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5 days post laparotomy for 12cm cyst, plus questions
I'm a healthy, athletic 28yo, and six days ago I went to the hospital in a lot of pain that appeared very suddenly. Imaging revealed that I had three ovarian cysts, one of which was 12cm in diameter. The large cyst caused ovarian torsion, and I had a laparotomy to remove the cysts about 12 hours after being admitted to the ER, around 9pm. At midnight I was awake to the great news that my ovaries were both still happy and healthy, as this was a big concern going in. The next day once the catheter was out, I had peed, and walked down the hall, they released me (only about 12 hours post surgery! I'm young and healthy but that's soon for a 6" incision, no?). Thanks to my quick in-and-out and the emergency nature of my surgery, I left without much interaction with any of the doctors. My recovery seems to be progressing pretty normally, but I have a few questions that haven't been answered by looking through others' posts.
1. one of the drugs I was on in the hospital caused a rash all over my midsection that is very itchy, and I am extremely itchy from the tape that I used to hold on bandages after dressing my wound myself. Have others had this problem, and if so what creams did you use to help with the itching?
2. I read that someone's doctor told them to stand upright as much as possible, because if you always hunch over it might cause the incision to heal weird. Is this true? It gives me nausea to walk fully upright, but if I hunch over even just a little bit then it's much more comfortable.
3. I'm sure it's incredibly variable, but how long do cysts take to grow? The two smaller cysts were dermoid cysts, and the largest was fluid-filled. I ask because I've had pretty painful GI problems for at least two years - a specialist said that I have abnormal (painful) reactions to normal amounts of gas and diagnosed me with IBS about 10 months ago. If this cyst is the cause of my pain then it will be a huge relief. But the doctor mentioned that these could grow very rapidly, and I had my last annual exam about a year ago. Is it possible to miss a cyst this size in an annual exam? Could the cyst have grown to a large size and then remained that size for a year or more? I'm sure these questions will be answered in time by my symptoms, but I'm curious if anyone else had similar symptoms pre-surgery.
1. one of the drugs I was on in the hospital caused a rash all over my midsection that is very itchy, and I am extremely itchy from the tape that I used to hold on bandages after dressing my wound myself. Have others had this problem, and if so what creams did you use to help with the itching?
2. I read that someone's doctor told them to stand upright as much as possible, because if you always hunch over it might cause the incision to heal weird. Is this true? It gives me nausea to walk fully upright, but if I hunch over even just a little bit then it's much more comfortable.
3. I'm sure it's incredibly variable, but how long do cysts take to grow? The two smaller cysts were dermoid cysts, and the largest was fluid-filled. I ask because I've had pretty painful GI problems for at least two years - a specialist said that I have abnormal (painful) reactions to normal amounts of gas and diagnosed me with IBS about 10 months ago. If this cyst is the cause of my pain then it will be a huge relief. But the doctor mentioned that these could grow very rapidly, and I had my last annual exam about a year ago. Is it possible to miss a cyst this size in an annual exam? Could the cyst have grown to a large size and then remained that size for a year or more? I'm sure these questions will be answered in time by my symptoms, but I'm curious if anyone else had similar symptoms pre-surgery.
i have a 12cm cyst on my right ovary and the doctors are saying they have to remove the entire right side of my reproductive organs because it has stretched out my tube im only 26yrs old what does this mean for my hormones and periods im so scared
2 months to the day.
My recovery has slowed considerably in the past few weeks. I return in a few days to have more bloodwork done but I am still regularly light headed and feel very faint. I'm still uncomfortable sleeping anywhere but on my back, have a difficult time bending over to pick things up, and am bothered by bumps in the road and seat belts. I haven't worn anything but a dress or skirt in about a month and my waist is a full 7" larger than it was before surgery (and I have lost weight in this time).
