Hi, 

Wanted to share my experience to see if anyone else had a similar thing happen to them. I'm 27, not on any contraception beyond using condoms and have pretty regular periods.

I was sexually active up until 2019 but then didn't have sex with anyone for a few years - mainly due to covid and having to live at home with my parents. In summer 2020 I had a smear test which came back clear. 

This year (2022) in March I started dating again and had a bit of fresh red blood during and after having sex. I initially assumed this was because it had been such a long time since I last slept with anyone but reported it to my GP regardless. I did some STI tests to rule that out but all was clear. I was referred for a pelvic ultrasound - external and internal which I had to wait weeks for but eventually had my appointment in August and everything came back clear a few weeks later.  I had no follow up from the GP after that so assumed everything was okay as I hadn't had any other symptoms and would go back if it happened again.

I took a break from dating (April - September) and recently in October had my first sexual activity since my initial bleeding. This time I had brown discharge straight after sex and then pink for the next couple of days. Reported it to my GP again who then did an in person examination and said I have an inflamed/red section on my cervix on one side so has referred me to my local gynae clinic (which has long wait times) and also did a 2 week urgent hospital referral in case it's cancer.

I'm so scared because I was so reassured by my scan coming back clear only a couple of months ago and the fact I had a clear smear test in 2020 (I've also had the HPV vaccines but appreciate they aren't 100% effective). Is there anything this could be which isn't cancer?? 

Laura xx