melgreeneyes

Hi Jen - and congrats on your one year mark as well as your nursing career! I wish I could be a nurse - but I am not good with blood, had my LEEP today and was fine but couldn't even watch when they hooked me up to my IV!
I also hate the smell of hospitals and all that sterile, alcohol smell - just freaks me out.

Anyway - I do have a few questions. Were you ever tested for HPV throughout the years of your normal paps? I believe they began using the HPV test more and more about 5 years ago - tho it has been around longer. That said, the test is not perfect and can give false positives and negatives as well. Many women who test positive for HPV go on to have a colposcopy and nothing is found, but better to be safe then sorry. The scarier part is those who test negative who really do have HPV. Take me for example - I've had normal paps all my life, but who knows when i first got HPV! My first abnormal pap back in October showed negative hpv. I went back 6 months later and 'thankfully' it showed high risk hpv which then prompted a colpo - and that found CINII. I had my LEEP today - so if there is any cancer lurking in my endocervical canal or around the transformation zone I am confident it will be found.

My only other question for you is i take it you had no symptoms right? I do know there are some risk factors that increase your risk of cervical cancer - I have some but not all.

Risks are;
I use to smoke off and on but quit.
I took the birth control pill off and on for years.

Non-risks are;
I didn't begin having sex until later in life - they claim if you first had sex early on it increases your risk of HPV, not sure why tho!
I have no children.
I live a pretty healthy lifestyle - exericise, eat right, get a lot of rest.

Anyway - the thing (HPV and cancer) is scary and mysterious, and it is unfortunate that they are still not detecting it as early as they should.

Thank heavens you were able to treat yours and are now cured.

God Bless!
Mel