Cervical Cancer @ 26

A friend of mine has just been diagnosed with stage 3 Cervical Cancer :( She's 26.:o

She is yet to have a biopsy :( Its so sad, but a real slap in the face of a wake up call to have a pap smear

I'm so sorry to hear this naenae :(
What treatment is there?
It sure is a wake up call.
I don't know what to say but I really hope she gets through this xo

Im so sorry

what kind of treatment is there for this?

Yup as unpleasant as a pap smear is - if you are overdue for one - please PLEASE go for one.

It only takes a few minutes but can save your life.

I hope your friend will recover from this. My friend has stage 4 brain cancer and is doing well fighting it - so you never know!

I am so sorry to hear this ....my thought are with your friend.

Big hugs to her i hope she is able to get through this :hug:

That is very sad :( I will say a prayer for her. I second what Mel said... Its so important to keep up with ur pap tests. Even if u have never had a male sexual partner, any woman over the age of 18 should be tested regularly.

If its grade 3 its probably more CIN 3 not exactly cervical cancer but if left untreated it will lead to cervical cancer. If its CIN3 treatment for this is a LLETZ which is done under general anethetic and takes all of a few minutes (longer as you have to be put to sleep and wake up again) but it takes the top layer of cells away hopefully leaving healthy cells uneffected. Usually its very successful and no further treatment is needed for several years if not much much longer. CIN3 can be referred to as a cacinoma or type of cancer as they detect severe abnormal chancgs or cell changes that if left untreated will lead to cancer if untreated. It is actually very common in young women due to the rate of HPV (Human papoloma virus also known as the warts virus) having the virus doesn't neccessarily mean you have warts just the virus that causes cancer of the cervix and a few types will make warts appear but thats only about 1 or 2 types out of the 80types of HPV. And that is why that immunisation Gardisil came out to reduce the chances of getting HPV.

If it was full on cancer then she would need a hysterectomy but it would be unlikely to be at this stage. When the papsmear comes back and says pre-cancer cells were found and is CIN2 or 3 treatment is highly recommended. If you refused you would be doing it against medical advise.

The good news is the LLETZ should fix the problem and your friend shouldn't have any problems afterwards. It does mean they advise you not to ttc (if she was) for several months whilst everything heals and your more likely to have a hysterectomy later in life and you need more regular papsmears but with paps you can pick it up early if it came back and seek further treatment. Its very scary when Drs throw around the words cancer of the cervix but I am sure its a matter of having treatment and she will be fine.

Thanks everyone, Mildez, my friend did say it is CIN3? The Dr did say cancer of the cervix, but she said she is sure we will be fine. At this stage they aren't too sure until they go in to see what its like?

Just frightened me, and I just want to run over and give her a hug (but she's a bit of a drive away)

It makes me realise that I really do need to make time for MYSELF to go have one ...

I had CIN3 show up on my very first pap smear at age of 23 (yes slack naughty I know), I freaked out and thought I was going to die as u do when you only half listen to what is being explained as you are freaking out! GP clinic rang and said she wanted to see me the next day so 2 days after she had done pap smear, anyway I went to a clinic and they did a colposcopy and watched it every 3 months and it actually went away after 18 months, I then had pap smears every 6 months for 1 year and then yearly for 2 years and then back to 2 yearly.

Good luck to your friend