Back in January I had to go in for my regualr pap test. Well it turns out it came back abnormal again. My past few have been abnormal, have had to have a colposcopy and biopsy done a couple times before, but always came back okay. This time in January, as it came back abnormal again, I had to have another colposcopy and biopsy, but when I went in, they told me I have HPV, though back in June nothing had shown up and I have been with the same person for over a year. Well, when the results came back from the tests, I have moderate/severe cell changes, so they wanted me to have LEEP done.
I just had LEEP done on the 30th, 2 days ago. Although they had numbed me, I still felt everything. I had severe cramping and bled for a little while the first day, then I stopped bleeding, but the cramps have continued. My stomach and lower abdomen is really swelled up and I am still having bad cramps, hurts to bend over, even to walk sometimes. I called my doctor and asked if swelling is normal, but all I was told was to watch my symptoms, and if it persists, then call them back. My stomach right now looks like I am 3 or 4 months pregnant, so it is worrying me. I have not bled since a little after the procedure, just have like a yellowish, smelly discharge.
My question is, has anyone that has had LEEP done ever swelled up like this afterwards? I have been searching the boards for a while now, and have not found anything about someone experiencing the same. Also, I was wondering is, I am only 18, have not had any children yet, although, I would love to have a couple of my own one day.. But could the LEEP procedure cause me to have a problem with getting pregnant one day? My doctor said it all should be fine because all he had to remove was tissue the size of a nickel. (He asked me if I would like to see it, and of course my reply was no. lol) I am worried about the swelling, and the results that I will get back because cancer runs high in my family, but I don't think anyone has ever developed cervical cancer, and I know that HPV can eventually cause a person to develop cervical cancer. The doctor says my cells have changed very quickly because of the HPV, so that makes me even more worried about the results I will be getting back. Also, if it turns out if I do have cancer.. will that stop me from having children? I love kids and I can't wait to have my own one day, I am wanting to wait until I am done with college to have a couple. (I am in college for Pediatric Nursing). I am just really worried and stressed out about all of this, I try talking to my family about it, but they just seem to make things worse, but my boyfriend is being very supportive and taking good care of me through this tough time I am having. So if anyone could help, clue me in, anything, PLEASE reply to me. I would like to hear from people that have gone through the same experience of having LEEP done, or anyone that knows anything about it all. I am desperate. My doctors are not giving me enough information.
Thanks to everyone who has read this, and Thank you in advance to anyone who might reply to this.
i too had some swelling after, i thought it was mind over matter or something...LOL. i was very bloted and felt yucky, i do not even bloat that bad during periods, i had it march 8th and i am still bloted occasionally. i still have the discharge as well, i bought female deoderant sprays my doctor recommended. i felt like i smelled to the general population no matter how often i showered! the LEEP is not supposed to mess with fertility, you may if you were to get pregnant soon still have athinner cervix, but if he took a small amount that should not interfere with you still. i have heard of some women needing their cervix sewn closed (i forget the term) during pregnancy, b ut they had a very thin cervix. i thinl i answered everything if not ask away!
i too had some swelling after, i thought it was mind over matter or something...LOL. i was very bloted and felt yucky, i do not even bloat that bad during periods, i had it march 8th and i am still bloted occasionally. i still have the discharge as well, i bought female deoderant sprays my doctor recommended. i felt like i smelled to the general population no matter how often i showered! the LEEP is not supposed to mess with fertility, you may if you were to get pregnant soon still have athinner cervix, but if he took a small amount that should not interfere with you still. i have heard of some women needing their cervix sewn closed (i forget the term) during pregnancy, b ut they had a very thin cervix. i thinl i answered everything if not ask away!
Thank you for writing me back! I was so worried about everything, not knowing what was normal and what wasn't. I'm happy there's boards like these to hear stories of people that has had the same experience.. makes me feel not so alone. My bloating has gone down quite a bit. I still don't feel "normal" like before the procedure, but I guess I won't until I am completely healed. Mostly because of the discharge.. it's like I feel like everyone can smell me. lol Can I get the feminine deoderant sprays that are at the store? Is that what your doctor had said? Do they help? lol I'm desperate when it comes to that, I'm very self concious.. so when I have a little smell, it bugs me. But thank you very much for writing me! It made me feel a lot better and made my worries mostly disappear. (I'm still worried about the results I'll be getting back from the doc.. but I'm hoping for the best.) See you around!
sorry for the delay in responding, i was not able to log in for a week! my doctor did say i could use over the counter sprays such as FDS, summers eve imtimate cleanser or other things like that. the feminine depderant spray "made me feel cleaner" and i used the wash to clean, a couple times a day as i felt dirty from the discharge too, i could smell it while using the restroom and wondered if others could too, but did not notice it after using the spray. hope this helps.
