Cervical play-by-play

For those of you lost in the cervix shuffle, I thought I'd post a complete history of where me and my cervix have been, where we are today and what's coming up for the two of us:

In mid-March I had my annual check up and my pap came back as abnormal. It showed low grade dysplasia and signs that HPV may be present. In most cases, this is a test result that a doctor wouldn't pay much attention to and the standard approach would be to have the patient come back in 4-6 months for another pap smear.

One thing I have learned in all of this is that there are many things that can contribute to results like my original results. I have also learned that the immune system usually takes care of these "abnormalties" all on it's own.

My doc is pretty aggressive and doesn't like to take the lets wait and see approach. Her approach is lets explore this further and see without a doubt what is going on sooner rather than later. Instead of waiting 4-6 months for another pap she had me go in for the Colposcopy last week. In that appointment the doctor running the show did the colposcopy, another pap and a biopsy.

The colposcopy and biopsy results were totally normal, not even any signs of any abnormalities whatsoever. This is odd because it hasn't even been four weeks since my first pap and there could be improvements in my cervix but it shouldn't be 100% clear in that short of time. So that was the good news. Odd news, but good news I guess.

The really goofy part is that the second pap came back as high grade dysplasia which tells the doctor that there is either cancer or pre-cancer present. My paps, in 3 weeks time, made DRASTIC changes and not drastically good changes unfortunately.

Now, the colposcopy and biopsy, from what I understand, are the tests that are supposed to tell the doctors without a doubt what is going on. They are the more difinitive procedures. They should support the findings in the pap smear and clarify exactly what is happening. The test results are just not making any sense.

Right now, my doctor is baffled because the test results aren't supporting eachother and she is concerned about the pap going from one extreme to the next.

So what's next? I've been referred to see a third doctor now for another procedure called a LEEP. I am a little confused though. The LEEP procedure is to remove abnormal cells, whether they are cancer or precancer or just plain abnormal. The problem is they haven't been able to actually SEE anything abnormal in the colposcopy so I don't know what they think they are going to remove.

I have to talk to the assistant of this other doctor directly to schedule the LEEP procedure. I called Monday morning and she was out of the office for the day. I'm hoping she can give me some more information about what the hell they really think they are going to do at this next appointment.

I'm guessing it will be another month or so before that procedure. I'm also planning to go to another clinic for a second opinion after the LEEP procedure if they haven't figured out what is going on by then.

Until then though...it is chin up and cervix jokes aplenty.

Thanks for all the emails and support. I think for the most part I am dealing with the big mysterious cervical unknown rather well. I'm also dealing with it with a lot of humor so if you think I am being inappropriate in some of my posts or emails please understand that if I don't find humor in this I will be sobbing in my bed day and night and that is really not my style.

You guys are the best and I promise to keep you posted.