Cervical Cancer - my story for anyone who can shed some light/advice

Danish1026

I am a new member to the ACS survivor page as I’m looking for help and support in my most recent health related issues. Here’s my story:

My name is Dana. I’m a 24 (1 week shy of 25) year old Radiologic Technologist at a hospital in my home town. For most of my life, I’ve struggled with miscellaneous health issues. For example, at 18 they discovered a large DVT in my right leg that ultimitaley lead to my diagnosis with Factor V Leiden. For anyone unfamiliar, Factor V is a genetic mutation that causes my blood to clot a lot easier than the average person especially when clotting factors are introduced into my body. The biggest being hormones, estrogen specifically. This kept me from utilizing conventional birth control aside from condoms. 

When I was 22, I became pregnant with my boyfriend at the time who I was in a very volatile and emotionally abusive relationship with; and on July 27, 2015 I made the hardest decision of my life to have a D&C. Prior to the procedure I discussed my options with the OB to have an IUD put in and was informed that even with my Factor V, the Mirena IUD was safe and a minimal risk factor of clotting for me as it is estrogen free (only using progesterone) and had it placed during the D&C.

In addition to my Factor V and feminine history, I’ve had digestive issues for as long as I can remember. As of two years ago I was diagnosed with IBS and multiple food sensitivities, which seemingly answered all of my digestive questions until recently. 

After the D&C I ended my toxic relationship and was not sexually active until roughly 9-10 months ago. During this time I started to experience more painful sexual encounters and even bleeding afterwards. My periods had also become very abnormal, which I had been writing off as a side effect of my IUD. 

I can remember one instance specifically towards the end of June (this year) where I was having intense pelvic pain/cramping, bleeding after intercourse and incredibly tender breasts and thought, “maybe I’m pregnant”, because these were all symptoms similar to that of what I experienced when I pregnant in 2015. I took 4 home pregnancy tests; half were positive and half were negative. The next day I made an emergency appointment with my Primary doctor who ordered a quantitative (blood) HCG that resulted in a numerical value of <2, meaning there was no way I was pregnant nor having a miscarriage. 

The next step we took in trying to figure out what was the reason for all my strange symptoms (now adding false positive uHCGs to it) was to do a Pap smear. I was a little overdue for one anyway as I hadn’t had one in about 2 years. Generally, I’ve had them annually since 16 and never before had one with abnormal results of any kind. For timekeeping purposes, I had my pap done on July 18, 2017 and was informed about 2 weeks later over the phone that the results were normal. 

I’ve since then been informed that they were actually abnormal (trust me I’m incredibly angry/dissapointed in the misinformation). My pap showed that I tested positive for LGSIL. I was referred to and met with an OB-NP on 10/11/17 who informed me that because my precancerous cells are only at a low-grade level (rather than HGSIL:high-grad), the ACS recommends that age be the determinant factor as to whether or not a biopsy will be preformed. For anyone unfamiliar with the specific age recommendations, the ACS recommends that the pap be re-preformed in a years time for anyone under the age of 25 and biopsied if abnormal again. Please note, I’m 24. My birthday is 10/26/1992, meaning that I’ll be 25 in a week. 

I’m scared, angry, confused and very much overwhelmed. I’ve made a 2nd opinion appointment with another OB on 10/30 (strategically after my 25th birthday) but wanted to reach out for advice and support from people who may have experienced anything similar to me. 

 

MAbound

Bottom Line

I have advanced uterine cancer rather than cervical, but I think my advice is till valid in your circumstances.

Given that you're dealing with an abnormal pap smear with pre-cancerous cells, my advice to you is to get an opinion from a gyn-oncologist who is a gynecologist that specializes in just women's cancer ASAP. OB/gyn's are to women's cancers what a general practitioners are to obstetrics. They just don't have the same level of expertise when it comes to dealing with these kinds of cancer. A gyn-oncologist will be able to be much more definitive on what course of action you should take. The possibility of progressing to full blown cervical cancer is no joke and you need to be aggressive rather than wait-and-watch about heading it off before it can take hold. You are so very young to be facing what may be some very tough decisions in the very near future, so please look into what kind of options you'd have consider so you are prepared to discuss them if they are brought up. Good luck.