Smear tests,NOT always right !! (My Experience of Cervical Cancer)

Member Name: MAURY

Product:	My Experience of Cervical Cancer
Date:	04/04/01 (280 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Smears can be life saving if done properly

Disadvantages: A bit of inconvenience for a short while

I don't usually write ops like this, too personal for me.What changed my mind was reading 'flossy's' op on this subject.I would urge whoever reads this to read flossy's op too.

Before I begin my op I want to make it clear that I think smears are vital....if done properly,obviously all the better.

I found out I was pregnant 6 weeks after marriage, I was 20.Lived in a new area, had no GP.Thought I would look in the phone book and find myself one.I did this and sat excited in the waitng room, waiting to get my letter of referral for the ante-natal unit.

The doctor did a routine smear, and checked out 'me other bits'.I knew something was not quite right though, when he said he wanted to have a peek with his new 'toy',in the form of a colposcope.(he is no longer a GP though,he now has his own private colposcopy clinic)

My letter was not a referral to the ante-natal unit, but to the gynaecology unit.
The consultant was quite abrupt...'he is only a GP, not a damned expert' he mumbled.He did a smear,came back clear.Spent the next few weeks going from GP to hospital and back again.Great fun !!

Well the gynae consultant discharged me and referred me to ante-natal....guess who my consultant was, the same one I had just left.Filled out all the forms e.t.c, then followed a look at me 'nether regions'-again.

This time he was concerned,made me wait while he made a phonecall....to book me in for an emergency appointment at a specialist unit.Next day,off I popped.Had that nasty examination,wearing the J.cloths on my feet stinking of hospitals...I knew that as my feet were only inches from either side of my nose.What a vision !!!

Well, it was confirmed, several dodgy growths were detected (sorry-don't much like the 'c' word)It was recommended that I have a termination and part hysterectomy.I wasn't having any of that, if this was to be the only child
I could have,then have it I will.

So followed many months of twice weekly visits to the unit,with many months of,ummm, very uncomfortable treatments (I will spare you the details)biopsies, photos of my inner parts (hardly family photo album stuff !!),nice.

That was until the later stages of pregnancy,when the womb and surrounding parts are so bruised it is impossible to detect anything,so I am told.

Off to hospital I went,as I had managed to get myself toxaemia aswell(don't know what its called now changed names many times over the years).

I had my baby,my beautiful little boy,had to be induced two weeks early,due to all the above wotnots.Nice, long labour,secateurs(my pet name for those awful things) at the end aswell.Don't think the little one wanted to come out when he saw who was to be his mother !!Worth every last second though, he really was.

After a very short period of time,to let me bits and bobs settle,tests resumed with a vengeance.It seemed the pregnancy hormones had stabilized the condition somewhat.So I was booked into the unit for laser treatment.
But no, laying there in all my glory, tests showed that it had got a bit worse in a very short time.So off I had to go to the hospital to have a 'small part' of the cervix removed.

Went in for my op - came round with all sorts of tubes and things hanging from every orifice, in extreme pain.The consultant decided to plonk himself down and tell me it was even worse than they thought.I had had a much bigger part of the cervix removed.Like I understood what he was going on about, I just wanted him to leave me alone in my hazey little world,floating about 3 foot above the bed.

Well some days later the registrar came in to explain to me and my husband that I would not be able to have anymore children, not conceive,and if I ever did conceive, certainly never be able to carry a child.

My GP explained and drew graphic diagrams
about smears.He told me that a smear MUST be thorough, must be a smear of the whole cervical area.He told me most smears are not thorough.Mine obviously had not been thorough.I don't mean to come across as flip in anyway in my op,I was very worried and very scared in all that time.I was also quite confused and angry,as the condition was associated with promiscuity,I certainly was not that.I thank that GP from the bottom of my heart.If it were not for him,I would not be here now.

I went on to give birth to three more beautiful children.Defiant moo are'nt I !!

**UPDATE**
I have had a lot of kind comments left, but I wanted to add that I did not do this op for a pat on the back (too many others out there deserve pats on the back...you'll have terrible arm ache :) ) I want to get the message across that smears are not always right.I was very young at the time, I go with my instincts now.

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