Ovarian cysts?

klkarlen

Any post-menopausal ladies have any experience with these? I had them for years when I was pre-menopausal, then nothing, and this past week I was diagnosed with some sort of adenal mass that I may need surgery for, the pain was exactly like when I had ovarian cysts before.

Of course one doctor just said "ovarian cancer" and transferred me to a different hospital, the doctor there was pretty mad at that one, because you can't say for sure unless biopsies are done and come back positive.

So, I'm hoping it's just cysts again, although they will probably have to remove the ovary this time.

MostlyWater

I'm sorry. Good luck!

Sabine_Stroehm

Has it passed? And have you learned anything?

klkarlen

Ok, well, let me preface this by telling you all that the story of my entire life is this in one sentence: "It's very rare, we almost never see anything like that".

So, it turns out that what I had was something called a mucinous neoplasm originating in the appendix. This occurs in only 0.02% of appendix masses.

So I had a total hysterectomy, appendectomy, one other tumor removed from my colon, and all the fluid removed from my abdomen, and all sent to the university of Michigan for a classification of the tumors and fluid.

Luckily it came back as the low grade kind, so my future treatments are simply quarterly blood tests and scans if any of the tests come back with elevated tumor markers.

If it has been the high grade kind, I would have to go to a doctor in DC that specializes in this type of condition. It does not respond to systemic chemo or radiation. So I am grateful that I was not in the even more rare subset of high grade tumors.

I will tell you that recovery from a full incision abdominal surgery is not fun, especially for people like me that are also unable to tolerate any narcotics.

On the plus side, a hysterectomy post menopause has not resulted in any increase in menopausal sypmtoms (so far at least).

Sabine_Stroehm

klkarlen wrote: »

Ok, well, let me preface this by telling you all that the story of my entire life is this in one sentence: "It's very rare, we almost never see anything like that".

So, it turns out that what I had was something called a mucinous neoplasm originating in the appendix. This occurs in only 0.02% of appendix masses.

So I had a total hysterectomy, appendectomy, one other tumor removed from my colon, and all the fluid removed from my abdomen, and all sent to the university of Michigan for a classification of the tumors and fluid.

Luckily it came back as the low grade kind, so my future treatments are simply quarterly blood tests and scans if any of the tests come back with elevated tumor markers.

If it has been the high grade kind, I would have to go to a doctor in DC that specializes in this type of condition. It does not respond to systemic chemo or radiation. So I am grateful that I was not in the even more rare subset of high grade tumors.

I will tell you that recovery from a full incision abdominal surgery is not fun, especially for people like me that are also unable to tolerate any narcotics.

On the plus side, a hysterectomy post menopause has not resulted in any increase in menopausal sypmtoms (so far at least).

I read this post saying holy cow out loud, over and over. WOW... you're okay? how are you feeling?

slimstrauss

Sorry to hear what you've been thru,
Hope you feel better soon.

klkarlen

I'm doing surprisingly well. It's been 16 days since the surgery. I'm hoping to go back to work Monday. I can work from home if necessary. I'm following orders to restrict my physical activity.

And I have had a few hot flashes and night sweats, hopefully they will not last long.

At least now I know why I had developed what I thought was just "menopot belly" which I hope goes away as the incision heals.

Sabine_Stroehm

klkarlen wrote: »

I'm doing surprisingly well. It's been 16 days since the surgery. I'm hoping to go back to work Monday. I can work from home if necessary. I'm following orders to restrict my physical activity.

And I have had a few hot flashes and night sweats, hopefully they will not last long.

At least now I know why I had developed what I thought was just "menopot belly" which I hope goes away as the incision heals.

Wow again. Glad you're doing so well!

klkarlen

Thanks! I stayed home an extra week because I had paid medical leave.

Which was a good thing because my phone lines took a lightning hit Monday and I've been dealing with phone, internet and satellite equipment replacement and repairs all week. Very annoying to say the least. At one point all I had was my smartphone and DVDs. Still no internet because for some stupid reason it takes seven days to ship the modem.

Rant over.