i guess it could be worse…

I got the results of my tests today, and the news is not as good as I was hoping. I have what they call “moderate dysplasia,” which essentially means pre-cancerous cells. Initially they had thought that it was mild, but after the biopsy they determined that it was, in fact, worse than that.

The picture to the right is so pretty, you wouldn’t think that it is a photo of a disease, an abnormality, something very wrong inside my body. It kind of looks like images of distant galaxies (like the famous one of the Horsehead Nebula ) — vast areas of space, billions of stars, dust and gases, nebulas and lights. Beautiful to look at, but the beauty is just a façade for the danger (and often incomprehensibility) that is its true nature.

Philosophy aside, the good news is that it can be treated, and most of the time the treatment takes care of it. They will do “cryosurgery,” which is exactly what it sounds like — freezing to remove the abnormal cells. That comes up in about 3 weeks. I think it’s going to be pretty unpleasant, but I don’t have to have anaesthesia or anything.

I have learned that it’s fairly common for women to have this. Which doesn’t exactly make it any easier, but I guess that I’m just thankful that they caught it before it progressed to later stages. The miracles of modern science.