Over the past two weeks I have focused keeping a very healthy diet, and I'm starting to appreciate that I probably should have been much more pro-active about supplements from the beginning. I probably should have done this research myself, but I also feel like one of the three doctors that I've seen since surgery should have impressed upon me that a healthy recovery requires a lot of attention to nutrition. I'm now taking supplements for iron, zinc, vitamin C, and a general multivitamin, and hopefully this will have a positive effect on my dizziness problems.
My recovery has slowed considerably in the past few weeks. I return in a few days to have more bloodwork done but I am still regularly light headed and feel very faint. I'm still uncomfortable sleeping anywhere but on my back, have a difficult time bending over to pick things up, and am bothered by bumps in the road and seat belts. I haven't worn anything but a dress or skirt in about a month and my waist is a full 7" larger than it was before surgery (and I have lost weight in this time).
Over the past two weeks I have focused keeping a very healthy diet, and I'm starting to appreciate that I probably should have been much more pro-active about supplements from the beginning. I probably should have done this research myself, but I also feel like one of the three doctors that I've seen since surgery should have impressed upon me that a healthy recovery requires a lot of attention to nutrition. I'm now taking supplements for iron, zinc, vitamin C, and a general multivitamin, and hopefully this will have a positive effect on my dizziness problems.
Monday 8/22 - 6 weeks, 4 days.
- I just read my update from about 10 days ago, and I haven't progressed much (at all?) in this time. At least it's not getting worse, but this is the first week I've had where there wasn't improvement. Disapointing, considering that many who have had similar surgeries are feeling back to normal by now.
- I still struggle to sleep anywhere but on my back, I can only walk on flat ground with any speed, and have minor pain after much physical activity. Once I get full I must stop eating, because even a little bit of overeating causes painful bloating. I am never without water, because coughing is very painful and I often need it to ward off a cough or sneeze.
- I have been dealing with constipation on and off since surgery. I haven't had any problems for the past day or two, so maybe it's getting better?
- Mid week last week I was better than I am today, and even noticing that the swelling was starting to go down in my stomach area. Over the past week things have gotten a little worse.
- I'm still quite swollen. I've lost 10 lbs since surgery (almost all during the first week, I'm eating plenty and not trying to lose weight at all), but my abdomen is still much larger than it was pre-surgery. I'm still mostly wearing skirts and dresses, and even trying to get away without underwear when I can because any pressure is uncomfortable. My stomach is swollen enough that my pre-surgery fat pants are all I can wear and I don't do it for more than a couple hours becuase it's uncomfortable. I had a 12cm cyst removed from my abdomen, and 6.5 weeks after removal my abdomen is larger than I was pre-surgery! It's very easy to notice swelling start up after I do much of anything - my "shelf" may start as only .5" in the morning, but by evening it's easily twice that.
- I went to the doctor to get some bloodwork done because I've been feeling faint (as I mentioned in last update). As I suspected, I am mildly anemic, and this together with my low blood pressure has probably been causing me to feel faint with any amount of physical exertion.
- Bloodwork also showed that my liver is somewhat stressed, which is a little weird because I haven't been drinking or taking IBupofen at all, my WBC is a little high, and I'm running a mild fever (99-100F). So the doctor suggested that I might have a viral infection of some sort that isn't related to surgery. It's been 3 days since I talked to the doctor last and my fever has gone down a little, but I've been at least a half degree above normal every time I check. I'm definitely not getting any worse, but perhaps whatever I'm fighting is also causing my surgery recovery to slow.
- The bloodwork also revealed that my thryoid is working fine (this was a concern, because my large cyst was mainly thyroid tissue and sometimes they start producing hormones all on their own).
- I just read my update from about 10 days ago, and I haven't progressed much (at all?) in this time. At least it's not getting worse, but this is the first week I've had where there wasn't improvement. Disapointing, considering that many who have had similar surgeries are feeling back to normal by now.
- I still struggle to sleep anywhere but on my back, I can only walk on flat ground with any speed, and have minor pain after much physical activity. Once I get full I must stop eating, because even a little bit of overeating causes painful bloating. I am never without water, because coughing is very painful and I often need it to ward off a cough or sneeze.
