Operation booked

Joyce

Some tidbits of information that I gained for after surgery, sleep either on an incline or sitting partially up, do not lay flat or on your side, this will help with the gas build up. Lots of peppermint tea (decaf) and activated charcoal pills to help eleviate gas. Hope this helps. 

Annmarie, 

I heard the same thing with sitting partially upright with pillows propped behind you since lying down might disperse the gas throughout the whole body. However, my anesthesiologist told me that GasX or charcoal caps won’t work since those are for intestinal gas but the gas we are getting is in the abdominal cavity. But for sure, peppermint tea does help I heard! 

Hey, 

How big is yours?  This isn't my first op but I'm so scared. At first they wanted to do keyhole but it got changed after my case went to cancer team and scans were not clear so went to open then it changed again last week to keyhole and the convert to open if needed but my consultant called me last night and we spoke and it's been changed to open again due to my worries about keyhole ect 

I'm not sure what mine is apart from a cyst- I have a soild part so it will go for testing after. 

Not sure how a PCA machine works but consultant said I'll be on one. 

Thank you ! Always a message away! I'm in uk x 

Holly, 

Have you considered getting a second opinion if your consultant keeps going back and forth? 

The PCA machine is a machine where you can press a button to administer your own pain meds when you feel like your pain levels are rising. My friend told me to use it just so that you are comfortable in the hospital and when they ask you to get up the pain meds will help you be able to walk around. 

My cyst is a chocolate cyst and is 12x12x9cm and I’m hoping they can do it keyhole, although on my consent form it says possible open surgery and removal of ovary and tube. I’m only 27 and in Canada! This is really a scary process. 

Holly, 

I would take the keyhole surgery if I were you. The larger incision will basically be cutting you wide open. And they have to cut through the skin, flesh and muscle. It will be more difficult to heal and you run the risk of the stitches undoing before it's fully healed. Not to mention the risk of infection. If they can remove very large cysts like mine through keyhole, then why run the risk with a full out incision? 

Hey, 

No I haven't. I'm happy as open seems safer than keyhole as they can't spill any of the contents of the cyst in me as they don't know what it is. 

Oh that's good then I'll be able to press a button to get pain meds.  I'm dreading when I wake up about the pain I'm going to be in. 

What is a chocolate cyst? That's what they were going to do when I saw my consultant last Tuesday but after I saw him I sent him an email about my worries and concerns and other points about keyhole and he called last night and has changed it to open from the start as he agreed with what I said in my email. So I'm glad I know from the start what is happening. 

I know it's super scary but we can get through this! I'm only 23. Not to long to wait even though it feels like ages away x 

Because no one including cancer team know what my cyst is. There is a high chance of it popping whilst they are doing keyhole. 

I'd rather not have open at all and rather have keyhole but because there is so much confusion and not knowing what it is. 

If we knew what my cyst was it would be simple. 

Oh, so you're concerned that it's cancerous and it may spread if it leaks? But if your blood came back normal, it's probably not cancerous. Did you ask the doctor what the chances of it being cancerous is -especially with a normal blood count? It's up to the doctor to give you enough information in order to make an educated decision. 

Not so concerned it's cancer no but no professional can sit there and tell me let alone themselves what it is and that's what's worrying. 

No one can give me an answer to what it is so I'm stuck with the unknown until it's been tested after the operation. 

I'll private message you something xx 

I would private message you

But can't find how to do it. 

Hi Lisa, 

So glad for your speedy recovery! I’m really worried about the pain afterwards when I wake up and during recovery. You mentioned you had a keyhole for your cyst. Do you mind sharing your recovery experience? I have been getting insomnia lately. 

Joyce 

I'm in the same situation, having a lot of anxiety my surgery scheduled for the 9th, can I ask how large you cyst is? I hear laproscopic surgery is slot less pain than open surgery. 

Hey Annmarie, 

My endometrioma is 12x12x9cm. I’m hoping they can take it out minimally invasive as I don’t deal well with pain. I’m really hoping the procedure won’t cause sharp pains during recovery. I heard gas pains were really bad too. How big is your cyst? 

Hey, 

It's been long time waiting and I probs should be glad it's soon but worry comes in pretty badly. 

My consultant has said it's like a c section. What was your cyst and how big? 

