Ovarian Cyst :: 2 Weeks Post Vertical Laparotomy Experience
Jul 20, 2014
Tomorrow I will be two weeks post op so thought it's about time I check in to see how everyone is a to leg you all know that my surgery went really well.
my cyst was approx 35cm, weighing 10lbs! I had that and my right ovary removed via a vertical laparotomy. Thankfully the surgeon was able to keep my incision below my belly button, although it is large at 7" which required 23 staples.
Over all I am happy how it went and how my recovery is going.
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1. You will feel tired, bloated and in pain after the operation. I felt very nauseous for a few days and unable to eat. This is normal and is the effect of the anaesthetic used during the operation combined with strong painkillers. It will pass after a few days, try to sip water frequently to flush out the toxins.
2. The nursing staff are very helpful and concerned with your wellbeing. If you don't feel ready to go home, say so, you know your body better than anyone. I stayed in for 7 days in the end as I was in a lot of pain and had severe swelling. Don't be afraid to ask!
3 The nursing staff will remove the dressings after 3 days and if like me you have ster-strips underneath these will come off on day 5 or 6. When I removed mine the wound bled a little, but it was nothing serious and the nurse put a temporary bandage on for 2 days until it stopped. You will be shocked at the size of the wound. Mine reached from my pubic bone to above my belly button. It does start to look better after a few weeks and once healed, I will be using lots of bio oil to help it fade.
4. You will have trouble having a bowel movement. Constipation is normal following a major operation, a combination of painkillers and lack of movement. Drink plenty of fluids combined with a healthy diet (lots of fruit & vegetables). Try to move around as much as possible. Go for short walks once you feel stronger at least once a day. If like me you still haven't been after several days you could try LAXIDO and or LACTULOSE, both effective at clearing any blockage. It worked for me
5. Take the painkillers they give you, they will help. Try to take them at the start of the pain, not when it has you in its grip (not so effective). Only stop them when you feel you can cope without them, don't try and be brave.
6. If you have had your ovaries removed you will suddenly go into the menopause. I am having terrible night sweats now, which keep waking me up I bought a summer quilt 4.5 tog and am using a fan, to keep cool, it helps. I am trying to cope without HRT due to a family history of female cancer and will be trying natural herbal supplements instead. Hope they help
7. Lets be honest it will hurt and I am only starting to feel better after 3 weeks. I expect to be off work for at least another month, as my job is quite physical, and my muscles/wound are far from healed, but every day I feel stronger and I am off the painkillers now. I go for a short walk every day and potter around the house. My wound is healing nicely (its not pretty) but at least my alien is gone!
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I had an operation on 21 Nov 2015, this is to share my experience on those people who are nervous as I did before the surgery
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I'm wondering whether anyone has had a simple cyst which dissolved by itself without medical intervention.
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Just received my abnormal pap agus no hpv and I'm really scared. I have Further testing next Wednesday and I feel like I've just been given a death sentence. I'm 31 and a mother of four. I don't have any additional info im here just to vent I suppose.
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Today I am two weeks since my TKR on my right knee. I am discharged from Home Care (nurse and PT), done with blood thinner shots, have seen my surgeon, got my 29 staples OUT yesterday, and have set up my outpatient appointments for PT for next week.
In June I had my LEFT TKR done.
In a few minutes my husband and I are headed out to enjoy the beautiful fall weather here in NE Ohio along the coast.
This is the FIRST TIME in about four years that I actually am looking forward to getting outside to enjoy nice weather, a short walk, and sunshine BEING PRETTY MUCH PAIN FREE!
I am incredibly thankful to be getting my life back after so much pain for several years.
Wishing you all much happiness as you deal with recovery, surgery, and other complications.
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I am going for surgery on a large cyst. I am expecting a baby so I am anxious about having to have surgery during this time. Has anyone been through similar and were ok and the baby was ok?
Also what were your experiences of the surgery pain relief and stitches etc?? Did it take you long to recover. Also if anyone has had this surgery pregnant or not I would love to hear from you but if you were what stage of pregnancy did you have surgery?
