hcd03 Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 It's every woman's worry that eventually some health issue might arise that could change their lives drastically. And the question usually is, am I doing everything i can to prevent it? About a year ago, a pap smear of mine came back abnormal. For the past three tests (1 every three months to monitor it), it has continued to be abnormal but hasn't progressed to cancer nor regressed to healthy. Because of this, the doctor I've gone to has just decided to say, "we won't do anything right now. It's not changing so we'll see you in a year for another pap." That scares the crap out of me. What if we leave it unmonitored for a year and when I go back find out it's progressed to cancer, or even a higher stage of cancer? Has anyone had experience with cervical cancer? Or even just abnormal pap smears? What did your doctors recommend? I guess I'm concerned because I don't like the thought of just not bothering with it for a year. And yes, I understand that this would just be opinions only, not potential diagnosis. Link to post Share on other sites
LucreziaBorgia Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 What class was your pap? I know below a class 3 they will usually watch and wait before doing a procedure. Many years ago, I got a class 4 pap smear. It was cancer, but it was not invasive. I got laser surgery, and for the next year or so the paps were coming back ok. Three years after the first procedure, I got another class 4 pap and had to have even more surgery. Now 15 years later, I'm still getting normal paps. Of course, I have cancer of a different sort now, but my paps are normal. If you are uncomfortable with what your gyno is doing, don't be afraid to get a second opinion from another doctor. Link to post Share on other sites
Amy22 Posted April 8, 2008 Share Posted April 8, 2008 I had abnormal paps for one whole year. It ended up being nothing and went away. I now have normal paps. My GYN told me sometimes hormones can cause paps to be abnormal. Mine was a very low risk though. Did they say what type of cells were abnormal. They did do a colposcopy on me where they can take samples of the abnormal cells. But they couldn't find any abnormal cells, though my paps continued to show I did have abnormal cells. Like I said they ended up being normal again but for a whole year they were abnormal. If you find out more about what was abnormal you can do some research and it will tell you more. Good luck Amy Link to post Share on other sites
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