- I have been dealing with constipation on and off since surgery. I haven't had any problems for the past day or two, so maybe it's getting better?
- Mid week last week I was better than I am today, and even noticing that the swelling was starting to go down in my stomach area. Over the past week things have gotten a little worse.
- I'm still quite swollen. I've lost 10 lbs since surgery (almost all during the first week, I'm eating plenty and not trying to lose weight at all), but my abdomen is still much larger than it was pre-surgery. I'm still mostly wearing skirts and dresses, and even trying to get away without underwear when I can because any pressure is uncomfortable. My stomach is swollen enough that my pre-surgery fat pants are all I can wear and I don't do it for more than a couple hours becuase it's uncomfortable. I had a 12cm cyst removed from my abdomen, and 6.5 weeks after removal my abdomen is larger than I was pre-surgery! It's very easy to notice swelling start up after I do much of anything - my "shelf" may start as only .5" in the morning, but by evening it's easily twice that.
- I went to the doctor to get some bloodwork done because I've been feeling faint (as I mentioned in last update). As I suspected, I am mildly anemic, and this together with my low blood pressure has probably been causing me to feel faint with any amount of physical exertion.
- Bloodwork also showed that my liver is somewhat stressed, which is a little weird because I haven't been drinking or taking IBupofen at all, my WBC is a little high, and I'm running a mild fever (99-100F). So the doctor suggested that I might have a viral infection of some sort that isn't related to surgery. It's been 3 days since I talked to the doctor last and my fever has gone down a little, but I've been at least a half degree above normal every time I check. I'm definitely not getting any worse, but perhaps whatever I'm fighting is also causing my surgery recovery to slow.
- The bloodwork also revealed that my thryoid is working fine (this was a concern, because my large cyst was mainly thyroid tissue and sometimes they start producing hormones all on their own).
As I've been recovering from surgery, I've found a frustrating lack of "normal" recovery stories with timelines, etc. I've been keeping track of my symptoms on my computer, and I'm posting them here now so that others will have something to compare to. I'm currently 6.5 weeks post surgery, and my recovery seems to be on the slower end of normal. -Sandra
----------------
Immediately after surgery:
- I have approx a 5" bikini line incision, and cysts were successfully removed from my right and left ovaries. The largest cyst was 12cm on my right, 4cm on my left. All were benign dermoid cysts, mainly filled with fluid, but with hair and thyroid tissue.
- I have decided that I probably wasn't allergic to surgical glue or tape, but I was allergic to one of the medicines that they gave me at the hospital. I broke out in a rash all over my midsection, from my armpits to my upper thighs. The rash was gone within a week after surgery.
-------------
First 2weeks:
- I had sharp intense pain in my upper back for the first 24 hours or so, but nothing like the gas pains that some get.
- I was mostly bed-ridden for the first week. I took a short shower about 48 hours after surgery, and walked a little bit around the house, but that's about it.
- 3 days after surgery, I went for a short drive as a passenger. This was excruciating - I felt every bump even though we took it really slow. After a few miles I felt like I might throw up.
- Continued taking oxycodone every 3 hrs, IB and tyl every 6 hours for first 3 days after surgery, but then transitioned to just take IB and tyl every 6 hours for the next week or so. After that I just took IB and tyl as needed.
- It took 5 days before I had my first bm. I was taking stool softeners 2x/day before this (docusate sodium), and continued them 1x/day every day for the next 10 days. I had a very tough time having bms in the beginning (and I continue to have a tough time at 6 weeks).
- I ran a 1F-2.5F fever for the first couple weeks, worst in the evenings. I think this was just normal inflamation as I've had no signs of infection.
- When fully laying down it is very difficult for me to move my legs. In order to move around much at night, I get out of bed then lay back down, rather than adjusting myself while horizontal.
- I returned to very minimal work on day 8. I am currently teaching a college course so needed to get back asap. I had a friend drive me to campus, help me get set up for class, and I converted all my lectures to powerpoint so I didn't have to walk around. Giving lectures wasn't pushing too hard, but the car rides were pretty uncomfortable.