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I had a simple 13cm cyst removed from my broad ligament (next to ovary) at the end of June. It had been causing me issues for at least 6 months, including sharp pains, which I thought were linked to the digestive system at first. I had a laparoscopy and feel much better in myself.
The week before surgery, I began to noticeably lose hair from my head. It's now been coming out for nearly 8 weeks. Luckily I had a lot of hair to start with but I've now had to have it cut shorter as looked awful and I must have lost half my hair or more. :o( I've had blood tests and everything seems fine, so Dr thinks it must have been the stress that the cyst was putting on my body, esp with sharp pains etc. I have found this link to PCOS but not large cysts and wondered if anyone else had suffered in the same way and if so, how long the hair loss continued?
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I had my surgery 7 weeks ago and am finally in a boot and can walk again with the help of 1 crutch. I am driving and going to physical therapy 3x a week. The first 5 weeks were very hard not being able to put any weight on my foot. A knee scooter was a tremendous help. I was not In very much pain and got to go shopping and out to eat. Getting the cast off at 5 weeks was great. Hopefully the rest of my recouperation will be as easy.
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So for the past 2 weeks I've been dealing with an issue. It came on suddenly and out of nowhere. My first symptom was I had blood when I wiped after I peed. This was alarming bc I am on the shot and don't receive periods so what's up with the blood. It was very light pink and I wiped several times after to see if it there was more and it came out each time. The following day when I wiped there was pink strands of discharge. I'm not pregnant either. The pink discharge lasted a few days. And after that I got intense back pain on the lower left side. I thought I did something to pull out a muscle. Then the pain went into my hip and I had cramping in my lower pelvis. It was very tolerable. It was dull at this point. I thought I had a kidney infection.i've had 1 before so the symptoms resembled one almost to a tee. I had my urine checked and it came back negative. At this point a weem had almost past and the pain wasn't getting worse but it wasn't gone either. I remember having a BM one morning and it disappeared. My belly was bloated and things felt tight but pain wise, it was gone. So I thought I was probably just constipated. Well, 2 days go by and out of nowhere the pain comes back 10 fold. It hurt so badly. I hunched over a few times, grabbed my side and cried out. Thinking something had to be wrong I went to the ER. They did a CT and said it was constipation. Well, needless to say I left the hospital still in pain. It was weird because there'd be times the pain was low. In my hip and pelvis. Then there'd be times it was strictly in my back. It was all on the left side. My right side would occasionally get tingly or crampy but it didn't last long. I started getting loose stools they were wormy, and I don't ever go like that. This started 3 days ago. And my left arm and left leg were throbbing as if I over did it lifting something or walking too much but I didn't do anything of the sort. So just yesterday I had to work (Which I've been off the whole duration of this mess) and I had pain before work, I had pain for an hour while at work. I do a lot of walking at my job and I noticed about mid shift the pain was gone. I thought nah, I'm sure it'll be back. It came back last time I thought it was gone too. But it hasn't. So I'm just wondering if it sounded like a cyst that maybe ruptured or grew. And I have an appointment with an obgyn later this week, will they be able to tell if that's what it was even if I'm feeling better?
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I've been suffering pain in the womb/ovary area for a few months, it's a general aching pain/soreness with stabs of sharp pain, although the sharp pain has been getting more frequent, along with pain at the top of my thighs, to the point where I was in excruciating pain the other day and literally couldn't move because even leaning forward was causing me pure agony. I'd been putting off going to the GP for a while but this made me realise I had to get an appointment.
The GP did a quick pelvic examination and said he would refer me for a pelvic ultrasound. I asked him how long I would have to wait for the appointment, and he said 'two weeks, three at the most'.
Received my referral letter in the post this morning, asking me to call up to arrange the appointment. The receptionist immediately told me they had a very long waiting list and asked if I'd be willing to travel to a clinic a bit further away to get an appointment sooner, to which I said yes, as I'm obviously in pain and worried about what is causing the pain. Anyway, my appointment isn't till nearly the end of JUNE, so in 3 months time as opposed to the maximum 3 weeks time my GP told me.
