surgery to remove cysts

[riotgrrl]

last year when i had gastric bypass i woke up to my surgeon telling me that his resident saw a cyst and they had removed some of it and biopsied it. came back negative and was told to see my gyno. i saw my gyno and after a pelvic exam, ultrasound, and mri she decided to put me on antibiotics because i had a large cyst and fluid in my right tube. she wanted to wait 3 months and if it was still there she would operate.

i had the follow up ultrasound last week and i knew i was going to get a phone call from my obgyn telling me i was heading to the o.r. it came today. my surgery is scheduled for march 16th. i have cysts on both ovaries and a lot of fluid, more than a few months ago. she said the left cyst is not that big and she will be able to remove it without taking the ovary/tube. but the right one is too big and i will be loosing my ovary.

so has anyone been through this? if so, did you have kids afterwards? i am 23 and don't have kids yet but still want them..someday.

[LIZNKEITH]

Not personally, but one of my best friends went through a similar situation. When she was pregnant with her DD, her Dr.'s discovered during a routine u/s that she had a cyst on one of her ovaries. As her pregnancy progressed, the cyst began to grow at an alarming rate and was hindering the growth of her DD. She underwent surgery at 6 months pregnant to have it removed. They did have to remove her ovary and fallopian tube.

She was worried how it would affect her fertility, but it did not cause any problems. She conceived her DS in 3 months.

If you've lost an ovary, the other ovary will just pick up its slack. The belief that ovaries rotate production each month is a bit of a myth. Whichever ovary houses the more mature follicle is the one that will release the egg. If there is only one ovary there, it will be the one to produce the mature follicle.

On the other hand, your supply will be diminished. Since women do not continue to replenish their egg supply, you'll lose roughly half. So, your window of fertility may be cut short.

I hope that helps answer some of your questions. I'm really sorry that you are having to go through this. (((HUGS)))

[southerner]

I only have one ovary (my right was removed in 1998, it was cancerous). I chart and have regular cycles. I ovulate each month. I have not tried to get pg yet, but many many people w/ only one ovary are successful getting pg.

Good luck!

[riotgrrl]

thank you for the answers.
i am a bit worried because i wasn't planning on trying to have kids untill i hit 30 or so but i know i just have to worry about my health right now and whatever happens later will happen.

[pocket]

if the cyst is benign i would absolutely get a second opinion. you might not need to lose your ovary. lots of ob/gyn's are not very sensitive to fertility retention in a woman of your age with no fertility concerns. while it is true that you can make do with only one ovary, they might want to at least leave your tube. please get a second opinion. once it's gone, it's gone.

hey! i am having my ovary removed 3 days before you! march 13.

[Delaney21]

I definitely agree with pocket, you should get a second opinion just to be sure.

When I was 15 I had a cyst that split my ovary in half. They were able to sew my ovary back together, but they weren't sure if it would work properly so I was always worried about getting pregnant. When it came time to TTC that was always on my mind, but I now have a happy, healthy 3 month old!

[riotgrrl]

i have gotten two opinions really. my gastric bypass surgeon was the one who originally found it and told me it was really big. my obgyn has been monitoring it since then. i have had 2 ultrasounds and an mri plus been on a few rounds of antibiotics to make the fluid in my right tube go away. the cyst has gotten bigger since the first ultrasound and with my family history of cancer (mom died of cancer that originated in the uterus) she wants to remove the cysts now. we waited six months just to be sure it wasn't going away. and it isn't.

she said she will try her best to save my right ovary but she does not think it will be possible because of how large that cyst is. i know the risks, i won't say that possibly having a hard time with concieving later on doesn't scare me but i am very confident in my doctor and feel she is taking the right course of treatment for me.

i guess i just wanted to hear that this has happened to other ccers and that they went on to concieve so thank you for answering my questions :)

[Phen]

Will you be having a laprascopic surgery? My first oopherectomy (also very cysty) was not done laprascopically and it was a rather difficult recovery for me; my second oopherectomy, last month, was done laprascopically and was far easier, recovery-wise.

Good luck!

~ phen

[riotgrrl]

i am going in friday for surgery.
i am not having it done lap :( the right cyst is 10cm and really she said too big to have it done lap.
the left cyst is 4cm if it is still present during surgery she will remove it but she doesnt expect to have to remove that ovary.

she said 4-6 weeks out of work. i told her i am expecting to be fine to goto work after 2 and if i felt ok would she release me and she said yes..so hopefully.

i know what to expect going in lap. not open so we will see.

she said it is a solid mass so she suspects a dermoid cyst but she will have a pathologist check for cancer before she closes me up..she will have prelimnary results then and final results 1 week later..

depending if my cyst did any damnage to my right fallopian tube..she will leave it there if it didnt or remove it if it is damnaged or if the pathologist suspects cancer..

thanks everyone for your info. im nervous but ill be fine. just worried about being out of work for so long :(

[Phen]

Good luck! The big difference between lap and open, for me, was (sorry!) the pain level. My surgeon on the open surgery put in this neat gizmo that basically fed pain meds directly into the incision for two days (in addition to the lovely morphine drip). Once home from the hospital, I was on pain meds for about a week and a half, compared to just about five days with the lap. Finally, the incision wasn't pretty (he went in through my c-section scar, which had been small, now it's bigger), but perhaps that's because he ended up removing an ovary and fallopian tube?

