Advice

• By flowershoplady
• Posted June 23, 2009 at 5:30 pm
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JBO, i'm sorry to hear you needed to have a leep and i hope it successfully removed all the dysplasia (the pathology report should indicate the degree of dysplasia they found and whether the margins were clear). in response to your question, the chances of your developing anal cancer are very small statistically. similarly, the chances of your developing oral cancer is small. and the same small statistical numbers for your partner(s). knowledge is power - but it can also be scary, particularly when you're first absorbing all the information when it can be overwhelming. it's good to be aware of your physical health, have all the screening tests recommended by your doctors, and 'listen' to your body so that any problems can be detected early.

and, as for impact on future pregnancies, that would depend upon how much cervical tissue was removed during the leep. your doctor can tell you more about that. most women who have a leep will have no issues with pregnancy, but you should definitely be sure to tell your doctor when/if you're planning or become pregnant.

hope that helps.

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• By JJJ
• Posted June 23, 2009 at 11:42 pm
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I have not had a LEEP, but when I got my abnormal pap results I too was very scared, worried, stressed, & full of anxiety. Then I read that all these emotions are some of the worst things for your immune system which can affect healing my dysplasia. This might sound a little new age, but I ended up reading "The Secret" and the chapter about health and the power of your thoughts really opened my mind. Any time thoughts of fear pop into my mind, I now push those thoughts away by using positive thoughts of health & perfection. I repeat positive affirmations to myself in my mind "my body is perfect, my body is healthy, my body is healed," or whatever affirmation I need at that moment. I also found a book called "Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom" by Christiane Northrup MD to be very helpful & informative. It is all about not only using traditional medicine to heal, but holistic medicine along with it & healing with the mind. For me, using positive thoughts & constant affirmations of health has helped relax my mind from the scary thoughts. It has been proven that our thoughts have a physical affect on our body, so it could only help for you to have thoughts of healing, thoughts of a perfect cervix, thoughts that your LEEP was successful, thoughts that you are able to have children, and try to really believe it! Hope this helps! I'm still waiting for my colpo results, but until then, I will keep using my positive thoughts because living in constant fear is such a waste of energy.

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• By JBO713
• Posted June 24, 2009 at 10:27 am
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Thank you both. I just need to find ways to not think about the worst that could happen and just hope that everything turns out. I’m sure its not helping my immune system since I feel run down from the lack of sleep. My boyfriend keeps telling me not to worry about something that hasn’t happened yet because it is a waste of energy and that I could potentially be worrying for nothing. And hes right but its easier said than done. And since I pretty much has a constant reminder right now of what is happening (with bleeding, soreness), its hard to forget. Hopefully as I start to heal I stop thinking about it as much. Thanks again for the words of encouragement, its hard listening to someone who doesn’t know what you are going through, I’m glad I found this website.

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• By spacecadet0512
• Posted June 25, 2009 at 2:53 pm
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We apparently are almost on the same timeline! As you saw in my journal post, my doc gave me the green light for starting to try to get pregnant at my LEEP followup. Until I had that appt, I was very, very, very terrified. One thing that might help you is to do something, anything that makes you feel like you're taking an active role in fighting this weirdness going on in your body. In my case, I started an herbal regimen that is helping to build my immune system and therefore fight the dysplasia. It's very easy to slip into victim mode, especially with something like this that you can't see or really control. Maybe an herbal regimen isn't for you, but maybe starting an exercise program, doing some affirmation exercises like JJJ suggested, etc. might be. In reality, there's really nothing you can do between now and your followup to change the results....but you can either spend the time being scared and exhausted or building yourself up. As far as your boyfriend, we know that the men in our lives have the best intentions in the world, but they just will never understand what it's like to deal with the issues that sometimes occur in the female body. My husband has been as supportive as can be, but he struggles to put it into context.

Keep us posted!

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• By JBO713
• Posted June 25, 2009 at 4:19 pm
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I am putting all of my energy into being healthy. I do work out on a regular basis but I have been taking it easy since the surgery. I think I might wait a little longer before I start doing that, its only been a week, I did yoga at day 4 and I’m hoping that wasn’t too much. I am taking vitamins now, trying to eat more vegetables, cutting out caffeine, replacing coffee for green tea. Any other recommendations? I actually got a decent amount of sleep last night so I feel a lot better today. And even though I know my boyfriend doesn’t understand how I feel, but he has been so great, better than I ever expected. I will definitely keep everyone posted. Thanks again.

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