I've been researching my symptoms, which I know isn't always the wisest, and 'ovarian cyst' seems to be coming up a lot, along with a few other womb/ovary problems. I'm very concerned that whatever might be causing the problem could get more severe within the 3 months I have to wait for an ultrasound. I've looked it up and I understand that sometimes ovarian cysts can be cancerous, although it is rare among my age group (I'm 21), but I'm still very worried that if it is cancerous, surely it could get a lot worse within 3 months?
I'm honestly surprised the waiting times are so long for a diagnostic examination, I knew the waiting times were bad for operations, but I wasn't expecting this. Surely if the waiting times are so long this could be very detrimental to the health of some patients, for example those who turn out to have cancer, when early treatment is very important?
Can anyone tell me if they have experienced similar, in terms of waiting times, or of symptoms? Those of you who have been for ultrasounds, is 3 months a normal waiting time, or am I right to be surprised? Has anyone ended up going for a private scan instead?
Also, in the 3 months that I have to wait, if there anything that will help to control my pain? My GP advised me paracetamol, hot water bottle, and drinking lots of water, all of which I've been doing anyway, but have you got any other tips? For someone who is used to leading a very active life, this pain is really interfering with it, plus it's also having a bit of a detrimental effect on my sex life, as I'm sometimes in too much pain to have sex, or after I have sex the pain will get worse, which is very frustrating for me and my boyfriend.
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I had flank pain, went to the ER and had a Cat scan done, they found a cyst on my left ovary. The printout says "ovary cyst NOS". Anyone know what NOS means, could it be cancer? I am 46.
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I was diagnosed with a large ovarian cyst at the end of March this year (17cm), eventually being given an operation date of 26th July. Unfortunately, this had to be cancelled due to staff shortages - much to my frustration and worry. I let my doctors know of my anxiety as I felt the cyst had grown much bigger and I'd also got new strange symptoms where my legs were very swollen and painful when I walked up hills.
Anyway, a couple of weeks before my rescheduled op one of my legs really swelled up, and started to go a purple colour. Luckily I made the swift decision to go to A&E as I was concerned it could be a blood clot (you're at increased risk on the pill/pregnant and I currently looked 5 months pregnant).
I was admitted with a massive DVT - up to the top of my hip - and at risk of a pulmonary embolism. The cyst had grown so big (20 by 30cm) it was cutting off the blood flow to both my legs.
After 10 days in hospital, 4 in intensive care, I've had the cyst drained of 3 litres of fluid, a catheter inserted into the blood clot to diffuse it and now need to be on blood thinners for the next 6 months. This all could have been avoided if the operation was a bit sooner - or if I was monitored more closely. And I still need to have the actual cyst removed.
Once in hospital the nurses and doctors were wonderful - but the whole experience has been at a huge cost to both myself and the NHS. I just wanted to let people know that if you feel something is wrong, or a cyst is growing at a fast rate - demand to be seen - it would be far better for everyone if these things are prevented!
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I had large cyst that was attached to my left fallopian tube and the surgeon removed the left fallopian tube with the large cyst that was 18 cm and 2L of fluid. And I took an MRI scan that was recommended by my gynecologist and the result came back as another cyst that is growing on the ovary. I was pretty shocked though. I thought it can only come once. I am going to see my gynecologist on Thursday. But Is it possible for a cyst to grow or come back in/on the same ovary?
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Just over 2 months ago had ovary and tube removed and recovered well. However, this last week been getting the same kind of pain that I had way back when I had my ovarian cyst and in the place where the ovary was??? When upright the pain is more in my tummy but when lying or sitting down the pain seems to gravitate to my groin area. it is not there all the time but comes on now and again and once or twice has been really acute and very painful for a few seconds, then goes. It's like somebody squeezing the ovary - only there isn't one. Somebody said could be infection but I have no other signs, somebody else mentioned scar tissue. Any help/advice at all gratefully received and has anybody had similar?