The incision will be from left side to right side 

I have a dermoid cyst 2-3cm and a uterine fibroid. They will remove both, tubes and the one ovary. 

Hi Joyce and all,

Sure. I'll start from the beginning. I noticed a swelling in my right side descending from my rib cage down to my lower pelvis for over a year and a half before this all started. My periods were very painful and I'd balloon up to looking 6 months pregnant during that time of month. It was embarrassing. I kept mentioning it to my doctor and she said I should get an exercise ball! I knew something else was wrong. So I changed doctors. This new doctor was very young and looked like she was just coming back from a night of clubbing when I saw her. For months, she told me the same thing. It was that I was overweight and that I had to change my diet and exercise more. I told her I only eat low carb and I exercise like a maniac at the gym 5 days out of the week! She told me to do more. I was in the midst of looking for another doctor when I had go in to see her again for another matter. I insisted I get an ultrasound because by then it was really starting to hurt. I went in for an utrasound but didn't get the results right away although the technician spent a lot of time on my right side. I went in to the dr's for the results and she told me I had a cyst. That's all. She didn't tell me how big or anything. She made it sound minor and said 'You can leave it and let it go away on its own or have it removed'. I said I want it removed and she referred me to the surgeon. In the meantime, I only found out how huge it was when I looked at the report a couple weeks later. Anyway, I as I mentioned I was booked for surgery way back in the summer. I guess because I'm in Toronto and there's a huge waiting list which says something about the commonality of ovarian cysts! 

I went to see the surgeon and she explained briefly what they were going to do in surgery a couple weeks later. The night before the surgery I didn't eat anything as instructed by the pamphlet they gave me. I checked in but told them I didn't want fentynal in the pain relieving mix. The surgeon talked me into it because she said, although I'd be under, I'd still feel pain sub-consciously. So I took it. 

The operation took about two and a half hours. My adult daughter was with me most of the time but stepped out for a quick snack in the middle of it so they took her cell number just in case. After the surgery and as I woke up they wheeled me into a recovery room - sort of like a sitting room with other patients on those big adjustable chair-bed things. I was really thirsty and hungry. They gave me juice and a cookie. lol. I was disappointed the surgeon was gone because I wanted to know how big the cyst was and that sort of thing. I was told they drained it first then pulled it out. The surgery nurse cupped her hand to the size of a plum to demonstrate how big it was when they pulled it out. Pretty big since they drained it first. 

I heard they tried to take as much gas as possible out of my abdominal cavity. So I didn't really have much gas at all. I was more sore than anything. We went to get a panzorotti after and I had a hard time ordering since I was still groggy. My daughter was really helpful and kind throughout the whole thing. I certainly didn't want to burden her. I saw other women in the waiting room really playing things up and drawing it out, I guess because that's the only time they ever got any attention from their husbands. Some of the husbands even seemed annoyed, which was strange to me. But that's why I'm divorced. lol  Anyway, once I got home I didn't really sleep until that night. The next day I woke up feeling okay. For my shower, I wrapped a bag around my waist and taped it all the way around to no water could get in. The shower was a bit difficult since I couldn't bend that much but one of those loufas with the handle would be a good idea if you don't want anyone helping you in the shower. The rest of the day I went about my business as usual. I even went grocery shopping (yeah, crazy, I know). I couldn't really bend over to put my socks on the first couple of days, so I had my daughter do that. And I wore elastic waisted pants because my jeans hurt when I did up the button. But otherwise, it was life as usual. The surgery tape stayed on for a few weeks actually until it started fraying and falling off. Then, I could see the incision marks were only three quarters of a centimeter. Very small. My belly button took a bit longer to heal. It hurt the most because that was the main entry point. All in all, I was back to myself within 6 weeks, tops. 

The only thing is, as a previously mentioned, I haven't had a period since September, the month before the surgery. I don't know why. Perhaps it put me into early menopause. Or it is just everyday stress. I took an ovulation test and I'm still ovulating which is beyond strange. Anyway, I think I covered the entire thing. 

 

Joyce,

You're in Toronto right? If you have the same surgeon (or even hospital) I had, she'll make sure to get out as much gas as possible at the end of surgery. I didn't feel much gas after. I'm thankful for that. 

I forgot to mention that support pantyhose helped also to protect the incisions from being aggravated by my clothes and also to keep my stomach area feeling comfy.