Hi,
I am a pediatric nurse. I am writing, because I have recently been just as scared as you, having my second bout with an abnormal pap (six years since the first) that showed on byopsy to be a high grade lesion, mod to severe dysplasia. I don't know what it is, but being a nurse you read everything in your medical books and find out all you can to educate yourself further when the words poss cancer are concerned. It is the scariest thing ever, I mean you read the staging and how HPV causes cancer, your life flashes in front of you.
Even though, we as nurses know cervical cancer is 99% curable when caught early, and that abnormal cells do not mean you necessarily have cancer, it is hard to think you might not be that 1% that is unlucky. When you have a scare it is hard to think straight and it is stressful to think now that you have HPV you have to watch yourself the rest of your life so you do not end up with cancer.
Many people have written me on this board, they have given me wonderful information, lots already known because I am a nurse. What has been great is these wonderful people say, hey, I am there in your shoes or have been. It is nice to have a support group.
I have been afraid of not being able to have more kids if I did have cancer, however, in talking to my doc, this is very unlikely as long as you care for yourself. Get your regular checkups. I have had the HPV for the last 6 years and had my cervix frozen before with mod dysplasia. I know it was not the leep but I have had two perfect pregnancies and two excellent vag deliveries with no probs. I knew in my heart with the leep I would prob be ok getting preg. I just talked with my dr. about that and she reiterated that she only takes a small area of the cervix therefore not effecting it as much as you would think. You would need many procedures to your cervix before you had any issues. And as many will tell you on the board, there are many things to do if your cervix is incompetent.
I AM CONCERNED ABOUT YOU THOUGH anytime you have swelling of the abdomen along with a smelly discharge that is YELLOW in color, you would have to think infection. please ignore me if you talked to your dr already. I thought after these kind of procedures or anything being done to your cervix ie: cryo, trauma from childbirth, you should have a bloody show poss at first then a serosanguinous drainage, and as time progresses a brownish tinged drainage. Yellow or green drainage is usually a sign of infection ( I am sure you already know this being in nursing school). When your abd hurts etc, I think more like Pelvic Inflammatory Disease or something similar.
Like many people have reassured me, I am going to reassure you, you will be fine. You will live to see your grandkids someday, you will graduate school and alls this whole ordeal with do with you (things happen for a reason) is make you a better nurse. You will be able to be more understanding of your patients when they are scared about something. Athough, I have been scared of not being able to have another kid it was because of that chance that I could have cancer, and need a hysterectomy, although that chance is soooooooooo low. I know for a fact this stuff doesn't interfere with childrearing, and if you read my two messages on the board, there is a letter from a scientist who is knowledgable on pap smears and was able to reassure me that this dysplasia is most likely not that fast growing. She wrote, the pap smears just do not cover the whole cervix, thus missing small areas of growth (think of it, when they do your pap smear, they do not swab your whole surface of your cervix). That is why you can all of a sudden have such a severe abd byopsy.
I still have to have the leep, can't wait.
I definitly know though, that if I go through what you are with the colored dyscharge swelling and smells, I would talk immed to the dr. Infection is a real possibility after this procedure for at least 6 weeks.
I hope I've helped you. You sound a lot like me. What kind of ped nurse do you want to be??? I used to work in the NICU.
Well take care of you, rest so you can heal
JEN
Curious and Worried 
Re: Curious and Worried 
My bloating has gone down quite a bit. I still don't feel "normal" like before the procedure, but I guess I won't until I am completely healed. Mostly because of the discharge.. it's like I feel like everyone can smell me. lol Can I get the feminine deoderant sprays that are at the store? Is that what your doctor had said? Do they help? lol I'm desperate when it comes to that, I'm very self concious.. so when I have a little smell, it bugs me. But thank you very much for writing me! It made me feel a lot better and made my worries mostly disappear. (I'm still worried about the results I'll be getting back from the doc.. but I'm hoping for the best.) See you around! 
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