My Ovarian Cyst, Torsion and Surgery Story

This is going to be a long one I'm afraid. Hopefully my story can help others!

First of all I will start of with this...I was 21 at the time of my first cyst and a fit and active person.

I'm only 22 now so this has all happened in a short amount of time!

Whilst on holiday in July 2012 I started experiencing some strange stomach cramps. They were sort of like a cross between a period pain and the feeling you get when you need to go to the loo with a stomach bug! Not pleasant. They were happening a couple of times a day but I didn't really think much of them!

These seemed to pass when I returned home and I had 2 weeks pain free! One evening I felt a strange, minor pain in my lower right abdo area. I wasn't sure what it was but it didn't feel like something I had felt before. It was only painful whilst I was moving but fine if I layed down still. After aroiund 3 days of this pain I went to my GP who thought maybe I had a case of a rumbling appendix and told me to return if the pain hadn't gone within 24 hours.

For about 5 days after this I had zero pain at all and thought it had gone away. I would then say about mid week I started feeling the same pain again only this time it was painful to touch but would still come and go. I visited my GP again and he recommended I go home with painkillers and return to A&E if it became significantly worse. I went to work the next day feeling fine however mid day I started to feel much sharper pains and began vomiting. I left work and went straight to my GP who did a urine dipstick which showed high levels of white blood cells so I was sent straight across to the hospital to be admitted.

I was in hospital for 3 days before a diagnosis! I saw 3 different doctors who did the same thing over and over...felt my tummy and asked the same questions. Eventually they gave me an ultrasound and found what they thought was a 6cm cyst on my right ovary. The sonographer told me it was 'borderline needing something to be done about it'. Whilst I was in hospital my pain increased big time. It was impossible for me to walk without horrible sharp pains and I felt very sick. I was on morphine and codeine for the pain although neither seemed to help!

I was moved on to the Gynae ward where a consultant finally came to see me. He told me in actual fact my cyst was about 8 cm and was bleeding. He said it had twisted (a torsion) and was cutting off the blood supply to my ovary. He told me I would be in for an emergency laparotomy the next day to have it removed. He explained that he couldn't be sure until he opened me up wether my ovary would be intact enough for him to repair it or wether it would have to be removed.

Let me tell you I was not prepared at all for what was happening. I went in to surgery the next day and was under for around 4 hours. When I woke up I was in the worst pain I had ever experienced. I had a catheter in and also a tube which was called a drain which was going in to my stomach and was stitched in. The drain was there to take away any extra blood loss from the repair on my ovary (which they managed to save) I was told I should lose no more than 150mls blood. This was at 11pm. By 3am my night nurse was getting worried as my pulse and temperature were still high and by this point I had lost 600 mls of blood. My surgeon was called and he came and told me if I lost more than 700 I would be going back into theatre to have my ovary removed.

I was very out of it on morphine and not really understanding what was going on but luckily I lost exactly 700mls and no more. The next few days were a blur. My Hb level had gone from 14.2 to 5 and I was very weak. I was on iron supplements and was having blood taken 3 times a day. I ended up having a transfusion. The recovery was the hardest part. Trying to walk with a 15cm wound and a catheter and the pain from gas OUCH! Anyway I healed properly after around 10 weeks but as I have a physically demanding job I was off work for 4 1/2 months!

I was then pain and cyst free until the following summer...to the exact date. When I was re admitted with similar symptoms and diagnosed with a 4cm ruptured cyst which had to be removed. This time by keyhole surgery so a much faster recovery (2 weeks).

I am now 6 months on and have a 3rd ruptured cyst. Waiting to hear about what they want to do! I really hope this answers questions for some of you and please ask them I'm willing to answer!!

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