Wait and See Approach

[Butterfly44]

I have posted one other time about 8 months ago and I'm continuing to debate whether or not to have surgery. I have a 7 cm cyst (1 US showed one septation)but the last one didn't say anything about that. I also have a 3-4 cm cyst on my left ovary. I have had US's every 2 months for the last 10 months with basically no changes. I am 44 years old, pre-menopausal, and have experienced NO symptoms from these cysts. I am seeing a Gyn-oncologist whom I really like. He has answered all my questions but absolutely leaves the decision of surgery up to me. He says he would be happy to do the surgery but doesn't necessarily think it's needed. It's up to me...which is empowering but also a hard decision. I'm really not overly concerned about the possiblilty of cancer since I have been assured by my physician and my own reading that the chance of it being cancer is remote. I have somewhat of a family history of cancer, although not ovarian. My mom's sister died of breast cancer at age 50 and both grandmothers died of cancer but when they were older. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

[Gatsby]

Welcome to the site!  You are a wise woman with a great dr!  Afterall, if it is not life threatening, the decision should ultimately be yours.  Since you are monitoring the cysts with bimonthly ultrasounds and are not suffering any symptoms, you can maintain the watch and wait.  You are in my thoughts and prayers.  Godspeed
~Tascha

[Butterfly44]

Thank you so much for both of your comments. They were very helpful. Linda, I was hoping to combine surgeries too, but it hasn't worked out. I have been wanting to get a mini tummy tuck for a few years and finally looked into it. The plastic surgeon is willing to do it in combination with having the cysts removed. My onc-gyn isn't comfortable doing the surgery in the plastic surgeon's outpatient surgery center, though. He said that on the off chance that there would be problems or he would need to do more extensive surgery he would want to be in the hospital. I respect his opinion although it is aggravating. The tummy tuck is outrageously expensive in the hospital so that's just not an option. I'm trying to decide whether to have the cysts removed and then later have the tummy tuck (two surgery recoveries don't sound like fun!) or have the tummy tuck and don't worry about the cysts and hope that if the cysts need to be removed later it won't mess up the tummy tuck. Decisions, decisions! Again, thank you for replying to my questions and Linda, I'll keep your upcoming surgery in my prayers.