HPV Type Test, Women and Men: Visit London Same Day

My Missions is to share my HPV Clinic Story

By Michele Part II

My husband and I began to cry and think about where we’d want to see ourselves in 5, 10, 20 years. We talked about the children we didn’t have yet, the doctoral program I hadn’t finished, and how our lives would change if it did turn out to be advanced CC.

When she called to give me the results, she told me it was CIN III. I was cautioned by her not to get wrapped up in the labels- even though some say it’s stage 0- and that what was most important was that we had caught it early.

She said I should have a LEEP.

I tell you, I couldn’t schedule that appointment fast enough. It all seemed so precarious; one small wind sway, and I’d be on the wrong side of the cancer fence.

How can someone go from over a decade of normal Paps to low-grade ASCUS to CIN III in just one year? And what about all those Paps I’d gotten? Did they always need a spot? And then came the more logical questions. How did I not know about co-testing? I live in New York City. You can’t walk one block without seeing a public health message for any ailment, but I’d never seen one for co-testing.

What is co-testing?

And how about any doctor I’d ever been to? Why didn’t they mention it to me? Did they even know about co-testing? And what really blew me away was that I seemed so healthy, so asymptomatic.

The LEEP went very well; she told me to return in three months and then again three months later. It had been six months since all this, and we were given the go-ahead to start trying for a baby. This was great news. This is when I felt strong enough to take action and turn the hours of research and emotions that my husband and I stumbled through into leadership action because I didn’t want anyone else to have my experience.

As I got deeper into learning everything I could about the type of HPV, I was fortunate enough to learn something that no other provider had mentioned – that two-thirds of women who present with high-risk cervical dysplasia also present with strains on the anus.

My one-year post-LEEP appointment

I told my doctor about what I’d read, and she said she knew about this but felt I didn’t meet the at-risk criteria because I had no history of anal sex. We talked about the “superhighway of transmission”, as she called it, between a woman’s front and backside, but even so, she thought I had nothing to worry about. She must have asked me a half dozen times if I was sure I wanted the test. I think she was more uncomfortable than I was. But since we all thought I’d fight off the cervical infection after that first co-test, and I wound up with CIN III, I didn’t want another surprise.

Waiting for the results

Waiting for the results was exhausting. Seven days later, she phoned me, and her first words were how sorry she was to tell me that my cervical Pap came back low-grade ASCUS, and if that wasn’t enough to stop me in my tracks, she said the anal co-test showed inconclusive Pap but was positive. I was crushed. My cervical dysplasia came back.

And now I had to deal with anal HPV?

Then she told me that she was embarrassed for thinking I was nuts and “one of those patients” when I asked for the anal co-testing because I had taught her something. I have to tell you, as a health educator by training and profession, this was exhilarating. I had taught a doctor something!

But as a patient, that does not want you to want to hear.

Then she told me that she felt my about with Papilloma was beyond her scope, and it would be best if she referred me to a gynaecological oncologist. She asked if I had a paper and pen to write down the information, and when I didn’t say anything, she asked if I was still on the line.

I had been walking down Fifth Avenue during rush hour and cut into Central Park to sit down. I can tell you exactly what I wore that day and that it was warm and sunny. And even though the park was full, children playing after school, puppies and strollers at every turn, it was as if someone had hit the mute button on the entire city. It was dream-like.

Seeing a specialist

All I could hear was the hollow din of the word “oncologist” ringing in my head. I made that appointment in record time! Two days later, when I noticed how late I was, I eagerly and apprehensively took a home pregnancy test.

Eager because I so badly wanted it to be positive. Apprehensively, because what if it was positive? Didn’t we have enough going on right now? Within seconds, the little plus sign appeared. I was officially 100 per cent pregnant. I screamed with delight. Finally! After seven months of trying.

Success!!

That week is forever broken into two separate occasions for me. I’m referring you to an oncologist. I’m pregnant. I’d be hard-pressed to think of two other words you’d least want to hear in the same sentence besides “pregnant” and “oncologist.”

At the oncology appointment, she did a colposcopy, and it did show one small spot that turned white, but she felt it was best to let it be undelivered and that I should come back at the start of my second and third trimesters to make sure it hadn’t advanced. As for the results from the anal co-testing, she referred me to a general colorectal surgeon who couldn’t see me for another month.

It seemed like a long wait, given how weak my body seemed at keeping the cervical dysplasia under control. But we also were clearly beginning to understand the passive-aggressive nature of the type of virus and how one month in “HPV years” is nothing.