Why a smear test is vital (My Experience of Cervical Cancer)

Member Name: flossy

Product:	My Experience of Cervical Cancer
Date:	30/03/01 (432 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: smear tests are the only way to dedect it

Disadvantages: They arent 100% accurate

Cervical cancer is the sixth most common killer in women. It has no early warning signs and hardly any symptoms. The only chance of catching this terrible disease is by having a smear test.

A smear test is a very simple test and involves the scrapping of the cervix to collect a few surface cells. These are then sent off to the lab for examination. The lab technician will then grade the results depending on what has been seen. The grades are from 1-6. 1 means normal, 2 borderline, 3 abnormal, 4 mild, 5 moderate and 6 severely abnormal.

If your result is normal then you will just be advised to have another smear in three years. If its borderline or mild then a repeat smear will be done in six-12 months. This is because even slight infections or thrush will show up as cells changes. If you get a moderate or severe abnormalites then you will be referred to a colopscopy clinic.

This clinic gives a consultant a chance to have a clear look at the cervix and make a decision on what to do. A magnifing instrument is used, which although doesnt actually show the cells, it does show the fine blood vessels that run through the cervix. These blood vessels develop in a characteristic way during cell changes so it is this that will make the consultants decision for him.

If he feels that there is a risk of cancer he uses laser treatment to burn of the abnormal cells. It doesnt cause any problems to the cervix but if left, there is a huge chance of these abnormal cells turning to cancer.

This is why smear tests are so important. Let me share with you my story......

Im like most people, and the thought of having a smear test doesnt put a smile on my face. It was that time though, so off I went to the doctors and was glad when it was over and done with. I didnt think at all about it until I receieved a call from my doctor whilst I was at work a couple of weeks later. He explained that my result had come back as severe abnormalities.
He would refer me straight away to the Coloposcopy clinic and hopefully they would be able to catch the problem before it got any worse.

I was terrified. My daughter was only a baby. It just wasnt fair. I had regulary gone for smear tests in the past so how could this happen to me?

My appointment for the clinic arrived and my ever faithful husband took the day of work to come with me. What happens is that you sit in a chair thats a bit like a dentists chair gone wrong. You end up sitting with your knees up by your ears so not only is it embrassing but also uncomfortable. There was a consultant and three nurses present and they done their best to put me at ease. A small camera is used so the images are beamed onto a monitor and the consultant explains to you what he is doing and what he is seeing. I found this very useful as you can actually see things rather than being bombarded with techinal words.

The consultant explained to me that there area of abnormalities was very large and he would have to use a laser to burn them off. A nurse stood there holding my hand the whole time he done this. It took maybe half an hour and the pain was the same as a fairly bad period pain. Once he done this he took a biopsy to check for a tumour. He told me that he thought it would be a tumour because the cells changes were so severe and over such a large area. He said not to worry because hopefully he had managed to get rid of all the cells.

The treatment was very upsetting and what I had been told froze my very soul. It seemed that at the age of 26 I had cancer of the cervix.

I had another appointment to report back to the clinic once the results of the bioposy was back. Once again I faced the constultant and awaited the news. He told me that he couldnt quite believe it but it turns out that I didnt have a tumour after all. He said that he had never in his years as a doctor seen such a "mess" that turned out to be just abnormal
cells. He told me that I should count myself very very lucky indeed and ALWAYS make sure that I have smear tests on a yearly basis.

Two years later I had another abnormal smear. It wasnt as bad this time as it was a grade 4 but once again I had to have the laser treatment and once again I was told that I must have regualar smears.


If I hadnt had been to the doctors when I did I am sure, from what the consultanst said, that I would have devloped cervical cancer to me, that consultant saved my life.

I know that smear test arent a very pleasant thing to have done but they do only take a few minutes and that few minutes could end up saving your life.

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