Now, I haven't had a job since either of my ovary surgeries (I'm a SAHM), but I'm going to say that yes, you'll probably feel mostly physically ready to go back to work after two weeks, but that you'll still be pretty sore/weak those first few weeks back at work. so if it's possible to plan on working half-days that first week back, or work from home as much as possible, I'd do that. Come the second and third weeks back at work, your energy levels will surely increase, but that first day back, I wouldn't schedule all-day meetings or anything. :)

FTR, I've gotten final pathology results back within a day of my surgery (I was still in the hospital) on both of my ovary surgeries.

~ phen

[riotgrrl]

thanks phen..i like knowing what i can expect.
unfortuntely, my job is very fast paced and requires me on my feet and heavy lifting and bending..i am an asst. manager at a KFC..but my owners are adamant that i will be sitting on a bar stool taking orders at the register for 4-6 weeks after i come back..if i do come back at 2 weeks post op.

we will see. she wants me to work 11-7:30 6 days a week and i dont know about that..even if i am sitting.

i was back to work 8 days after my lap..and i was doing everything including lifting/bending a month post op but i know this will be different..

[PookiePrincess]

I've never had a cyst, but my mom did when she was a teenager. It was bad enough that she had to have the cyst and one ovary removed when she was 18. She went on to have 2 healthy pregnancies.

[jennylou]

My mil had a cyst that was about 20 pounds removed when she was 18. She's in her 60's now and when her OB tied her tubes after her last child she was told she only had one ovary. I suspect that the Dr took it out with the cyst but never said anything to either her mom or her (she asked her mom about it). At any rate, she did have some fertility issues. It took her 2 years to get pregnant with DH (her oldest). She did go on to have four children, and had a miscarriage as well. Each child took about two years to conceive.

I was just wondering, did your Dr try to treat your cysts with BCP? That's often a way that they work on reducing the size of cysts.

[~queen~]

I have cysts but they are fluid filled and not that large. I control them with acupuncture and strong herbs given to me by my acupuncturist. When I feel one growing, I drink the herb tea 3x a day and after my next cycle, it is gone.

[Brandles]

I had one of these back in 1988--when I was in 6th grade and 12 years old! :eek: I made the medical books. This thing GREW. It was 10 pounds and the size of a basketball. I looked pregnant. My belly felt like a pregnant woman's does.

I had surgery and I have a scar that goes from hip to hip, below my belly button. It was attached to one ovary. It took 32 staples. I don't remember being scared...just pissed. But, when I read back through my diary at that time, I wrote that I was VERY scared! Now, I'd be terrified!

Back in 1991, I had two inside stitches that did not dissolve work their way out, but other than that, I haven't had any problems. I was told I'd be able to have children.

Since then, I've heard of SO many women with cysts!

OMG--I just saw that you're having surgery tomorrow! I hope it goes well!

[almostthere]

I have had surgery 3x to remove dermoid cysts - twice through a lap and once last year as an laporotomy. The first time I had bilateral cysts 6 on the right the largest being over 10cm and the left with four all wrapped in side each other. In my most recent surgery the right one was so large it was bigger then a babies head and grew at an aarming rate (I have ultrasounds and exams every 3-6 months and it was not there) my left was smaller so they started on the left to see how easy they could remove it and if that ovary was okay they were just going to take the right since it was insane (I have pictures not pretty), turns out the left was very complex to remove and since I only had about hald an ovary one each side since my first surgery they remove most of the left. The right which was massive poped right out.

My point is with dermoids size is not the issue it the complex nature in whcih it wraps into the tissue of the ovary. Just so you know I had no trouble getting pregnant afterwards however had a several miscarriages that year but am now 27 weeks pregnant with my second. I will have both my ovaries removed as soon as I decide I am done with children since most dermoids do not return but mine have continued to. I will say my recovary was hard - I had a c-section with my daughter but from all my previous surgeries I had alot of scar tissue so it took me 4 weeks before I could manage my desk sitting job. It was a really different recovary.

I wanted to wish you good luck, each time the biggest stress is going in unsure of malignancy or if I am losing my ovaries. Dermoids are very different cysts then fluid filled and as you probably know all the tissue must be removed or the cells can grow again.

[riotgrrl]

i had the surgery. i am still at the hospital. it has net. lol.

first day i was miserable. this morning i got up for the first time and promptly passed out. got up a few hours later..was really dizzy..now tonight i am walking the halls by myself and i am sitting up on the laptop.

it was a 10cm dermoid cyst on my right ovary. both the right ovary and tube are gone. the left cyst was small so she drained it. i will be going home in the morning. i cant wait!

[southerner]

Dermoid cysts are the kind with teeth and hair fragments in it, right? Freaky :eek: Glad to hear it was benign.