I’m slightly anxious now that it’s been there all along, and been missed as I’ve read it takes a long time to develop in to cin3.
my cervix has been removed so I’ve been invited to another colposcopy where they will perform a vault smear, I’m anxious that it could be missed again.
has anyone had a similar experience of this or similar.
I obviously know it’s not cancer but the thought is a tad scary.
thanks In advance for any support that’s offered
Hi Ellysmummy and welcome to the group.
I hope you don’t mind me responding as I haven't had the same experience, since I went straight to a cancer diagnosis, but I am always here to offer support to anyone who joins the group. A number of ladies here have had a hysterectomy, but usually a radical hysterectomy because they’ve been diagnosed with cancer, and I’m not sure there is currently anyone in the group who is in quite the same situation as you. If someone is, and reads your post, hopefully they will come along and post.
I’m not sure how much you know about hpv, but once you have it you will always have it as there is no cure. It can however be active or dormant, so this is why you can have both positive and negative results for it at different times. When it’s active it can cause cell changes, which is the CIN3 which was found, but when it’s dormant it’s not causing any damage. A hysterectomy removes the damaged cells, but doesn’t remove the hpv, hence the need for further checks following the surgery.
There’s no way of knowing how long you had the CIN3, and sometimes it doesn’t get picked up, but the hope is that a colposcopy would identify it. It is possible that it wasn’t there in April. I know you’ve read that CIN3 takes a long time to develop but there can be instances where this is not the case. One of my friends had a clear smear and no issues but 6 months later was diagnosed with stage 2 cancer, so these things can happen.
Because hpv can become active again, it means that the abnormal cells could potentially return despite the hysterectomy, and appear in the vaginal vault where the cervix was, but they will be doing a thorough examination when you next have a colposcopy. I think you just need to trust that this will identify anything, or you could spend your life worrying about it unnecessarily. You can try to keep your immune system as strong as possible to keep the virus suppressed as a low immune system can cause it to reactivate, but otherwise I hope you have recovered well from your surgery and are getting on well. I hope your next colposcopy doesn’t identify any abnormalities and you can be reassured.
Sarah xx
Sometimes having more knowledge can increase the anxiety. I understand what you’re saying about cin3 showing when you didn’t anticipate that result, but unfortunately I’ve seen that happen on lots of occasions over the years in different groups. The main thing is that these pre cancerous cells have been removed, and hopefully that will be all you will need.
Sarah xx
Hi Ellysmummy
Please let me reassure you that you are not being silly at all. You’ve had a result which you weren’t expecting and it’s made you anxious, especially since you lost your Nan not so long ago and don’t have the support and guidance from her now. Losing someone you were so close to is a significant event in your life and bound to have made things more difficult for you and heightened your anxiety. Don’t ever think you are being silly though, because you’re not.
Do you have a date for your next colposcopy already? I hope it’s not going to be too long for you to wait.
Sarah xx