- For the first two weeks the worst pains I had were sharp pains several inches above the incision that would occur when I did things that accidentally engaged my abs. At my post-op check up, the dr said that pain was probably due to the muscles re-attaching to the skin.
-------------
Week 3:
- 2 weeks after surgery, I was feeling much better so I decided to spend some time out in my garden trellising green beans and tomatoes, etc. I spent 1-1.5 hours doing this, with a good amount of bending over and squatting. This really set me back. It took at least five days before I started feeling as good as I had.
- I usually feel fine and pain-free when I wake up in the morning, and then by the afternoon I have some pain, and this pain continues into the evening unless I spend the rest of the day in bed and taking pain meds.
- I began driving myself back and forth to work about 2.5 weeks after surgery. Driving is still pretty uncomfortable due to bumps, but working my manual transmission is only slightly worse than just being a passenger. I have an easy (<10 mins on surface streets) and traffic free drive to work and arranged a disability permit so I can park right in front of my building.
- By the end of week 3, I started getting frustrated about my lack of progress and tired of always being in pain. I started taking an oxycodonein the evenings if I was in pain rather than suffering through it.
-------------
4.5 weeks post - op (Sunday 8/7)
- still hurts very bad to cough, sneeze, even laugh.
- Still walking slowly, but I no longer get questions about my health just from people seeing me walk.
- still a little uncomfortable sleeping on anything but my back, but I've spent a few hours on a couple occasions in the past week sleeping on my side with only a little discomfort.
- I've got a few hours of activity a day in me and as long as I'm slow this doesn't seem to cause me problems.
- Pattern of no pain in the morning and lots of pain in the evening has gotten much better, but after an "active" afternoon I definitely feel pain.
- For the past week, I've been able to be in a car without being in pain. It used to hurt a ton just to go over normal bumps in the road, so it's a relief.
- Can't sit up on my own yet, but I can engage my ab muscles for small tasks without any pain.
- Incision and the several inches above it are still numb, but not completely numb everywhere (this hasn't changed at 6.5 weeks).
- I'm struggling mentally more than ever. I'm sick of spending so much of my life on the couch. I knew it would be a few weeks, but the surgeon initially didn't give me any impression that recovery would be this long, listing 6 weeks as a max. It's hard to imagine anything near "full" recovery in the next 1.5 weeks, and that's got me down.
- My pain is not now nor has it ever been from the incision (maybe this is because it's numb?). After the sharp muscular pain subsided (this took 2.5 weeks or so), my pain mostly feels internal like it's coming from my ovaries. This pain is more dull and doesn't tend to hurt immediately or due to any one thing. It creeps up over time if I'm moving around a lot and will last for a few hours. It hurts more often on the right side (the side with the large cyst).
- I have lost 10 pounds and continue to lose weight. I'm 5'9", 130lbs, and very fit, so this weight loss is notable and not something I'm happy about. I've definitely let my nutrition slip a bit at exactly the wrong time.When I run low on food in the house I eat less and/or tend to eat ready-made things from the freezer (this while food in my garden rots!). A few days ago I spent two hours cooking and then I regretted it because I developed a new pain in my side (this might actually have just been a good old sore muscle, in retrospect).
- I started picking at my surgical glue today, and uncovered about half of my scar. We'll see if/how this affects scarring later on.
-----------
Thursday 8/11 - 5 weeks to the day.
- sleeping on my sides again! Well, at least for about half of the night. It's still not perfect.
- I'm still walking slow, but thinking that this might have a bit to do with my naturally stiff hip flexors that have gotten basically no stretch for over a month. I've started trying to walk a little faster and will bring in minor lunges over the next few days to get back some flexibility.
- I still pretty regularly feel faint and dizzy when I stand up.
- I returned to normal periods right away (I was due at the time of surgery, and my period came about a week later). But I have been breaking out like I haven't done since high school for the past month! Definitely some hormonal things are working themselves out.
