Hi Hillary!
No, you are not alone. I had laser cone surgery in 1987 for severe dysplasia of the cervix. I vaguely remember words like HPV and cancer associated with this surgery, but I was young & stupid and never asked questions... had the surgery and bam... it was gone and forgotten.
In March of this year, I scheduled my annual pap & went to the doctor complaining that I had a period that had lasted nearly 35 days with mild to moderate abdominal pain. My pap smear came back normal and my doctor told me I was starting menopause & not to worry. I am 39 years old. I accepted this, but while I was there, I also had this "small growth" on my labia majora that had been there for a couple of years and asked my doctor to remove it. She actually told me that it was nothing to worry about and though she could remove it surgically... why bother? No one but my significant other would see it anyway! I get very intimidated by doctors, but I said "No, I want it removed!" so she scheduled an in-office appointment where she removed the lesion (4 cm.) and sent me on my way stating that it would take 2-3 weeks to heal.
Three days later, this same doctors office calls me in for an appointment & my doctor tells me it was cancer and that I would need to see an OBGYN. The actual pathology report stated "Squamous cell carcinoma in situ" and extended to the lateral margins of the biopsy. This means that she did not remove it all. She also made a comment that did not seem odd to me until I had researched it a bit. She said "I don't know how you got skin cancer there... it is not really a place that we have exposed to the sun!" In hindsight, this comment alone may force me to find a new family doctor. I guess I should be grateful that she, at least, sent the removed lesion out for biopsy!
The following week, I saw an OBGYN. He also did an ultrasound right in his office and noted several cysts in/on both ovaries, the largest being 4.5 cm. in size on my right ovary. He tells me this was the cause of my irrational period and abdominal pain. He scheduled me for surgery to do a wide local excision on the lesion, as well as laparscopy to remove the cyst on my ovary & a D & C. The ovarian cyst as well as the D & C are not related to the squamous cell carcinoma in situ... just other female problems.
The surgeries were performed on May 8, 2007. He drained the cyst, performed the D & C, and did the excision. He had a biopsy done during the surgery, only to find out he had to do a bigger excision to get a clear margin. The pathology reports all came back clean & I was left with some disfigurement in my vulvar area, as the right side is stitched closed almost half way down and will stay that way. It looks a little odd, but could have been much worse. It was non-invasive VIN III, so that is the good news!
I met with the OBGYN for a follow up yesterday & he tells me all is well and all I need to do from here on out is have a pap every 6 months to ensure no future growths. Funny, but my pap was just fine in March... this was only discovered because I was vain enough to want to have this small growth removed & my doctor thought it was silly, but did it anyway.
I feel very unsettled about the entire experience. I have read alot of horror stories from women who had the surgery... got told to go home and quit worrying about it... only to be back a year or so later for a radical vulvectomy for the same thing. I asked my new OBGYN "If it was right there, how do we know it is not in other places as well?" I also have some similar looking lesions between my vagina and anus. His answer was "Well, we could go biopsying all over the place & cut & cut & cut... but unless you are having any problems... why bother?"
Today... I am "all better" but very unsettled! If you want to talk about anything, please feel free to contact me. I am a good listener. :)