Really? When I had a gall stone the size of a piece of dog food blocking a duct and my doctor booked me an appointment to see a surgeon, I couldn’t get them to take the son of a bitch fast enough! No reluctance at all. A little anxiety pre-op since it was my first time with general anesthesia, but the whole “omg, it’s my BODY”? It was painful and horrifying and I couldn’t eat or sleep or breathe a lot of the time and surgery was a guaranteed instant cure. Sign me up.
That said, I think reluctance at having your reproductive organs removed is totally normal and I would be scared and sad and confused and angry if it were me.
Echoing the others who have said the doctor may think that the hysterectomy, if not absolutely necessary right now, is inevitable. Two surgeries, twice the risk (and, depending on how old you are when this “inevitable” happens, maybe even greater risk) so why not? Or what if the inevitable happens sooner than anybody expects and your body is still recovering from the first surgery? That increases your risk. Or what if you get the cyst removed, insistent that you do not want the hysterectomy right now, and then you need one in 9 months anyway and then you’re all pissed off that they “let you” skip out on it when they “should have” done the hysterectomy in the first place? Not to mention the expense of two surgeries versus just one.
Not saying any of this is you at all, but it happens and that may be where your doctor is coming from.
I’m not sure I’d consider a gallstone a body part…
Of course, if there is something horribly, horribly wrong going on, or excruciatingly painful (such as your gallstone) one’s reluctance for surgery starts to go away. The default setting for people, however, is typically “I don’t want to be cut”.
speaking as a female tormented by purgatorial PCOS symptoms, I would definitely agree. Worth every damned hot flash over the past 2 years, to be honest. No more bleeding out, no more golf ball sized clots, no more anemia, no more cramps that are the equivalent of labor … and the savings in medications and sanitary supplies…I honestly can not understand someone who wouldn’t want to be shed the nasty physical issues when presented the choice - but she has her choice, as I had mine.
I didn’t go to the doctor because of my heavy bleeding, like you it was something I learned to live with, and I don’t do doctors. I ended up having several fibroids, one the size of a grapefruit. My uterus was so large they couldn’t find my ovaries on ultrasound.
I was petrified about the surgery, I’d never been in the hospital (except to hold friends’ hands). I have no regrets and am truly enjoying being uterus-less.
I think, though, you need to have complete faith in your doctor. If you have doubts about what they’re saying, find someone else. Because of the size of my uterus my doctor told me going in that she was going to have to play it by ear, whether or not the incision was going to be down or across (the much easier to recover from), or if she’d be able to save either of the ovaries, etc. I trusted her, and she pulled it off like a rock-star. Don’t let someone cut you unless you trust they know what they’re doing and it’s the best possible option.
But I also want to say, I understand the hesitation to losing a body part. Going into it I was worried that I’d feel the loss you hear women feeling, and which is talked about a lot on Hystersisters. Not having to hemorrhage monthly is something I don’t miss, and I don’t feel any loss from having the lumpy mass cut out. (My doc showed me a pic of what they removed - ugly!)
Hey, all, I am still here and still appreciating the advice and support. I’ve had several other opinions from doctors, some within my HMO and others from friends who are doctors. The consensus is 1) the cyst obviously has to come out, it’s 12cm (and I didn’t get how big that was until I measured it out, and OMGWTFBBQ), and unfortunately, because of the size, the right ovary is too involved to be saved; 2) the fibroids cannot be treated with ablation, because ablation doesn’t treat fibroids; 3) the fibroids can be removed, but chances are good that they will simply come back (there are four of them that they can see, ranging in size from tennis ball to softball), and the removal of them would create significant amounts of scar tissue.
So, after a number of conversations with a number of medical people and laypeople, I’m having a laparoscopic hysterectomy and laparoscopy oophorectomy in 10 days. They are leaving the left ovary as it is clear on scans (unless they get in there and see something that they can’t see right now).
I’m more at peace with this decision, and quite frankly, I am starting to experience some symptoms that I haven’t before. AND the amount of mass in my abdomen that shouldn’t be there is just too large for me to feel comfortable with it hanging around (so to speak).
I really do appreciate everything everybody’s posted.
It sounds like you’ve thoroughly researched and contemplated your options and settled on the best course for your health, so onward! Glad you can have the laparoscopic procedure and your recovery time will be that much shorter. Be very good to yourself after the surgery and let us know how you’re doing.
TMI ALERT! DO NOT PROCEED IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH! TMI ALERT!
Just wanted to update, in case anyone was interested:
I had my surgery yesterday, and am already back home. The surgery took 6 hours, instead of the expected three, because the cyst on my right ovary had grown to the size of a football. The surgeon drained 1.5 liters of blood from the cyst! The cyst had also grown around my right ureter, and it took the team quite a while to dissect the cyst in a way that didn’t involve injury to the ureter. They couldn’t dissect it all - the parts directly around the ureter were like concrete, according to the surgeon - so I have about half of my right ovary still in there. It will die off since the blood supply to it was severed.
In addition, the fibroids on either side of my uterus were the size of cantaloupes, and my uterus was the size of a 20-week pregnancy due to all the fibroids inside it.
Finally, there was a tremendous amount of endometrial tissue all through my abdominal cavity, which took a while to remove.
Both surgeons (who’ve done a combined total of almost 600 of these types of surgeries) said it was the most complicated case they’d ever seen. Yikes.
The left ovary had some endometrial scarring, but not enough to require removal, so I still have the left ovary.
They gave me the good painkillers.
Thanks to everybody who provided me information and support and just reading my posts.
Holy Toledo, Kolga! I’m happy they were able to get that all taken care of, and it sounds like they did a thorough job of it. It’s always nice to have meticulous surgeons.
Glad they decided the good pain meds were in order. Now all you have to do is lie back and let your body heal.
I can only imagine how much your quality of life will improve now that your body isn’t fighting these pathologies on a daily basis - even though you were used to them, that had to be awfully hard on you.
Best wishes for an easy, thorough recovery! (Listen to your doctors - if they say two weeks without lifting or whatever, DO IT!)
OMGWTFBBQ was right! Wow, I’m glad you are doing okay. I hope you can take it easy for a bit and let yourself recover.
Also don’t make my mistake and skip a dose of pain meds just to see if you’ll be okay without it. I did that after my c-section and I had to send my husband to the 24 hour pharmacy at 11 pm for a refill once I realized that while I was feeling better with the pain meds on board, without them I was NOT okay.