- plant allergies are a little unhappy, and I'm pleasantly surprised to see that it doesn't hurt a ton to sneeze. Progress.
- about a year ago I ordered a pair of capris online and I had to sew in about 2" in order to make them fit. Yesterday I wore them without being taken in and they felt great. I'm definitely still quite swollen and tender in my whole abdomen.
----------------
Immediately after surgery:
- I have approx a 5" bikini line incision, and cysts were successfully removed from my right and left ovaries. The largest cyst was 12cm on my right, 4cm on my left. All were benign dermoid cysts, mainly filled with fluid, but with hair and thyroid tissue.
- I have decided that I probably wasn't allergic to surgical glue or tape, but I was allergic to one of the medicines that they gave me at the hospital. I broke out in a rash all over my midsection, from my armpits to my upper thighs. The rash was gone within a week after surgery.
-------------
First 2weeks:
- I had sharp intense pain in my upper back for the first 24 hours or so, but nothing like the gas pains that some get.
- I was mostly bed-ridden for the first week. I took a short shower about 48 hours after surgery, and walked a little bit around the house, but that's about it.
- 3 days after surgery, I went for a short drive as a passenger. This was excruciating - I felt every bump even though we took it really slow. After a few miles I felt like I might throw up.
- Continued taking oxycodone every 3 hrs, IB and tyl every 6 hours for first 3 days after surgery, but then transitioned to just take IB and tyl every 6 hours for the next week or so. After that I just took IB and tyl as needed.
- It took 5 days before I had my first bm. I was taking stool softeners 2x/day before this (docusate sodium), and continued them 1x/day every day for the next 10 days. I had a very tough time having bms in the beginning (and I continue to have a tough time at 6 weeks).
- I ran a 1F-2.5F fever for the first couple weeks, worst in the evenings. I think this was just normal inflamation as I've had no signs of infection.
- When fully laying down it is very difficult for me to move my legs. In order to move around much at night, I get out of bed then lay back down, rather than adjusting myself while horizontal.
- I returned to very minimal work on day 8. I am currently teaching a college course so needed to get back asap. I had a friend drive me to campus, help me get set up for class, and I converted all my lectures to powerpoint so I didn't have to walk around. Giving lectures wasn't pushing too hard, but the car rides were pretty uncomfortable.
- For the first two weeks the worst pains I had were sharp pains several inches above the incision that would occur when I did things that accidentally engaged my abs. At my post-op check up, the dr said that pain was probably due to the muscles re-attaching to the skin.
-------------
Week 3:
- 2 weeks after surgery, I was feeling much better so I decided to spend some time out in my garden trellising green beans and tomatoes, etc. I spent 1-1.5 hours doing this, with a good amount of bending over and squatting. This really set me back. It took at least five days before I started feeling as good as I had.
- I usually feel fine and pain-free when I wake up in the morning, and then by the afternoon I have some pain, and this pain continues into the evening unless I spend the rest of the day in bed and taking pain meds.
- I began driving myself back and forth to work about 2.5 weeks after surgery. Driving is still pretty uncomfortable due to bumps, but working my manual transmission is only slightly worse than just being a passenger. I have an easy (<10 mins on surface streets) and traffic free drive to work and arranged a disability permit so I can park right in front of my building.
- By the end of week 3, I started getting frustrated about my lack of progress and tired of always being in pain. I started taking an oxycodonein the evenings if I was in pain rather than suffering through it.
-------------
4.5 weeks post - op (Sunday 8/7)
- still hurts very bad to cough, sneeze, even laugh.
- Still walking slowly, but I no longer get questions about my health just from people seeing me walk.
- still a little uncomfortable sleeping on anything but my back, but I've spent a few hours on a couple occasions in the past week sleeping on my side with only a little discomfort.
- I've got a few hours of activity a day in me and as long as I'm slow this doesn't seem to cause me problems.
- Pattern of no pain in the morning and lots of pain in the evening has gotten much better, but after an "active" afternoon I definitely feel pain.
- For the past week, I've been able to be in a car without being in pain. It used to hurt a ton just to go over normal bumps in the road, so it's a relief.
