One step from squamous cell carcinoma

So let me preface this by saying that since this was caught early, everything's fine. I've been going back and forth about whether to write about this because it's pretty personal, but it's something fairly prominent in my life, fresh on my mind (I got the results this morning), kind of scary, and a good lesson to all my peeps to double X chromosomes.

Two heart thumpers:

#1 When you get called to see the doctor to get your results, generally not a good sign.
#2 When the doctor gives you a copy of your test results and "STAT RESULTS!" is written in the upper corner, generally not a good sign.

So here's the different cervical cell abnormalities:

Epithelial cell abnormality
SQUAMOUS CELL
Atypical squamous cells
atypical squamous cell changes of undetermined significance ASC-US
cannot exclude high grade intraepithelial lesion ASC-H
LSIL - low-grade squamous intraepithelial dysplasia
encompassing: HPV/mild dysplasia/CIN1
HSIL - high-grade squamous intraepithelial dysplasia
encompassing: moderate or severe dysplasia, CIS/CIN-2,CIN-3
-with features suspicious for invasion (if invasion suspected)
Squamous cell carcinoma

I started off at ascus, had a colposcopy with biopsies done (results fine), then went to low-grade, had another colposcopy with biopsies done (results fine), and the news this morning is that the cells have progressed to high-grade. GREAT. With the old guidelines, I would have gotten the leep procedure done right away with the first sign of abnormal cells, but those guidelines have changed and that's why I had colpos done instead. I won't go into what the leep is...you can google it if you're curious.

My doctor was sure to tell me that my cells are still not cancerous (yay), but it's sobering looking at the information above and seeing I'm one line away from 'carcinoma'. In reality a lot of things occur between HSIL & SCC, but on paper, it's quite scary.

I also found the following information:

Abnormal Class	Regression to Normal	Progression to higher grade over 24 Months	Progression to invasive cancer over 24 Months
ASCUS	68%	7%	0.25%
LGSIL	47%	21%	0.15%
HGSIL	35%	23%	1.44%

How accurate this is, I don't know. I see both good and bad in this table.

The next step is to talk to the doctor that did the colpos and see what she recommends. My other doctor (the one I spoke to this morning) is recommending the leep procedure, but he hasn't seen the pathology results.

The moral of this story: get yearly paps done. Even if you're a dude. Just kidding! And if they say come back in 4-6 months for another one, DO IT. Don't assume abnormal cells will automatically regress. I shudder to think what might have transpired had I not sucked it up and scheduled these appointments. Because let's face it, these are not the most enjoyable appointments in the world.

I was about to say I'd rather get another kidney stone than have a pap, but that's not true. Haha! Having a kidney stone is a pretty miserable experience.