16 cm mass on right ovary

[knitorious]

Last Friday my doc sent me to the hospital for a ct scan b/c I had been having abdominal paint for the past couple of weeks and she thought that it might be appendicitis.  The ct scan showed a 16 cm mass on my right ovary.  Has anyone else had a mass that big removed and if so what kind of surgery did you have and what was the recovery time?  The radiologist told me that these things tend to be benign in women my age (25) but I am still worried that it might be cancer.  I go to the gyno on Monday to talk about removal.

Thanks.  

[shewrites]

Please follow up on this and act on the recommendations of your gynecologist right away.  It's probably benign, but you're in pain and so you want to deal with it now.  I understand that 95 percent of ovarian cysts are benign, so keep a positive attitude until you know otherwise.  

If surgery is recommended, please ask for a gynecological oncologist, not because it's cancer but because they have years of extra training for this type of surgery.  As one of the ladies on this forum likes to say, you only have one chance to get things right the first time.  

Yes, breast cancer and ovarian cancer are related, although ovarian cancer doesn't seem to "spread" to the breast or vice versa.  It just seems to increase the risk of getting bc if you've had ovca (or the reverse).  

I had a fist-sized tumor, and I've heard of far larger -- both benign and malignant.  I'm older and I had a full hysterectomy along with removal of my omentum and appendix because my mass was malignant.  That was seven years ago.  Like any major surgery, it took about six weeks to recover, although I was back at my desk (at home) within a week.  My husband drove me to a convention at the six week mark because he didn't want me carrying suitcases and registration boxes, but I think I would have been okay to fly.  Not so sure about heavy boxes, though.  I didn't let them rush me into chemo but got a port and started that when we returned from our trip.  I'm fine now.  

I'll bet the radiologist is right, but please don't take any chances by ignoring this.  Good luck.  

[knitorious]

also, my Mother recently went through treatment for breast cancer which is where my concern of it maybe being cancer is coming from.  Does anyone know how closely realted the two cancers are or how risk for one impacts risk for the other?

Thanks.