Dermoid Ovarian Cyst

Angie + Pam 

THANK YOU both , i am going to ring early in the morning and say if they dont hurry with a date i will go down another route , i have already informed them she is in a lot of pain and her left leg keeps going numb , she is young and wont make a fuss , i guess that will come when she has children of her own . We do not know if it is still growing as yet she has not been informed .  My other daughter is on her 3rd try on IVF and i would hate for her to also have go down this route . Will let you know how i get on tomorrow and thanks again for the support it has settled me a little 

BINGO , We have a date 8th April , rang at 8.15 this morning , phew , the receptionist was very pleasant , she coild not tell me the results of the latest scan as she has to speak to the consultant first , however i am relieved we have a date for next week . 

silly me i got the date mixed up , it is this Thursday the 2nd of April , will be relieved when its done , yes i will let you know how it goes , thanks 

julie 

HA HA  Angie , what are we mothers like , always our babies no matter how old x. Well she has had the opp , they drained the cyst and got 1 litre of fluid out , then they removed it once drained , so she had keyhole , we do not know about her ovaries as yet , the consultant is coming to see her this afternoon,  but am niggling a little over it as she has 3 small cuts , one in the middle of her tummy and one at weither side , so am hoping and praying that this does not mean both her ovaries have gone . She and we have had a night of it , when i left after visiting she was fine , however during the night her heart started racing and her temp went sky high and she was put oin a drip , and the dr was called to her twice during the night , however this morning both have returned to normal , now her hands have doubled in size due to a reaction to something , maybe the anasthetic as this this is her first time . They said last night before all this happened that she would be home today , but now she has to stay in .

ha she is in a bed so old , im sure its the one i gave birth to her in very uncomfortable  the ones with the metal rests, brand new beds in the ward empty all padded and remote contriolled , she has threatened me with death if i ring up and ask them to change her bed  

Phew , she has only lost one ovary ,her right one and the consultant said her left one is very healthy , her right fallopean tube had got twisted with the cyst but they have managed to repair and save , but he said she now has a slightly higer chance of eptopic preganancy . So all you young ladies with ovarian cysts , do not hang about as soon as the word cyst is mentioned , badger and badger until you get an opp date . 

Hi, I was diagnosed with a demoid cyst at first it was told to me that it was 9cm. So I was refered to a specailist about it. He told me that it was bigger than that. Then I went to have a CT scan done and apparently it is smaller than 9cm it said that it was 7cm and that same doctor had me schedule for a salpingo oophorectomy (don't know if I spelled that right) that didn't call me or tell me why they came to that conclusion so I am in search of finding a Ob who can help me. 

Hi All, hoping to get some advice re: dermoid cyst on my left ovary. I had my consultation last week and left with more questions. I have just turned 50 yrs old and was told by Gyne specialist that they want to remove both of my ovaries and fallopian tubes, even though the right one is healthy! There was a lot of emphasis on the fact that I have started the early stages of menopause but, very little in the way of how this will affect my body with the removal of these organs. I have also been sent for a cancer marker blood test, which has freaked me out. The only alternative, is to remove the left, leave the right and have a marina coil inserted but, I was steralized 16 yrs ago so this seems illogical to me. I am feeling very confused, please can you help?

Hiya Dawn, 

I don't know which consultant at which hospital you had, but you have a right to choose your hospital http://www.nhs.uk/choiceintheNHS/Yourchoices/hospitalchoice/Pages/Choosingahospital.aspx

So don't stay with a hospital and consultant that your not happy with. Obviously I don't  not have the medical knowledge, but I would say they are taking the easy option and losing your femine organs is a big deal, early menopause or not. I am pretty certain the removal of your ovaries will definitely bring on the menopause, and unless the cancer marker test highly suggested cancer, I can't see why they would want to remove the healthy ovary and both fallopian tubes? Did they give you the results? Anyway, If you are not happy with the hospital and advice, go else where. That's what I did. 

Hi all - Just thought I would share my story in case it helps anybody else out there...

I got pregnant for the first time in January and unfortunately had a miscarriage at 10.5 weeks in March this year. While I was being scanned, the nurse said she saw a 'grapefruit sized mass' on my right ovary. This only added to my stress/anguish as of course I was devastated to be losing my baby. (Of course I had never had any ultra sound scans until this time, and had no symptoms/pain).

I was sent for an MRI and tests, and my CA125 level was slightly raised. The consultant did not like the look of my 'mass', which was 14cm long and 12cm wide, so fast-tracked me in case it was cancerous. This was a terribly stressful and worrying time, not helped by the fact that my hormones were all over the place and I was physically and emotionally still revovering from a traumatic miscarriage.

In the end, I had surgery to remove the 'mass' and the whole of the ovary and connected fallopian tube, which apparently it was not possible to save sadly.

