I Was Only 17!

I know that I didn't HAVE cancer yet...but was on a one way street to getting it and was very close to the turn for cancer when I found out....this is my story, sans many emotions I can not express into words......

When I was 17 years old I went in for my yearly pap test thinking how boring it always was and that I had better things to do. But I knew that I couldn't bring myself to miss even one, being that I have HPV and the risks it involves. Thankfully I didn't miss this appointment.

For the appoinment, it was pretty routine, nothing unusual. Nothing indicating the shocking news I got about a week later.

The Doctor called me and had me come in. Sitting in his office I can remember him saying that I had severe Displasia (sp)...not knowing what the heck that ment, I asked. What he told me was that there is a scale they use...mild-moderate-severe then cancer,and that  I was pretty much a step away from being cancer. I was floored! ME? At 17? I was in shock, I was crying I thought that I was going to have to go through all kinds of treatments or never be able to have children. Of course my doctor assured me I would be ok and that I would be able to have children as long as I had the LEEP procedure done and it did what it should.

I had the LEEP done (basically a little loop with an electrical current running through it which slices infected layers off the cervix). For me it was a awful thing to go through....they numbed me...or so they thought...but I felt EVERYTHING and was in tears and pain...my mother who is normally rather distant when it comes to someone being sick, held my hands ....I knew she at least understood that it hurt.

After it was over they gave me some pain killers...mild ones just to get me through the first day when the pain was the worst....mainly cramps.

After my follow up I was free of the displasia. Over the next year I went in every 6 months for check ups, after that I was back to yearly. Years pass and during that time I had a baby(with a 4 hour easy natural labor and delivery), and got married....just enjoying life.

I am now 24, this past year I had my yearly test done and it came back again with another possible case....however this time when they checked(colposcopy) they found nothing! I was so very relieved!!

I know that I will probably be up and down with this for a long time...I am on Birth control, I smoke (quitting though) and I have HPV....factors that only make my chances worse to not getting it again. I am working on one at least to up my chances a great deal...I never want to go through it again, I could not imagine it being any worse then it was. 

I do know that I will seek to have a hysterectomy (sp?) when I am 100% done having children...I know that once again the odds are against me when I get older so I want to do what I can to prevent it....even to that extreme. Cancer runs in my family, My Great Grandma lived through breast cancer and there are others in our family that have survived or passed on do to some form of cancer. so I am careful to think about how to protect myself, given that I have already come so close and would have not known in time had I not been so good about getting my yearly pap.

I know there are others out there with a moe serious case then mine...but I wanted to pass my story on in hopes that someone young like I was will read it ....know that what they say about HPV and cancer is very true and not a joke. I also know that there are others out there with similar experiences.