My Story

My 'cyst' story begins with a "well woman" visit to my gyn.  During my exam, she said that my uterus felt large and that she would order an ultrasound.  A couple of days later, the ultrasound was performed, both a transabdominal and a transvaginal.  They found a good sized (7.8 cm) fibroid on the top of my uterus and a large (10 cm) septated, complex cyst on my right ovary.  They were unable to visualize the left ovary most likely because of the size of the fibroid.  Two hours later, my gyn tracked me down at work to let me know the results and that the cyst would definately need to be removed.  She let me know she was heading out on vacation the following day and would be in touch with me upon her return.  I called her office on the Monday of her return to ask where we go from here.  She ordered a CA-125 test which came back at a very low 4.9.  A couple of days later, I called her to see what she suggested and she said she was going to call our regional Medical Center and confer with the Gyn-Onc department.  She called me the next day and said she would refer me to them for surgery.  She is a surgeon as well, but she said that they are better equiped to do any testing necessary during surgery, which our little hospital could not do.  She did say it would be a couple of weeks before I'd be able to see them.  During this time, my symptoms were pretty benign as far as discomfort goes.  I had been experiencing very heavy bleeding and clotting for about 6 to 8 months.  In the few months prior to my U/S I had developed stress incontinence and abdominal bloating along with bowel changes.  I never really had any pain, but did notice that my appetite had decreased (probably no room left for my stomach with the size of the fibroid!!).  I also had noticed that the lymph nodes under my armpits were tender when I showered and were noticably swollen.  I finally had my appointment with the gyn-onc and he did a head to toe exam.  He really wanted to schedule surgery as soon as possible, but the schedule was such that it would be several weeks.  He scheduled the surgery and I had my Pre-op testing that day.  He also scheduled me for a chest, abdominal and pelvic CT and sent me for a mammogram and breast U/S because of his exam findings.  He said that he estimated the size of my uterus as that of an 18 week pregnancy.  He also felt my swollen underarm lymph nodes and said he felt something in the left breast.  During my internal exam, he said that he felt a nodule on my left ovary, but it was not invasive to the bowel (good!).  They were able to schedule both the CT and the breast imaging on the same day and just 4 days from this appointment!  This was somewhat disconcerting, since this is a large medical center that has thousands of patients daily!  So, I went in for my CT scan and mammogram a few days later.  The breast imaging consisted of a mammogram of both breasts and an U/S of the left breast.  The mammogram showed that I have breast tissue that extends to my underarms (oh boy, breasts in my underarms too!) but other than that, things looked normal.  I do have dense breast tissue which can make it more difficult to assess the images.  From there, I had the U/S of the left breast.  The found two simple cysts about 4 mm.  Nothing to worry about.  Next was the CT scan.  What fun!  I had to drink this wonderful "orange" flavored contrast (32 ounces in 2 hours).  Then I was called for the test.  It really wasn't too bad.  I was in and out in about 15 minutes.  The results took a few days to get from the doctor.  I was able to get copies of the report and the fibroid had increased to 11.8 cm and the right cyst had decreased to 6.9, but with trace ascites found around the cyst.  They were unable to visualize the left ovary, but thought that it was under the "distended broad ligament" that supports the uterus.  They also found "quite numerous mesenteric lymph nodes of indeterminate clinical significance".  All of these nodes were subcentimeter.  One node in the retroperitoneal was 7 mm.  The doctor (once again) stated that there is really no way to know what is going on until they can "get in there and take a look".

So, I am scheduled for a TAH/BSO (verticle incision) on July 14, 2008.  Waiting until then and feeling pretty good physically (and not too bad emotionally), aside from some occassional nausea and some twinges of pain now and then in both the lower left and right of the adbomen.