u/0mondo

Hi everyone,

I’m new to this sub but am really glad I found it within the last week. I had a cold-knife cone biopsy on Tuesday and am really struggling.

I just kind of want to share my experience and vent to people who have also gone through it/are also currently going through it. For reference, I’m 31 years old.

So, I’d been lax in getting my annual paps the last couple years. A lot of it is due to lack of health insurance, and a part of it is definitely trauma-related after an unwanted pregnancy years ago.

Last November, I started a new job and am incredibly grateful and lucky to have really good health insurance now. I set doctor’s appointments in motion as soon as I could, prioritizing GYN care as I was having really strange periods. I used to get my periods very consistently, but all of a sudden they were light, irregular, and sometimes would go on for weeks at a time (my longest one was about a month, which was miserable). So I called around to different GYN offices, and most told me I couldn’t be seen as a new patient until almost a year out. I finally found one that could see me the same week.

To say my experience with this specific GYN was awful is an understatement. I was ignored when I requested a female provider and was given a man, and the list goes on and on. The one shred of credit I will give him is that he gave me 3 referrals: 1 for a transvaginal ultrasound (exploring possibility of PCOS, polycystic lesions were found), 1 for bloodwork which led to me needing an MRI because of high prolactin (they found an adenoma on my pituitary gland), and a colposcopy.

I had to wait weeks upon weeks for each of these appointments. I finally got my colposcopy done May 1, in which they took 2 biopsies. They found precancerous cells and referred me to a GYN oncologist who scheduled my cone biopsy.

I’ve been honestly a mess about this whole thing. What I thought was one issue has been revealed to be several different things at play now. And while this was a pretty months-long process, the issues being identified have been pretty close together. Example: I found out about the adenoma less than a week before getting my colposcopy done.

I had my cone biopsy done this past Tuesday. I’m recovering well for the most part but am uncomfortable/crampy, and the Motrin they prescribed me isn’t helping much. I’m also doing my best not to go nuts waiting for the pathology report to come back. My post-op follow up is on July 13th and it’s almost all I can think about.

I’m not sure what I’m looking for in terms of responses to this. But I just wanted to share, and I welcome anyone who wants or needs to commiserate.

Sending love to anyone who reads this in its entirety. Take care.