I was petrified before the surgery - scared I would die etc - I have never had an operation before and was in tears with fear beforehand. My husband said: 'it's fine, it's just like going through a rabbit hole' - and he was right: I was anxious before hand, I remember being given an injection and the next thing, I was looking at a clock on the wall of the recovery room five hours later. 'Going under' is a horrible thought but the anticipation is much worse than the event I found.

When a surgeon removes a big cyst (like mine), they put a camera/light through your belly button, then use two other keyholes (one each side of your lower tummy) for the tools (tongs?!) and cut a bigger horizontal hole in your bikini line to remove the cyst through. If the cyst is tricky, or massive, they might need to make a vertical incision from your tummy button downwards, but this is rare.

To get a big cyst out, they place a plastic bag inside you, bag the cyst, then put the neck of the bag through the cut and suck out the cyst contents (while it is bagged inside you) to prevent it from bursting and leaking inside you. It's very clever. If any of the cyst does leak, you need an 'abdominal lavage' - basically - a good rinse out! My cyst did burst during removal, so I had this wash out process (!) and I am fine. I think it is quite common as some cysts are actually fragile ('like water balloons' - according to my consultant!) and can burst during surgery, but they know what they are doing so this is not something to worry about really.

After the surgery, I felt fine for a few hours as the general anaesthetic was wearing off (and they also kindly gave me two local anaesthetics in my stomach!) but over the next 24 hours in hospital the pain worsened and I was given loads of painkillers like codeine, paracetemol, ibuprofen etc. I did not get morphine - maybe I should have complained a bit more...?! I could not sleep well in hospital as another woman on the ward had a noisy Deep Vein Thrombosis prevention machine on her legs and people kept coming and going. The next day, they removed my catheter and drip etc and sent me home. I could hardly walk and was in agony with throbbing headaches (due to general anaesthetic, maybe) and it was very sore to bend or move around for a few days. I basically sat in an armchair eating chicken soup occasionally and sleeping lots, feeling sorry for myself. I drank LOADS of water to flush out the drugs.

Top tip: get some drinking straws so you can drink easily without having to bend/sit up post-surgery - and put plenty of pillows in your bed so you can sleep half sitting up too. This helped me enormously for the first few days. I tried to cut down on the pain killers asap and began walking around gently when I could to get rid of all the poisons in my system and promote healing.

The pain lessened day by day and within three weeks I was walking around pretty normally. But still felt washed out to be honest. The body is an incredible healing machine - I was amazed at how my scabs became scars and my strength gradually returned bit by bit.

My 'mass' turned out to be an enormous, benign - thankfully - dermoid cyst. I Google-Image searched it. Wish I hadn't! They are so disgusting. Such a weird thought that it has been growing inside me for my whole life. But I was just relieved it was not cancerous.

I gather that: Dermoid - means anything from the 'skin' - so these cysts can contain hair, teeth, bits of skin - and are truly horrible to look at! By the way, the word 'teratoma' originates from the Greek word 'teraton' meaning monster!! They are contained in sacs of skin inside you - and if they burst, it can be serious, like if your appendix bursts in your abdominal cavity.

Recovery process was OK I guess. I now have a 10cm-long scar where they removed the cyst, then three tiny keyholes (one is invisible in my tummy button). I was tired and a bit depressed for a few months afterwards, but I don't know how much of this was due to the surgery and how much was due to the miscarriage etc...I am normally a very optimistic, cheerful person though, so it was noticable to me that I was down more than up. I also had some memory problems after surgery - when I was in mid-conversation I would lose my thread, and sometimes forget names of people - and things - a bit like an older lady would! (I am 32.) I Googled this (!) and found lots of stuff about estrogen being essential for brain function in women (hence post-menopausal women often have memory problems) - but hoped that my other remaining ovary would up its production and sort my poor frazzled brain out.

Now, it is four months since my surgery and I think my memory is getting back to normal. I am starting to feel a bit more positive too. Not sure how much of this is down to my poor hard-working remaining left ovary pumping out more estrogen to compensate, or just time being a healer, but either way, it's time to now get on with making a baby, which was how this sorry saga started in the first place.

In a way, although what happened to me was horrific, if I hadn't had a miscarriage, this huge cyst would not have been found until the 12-week scan, and the consultant said that I would have had to have surgery anyway - pregnant or not. So I am lucky in a way that it has all been sorted out now and I know I am healthy before trying again for a baby.

I just pray that my remaining ovary works OK - and I don't have any complications such as ectopic pregnancy etc - because with only one ovary, I don't have a back-up anymore and my husband and I are desperately longing for a child more than ever.

I was not up for intercourse (or anything really) for two months after surgery, but now I am back to normal in that way and so we are trying to conceive - again.

Good luck to anybody out there who has a dermoid cyst. They are better out than in, a complete inconvenience - but mostly benign - so look after yourself and get through this annoying and very stressful time so you can get on with your life - cyst-free.

Molly

With hindsight, I always slept with my right leg out at an angle (!) - which I now think was to make space for this horrible dermoid cyst.