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I've had an ovarian cyst for 2 months now, nothing was done about it, the pain went off after a few days until last monday where i had an ambulance to hospital, i stayed there for 5 days, the doctors did an ultrasound and my cyst has ruptured yet pain is so bad i cant walk! they sent me home with 3 day open access, i went back the next day in awful pain and after 6 hours of waiting the gynaecologists refused to see me and sent me home!!
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At my 12 week scan I was told I had a large cyst on an ovary and would be seen at 16 weeks to check it. After having to chase I finally saw a consultant last week who said that the solid bit was atypical. They don't want to operate and biopsy straight away cos of risk to baby, but have had ca-125 blood test and MRI yesterday. The scanner came out to tell me my scan had to go to a particular radiologist and they were sent immediately. There is a multidisciplinary meeting today where hopefully all my results will be looked at, but my next consultant appointment isn't until Thursday.
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I guess I am writing this more for reassurance and comfort, as sometimes it helps to get things out. I'm just under 27 years old, and here's my experience so far with a complex ovarian cyst.
Two weeks ago I went to the ER after suffering from severe pain on my right side. Blood work was normal, but a CT scan revealed a 7cm cyst on my right ovary. The ER doctor and nurse told me to follow up with my regular gyn, who would most likely monitor it and complete ultrasounds every 6-8 weeks to check for growth. They said it was not an emergency unless I suddenly developed major, excruciating pain. They both said that ovarian cysts sometimes have to be removed, but ones like mine (the said the shading on the CT scan looked like a normal cyst) should be fine and probably go away with my cycle. (I've never had any issues previously. In fact, just two weeks prior to this happening, I had my annual appointment with my gyn, and all of my tests came back normal.)
Three days later I met with my gyn, who promptly scheduled me for an ultrasound. She seemed concerned about the cyst due to its size and said she thought it'd definitely have to be removed, since it was already so large and because of the fact that I I have it while being on birth control (birth control, she said, is often prescribed to lessen the change of developing cysts. Go figure...) I became nervous after this, because the ER doctor and nurses didn't seem concerned at all, but my gyn did.
The next day I went for both my regular and transvaginal ultrasound, which returned the following results:
"8.5cm Complex cystic lesion with septations and what may represent a small papillary excrescence. No flow is noted to the solid component of the cystic portion. The appearance is nonspecific and both benign & malignant etiologies could give this appearance. Its size however is concerning."
Upon receiving those results, my gyn referred me to a gynecological oncologist; my gyn said that due to the fact that they cannot tell whether its benign or malignant, a gyn onc. must be the person to handle it.
My consultation with the gyn onc is on Tuesday, and while I'm trying to stay calm and optimistic, I've been a wreck at the thought of cancer. Of course, I Googled...and I read about so many characteristics of complex malignant cysts that seem to match up with mine, which scared me. The fact that the cyst seemed to grow so much in just three days between tests (1.5 cm) is frightening too...although, I'm wondering if there could be a discrepancy between a CT scan and an ultrasound? I am nervous to see how much it will have grown when I meet with the gyn onc.
The hardest part has been the waiting - I just want to know what it is. It's been a long couple of weeks. At times, I had myself worked up into a frenzy of worry, which only made the pain worse. My gyn has been fantastic through this, reassuring me to just take it easy and try not to worry too much...but it's easier said than done. Meeting with a doctor who specializes in cancer treatment and practices in a cancer hospital is just a scary thought (but also comforting, since God forbid it is cancer, I know I'll be in good hands...) It doesn't help that I've also always been a hypochondriac.
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I have had this cyst on my left ovary now for about 3 years and it is slowly growing (Ultrasounds every 6 months). I moved out of state and my new doctor is trying all the meds I've tried before and nothing has shrunk it and it has continued to grow - slowly. He said if I want it to be taken out I can. Would you take it out or leave it?
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can a ovarian cyst be treated or one has to do a surgery to get rid of it?
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how can you get an ovarian cyst if you are on the depo injection
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