- Can't sit up on my own yet, but I can engage my ab muscles for small tasks without any pain.
- Incision and the several inches above it are still numb, but not completely numb everywhere (this hasn't changed at 6.5 weeks).
- I'm struggling mentally more than ever. I'm sick of spending so much of my life on the couch. I knew it would be a few weeks, but the surgeon initially didn't give me any impression that recovery would be this long, listing 6 weeks as a max. It's hard to imagine anything near "full" recovery in the next 1.5 weeks, and that's got me down.
- My pain is not now nor has it ever been from the incision (maybe this is because it's numb?). After the sharp muscular pain subsided (this took 2.5 weeks or so), my pain mostly feels internal like it's coming from my ovaries. This pain is more dull and doesn't tend to hurt immediately or due to any one thing. It creeps up over time if I'm moving around a lot and will last for a few hours. It hurts more often on the right side (the side with the large cyst).
- I have lost 10 pounds and continue to lose weight. I'm 5'9", 130lbs, and very fit, so this weight loss is notable and not something I'm happy about. I've definitely let my nutrition slip a bit at exactly the wrong time.When I run low on food in the house I eat less and/or tend to eat ready-made things from the freezer (this while food in my garden rots!). A few days ago I spent two hours cooking and then I regretted it because I developed a new pain in my side (this might actually have just been a good old sore muscle, in retrospect).
- I started picking at my surgical glue today, and uncovered about half of my scar. We'll see if/how this affects scarring later on.
-----------
Thursday 8/11 - 5 weeks to the day.
- sleeping on my sides again! Well, at least for about half of the night. It's still not perfect.
- I'm still walking slow, but thinking that this might have a bit to do with my naturally stiff hip flexors that have gotten basically no stretch for over a month. I've started trying to walk a little faster and will bring in minor lunges over the next few days to get back some flexibility.
- I still pretty regularly feel faint and dizzy when I stand up.
- I returned to normal periods right away (I was due at the time of surgery, and my period came about a week later). But I have been breaking out like I haven't done since high school for the past month! Definitely some hormonal things are working themselves out.
- plant allergies are a little unhappy, and I'm pleasantly surprised to see that it doesn't hurt a ton to sneeze. Progress.
- about a year ago I ordered a pair of capris online and I had to sew in about 2" in order to make them fit. Yesterday I wore them without being taken in and they felt great. I'm definitely still quite swollen and tender in my whole abdomen.
Thanks for the update and your comments! I think it wasn't actually the tape that I was allergic to, but rather I had an allergic reaction to a medication that I was on in the hospital. I broke out in a rash all over my midsection that lasted about a week. The rash irritated me the most where the incision was, but that makes sense. Also, now that it's been about 6.5 weeks I think I can safely say I had symptoms from this cyst for at least 1.5 years. I hadn't gone 1 week without a very bad stomach ache for 1.5 years, and now I've gone 6.5 weeks.
How are you doing now? Hope your recovery is going well and you're starting to feel normal again!
How are you doing now? Hope your recovery is going well and you're starting to feel normal again!
I have also just had a 12cm cyst removed 2 weeks ago today.i was in hospital 4 days and kept passing out as i suffer low blood pressure.
The tape can irritate and i had spots over my arm but as i no longer take pills they re going.My cyst was dermoid and i believe these can grow really quick.Went for the scan 1 month before op and was told fluid filled 8cm.In 4 weeks it had grown 4cm and type of cyst was diagnosed different.I dont think your stitches can heal wrong hun they just like u to get used to walking upright.
Hope u get well soon ans hope this helps
The tape can irritate and i had spots over my arm but as i no longer take pills they re going.My cyst was dermoid and i believe these can grow really quick.Went for the scan 1 month before op and was told fluid filled 8cm.In 4 weeks it had grown 4cm and type of cyst was diagnosed different.I dont think your stitches can heal wrong hun they just like u to get used to walking upright.
Hope u get well soon ans hope this helps
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