Ovarian Cyst

Did she already have a biopsy, Linkat? If so, the results will probably determine if its a benign cyst or a malignancy and the treatment will go from there. Benign ovarian cysts are fairly common and tend to run in families. Both of my sisters had years of dealing with benign cysts and eventually both had hysterectomies even though they didn't have malignancies. I had what was believed to be a cyst but turned out to be something else and had one ovary removed on an outpatient basis with no ontoward results.

Here's a good site from the NIH you can look at.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ovariancysts.html

edit: now that I read the site, it was an ultrasound I had, not a biopsy.

Here is another good discussion from a credible source:

http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic1699.htm

Most ovarian cysts are benign. The doctors will have to check out the cells, in order to see exactly what they are dealing with.

linklat, i have had 3 surgeries now for ovarian cysts. generally, if it is a simple cyst (meaning it is just fluid filled/benign) i was told they only need to be removed if they are causing discomfort. i have been dealing with them for close to 10 years now and have never been told that i might have to have a D&C. mine were simple cysts with a twist of necrotic blood in them but had gotten so large they were pushing all of my other organs around and even lodged the ovary in my abdmonial wall. What you have to be careful of is torsion-when the cyst weighs the ovary down, causing it to twist cutting off blood flow and killing the ovary.

As far as surgery, i had 3 laproscopic surgeries (mainly because the first two times they opted to only drain the cyst-and it kept refilling). The third time they actually cut the cyst out. Depending on how old your mother is should dictate what type of action to take, that and if it causing a lot of discomfort. my first one, they told me was small and fluid filled so i didn't need to do anything until it was larger and risked torsion. they also took the most conservative approach possible, since i am planning on having children still.

Simple cysts are caused by ovulation. the fluid filled sac that brings the egg to the surface of the ovary, then releases the egg into the fallopian tube, and is supposed to dissolve itself back into the ovary. What happens is it doesn't dissolve and continues to fill with fluid thus causing a cyst. these are called corpus lutem (not sure i spelled that right) cysts. Generally not harmful to a woman unless they cause torsion or other pain (in my case it squished my ovary into my abdominal wall as i said before).

I would suggest she find out exactly what type of cysts she has (simple or complex) which can generally be seen on an ultrasound. they will measure it then as well. Then decide if she needs to actually do anything-many of them dissolve on their own after a few months (for me this was not an option because it was too painful). i opted first to have the cyst drained via a catscan machine. They put me in the machine, guided a needle in and drained it. i had this done twice before they decided to go in laproscopically through my belly button. This isn't too bad of a surgery, usually outpatient, and i was back to work in about 4 days. they can do many things while in there, drain it, lyse it, or flat out remove.

hope this helps. i unfortunately have all too much experience with ovarian cysts so let me know if i can help in any other way. Good luck!

From what I understand, she had an ultrasound which showed the cyst. They took a blood test and she will get the results tomorrow. From there, they are going to determine whether there is a need for an operation.

Well my mom is 64 so planning on children is probably not a concern. My guess is that it is causing her enough discomfort to seek help. She is not the kind of person to go to the doctor's unless something is really bothering her.

Thank you all for your links and knowledge. My mom is just the type not to complain there is no way for me to know if she is going to have major surgery or just get a blood test. Also, I doubt she would have even told me other than she takes care of my toddler so it affects who will take care of her that day. She would have probably just gone in and I would have found out about it after a week. I'll tell you how bad she is - she was going to have my aunt just come over while my dad had her at the hospital. What does she think? That she is going to come back and watch her afterwards? And to top it off she has my 3 year old niece as her parents are away on vacation for the week. I have since spoken with my boss and am taking the day off.

I also want to be prepared for next week as I don't want her to be watching the children if she is not 100%. The last thing I want is for her to feel worse.

if she has surgery, she won't be watching your toddler for about a week. it took me 2 days to be able to get out of bed (they make a tiny incision in your belly button and another off the side of your abdomen and they cut through muscle), and another 3 days to get back to normal where sitting up didn't make my abdomen swell (not sure how long it would be to chase a toddler around). Unfortunately I don't understand why she is having a blood test done. In my ten years of cysts, I have not known a blood test to tell you anything about an ovarian cyst (but I am a patient so I also don't know the whole picture).

She probably is in a lot of pain, I spent a lot of time in bed doped up on some hard core pain killers-before the second surgery it was a full week straight in bed! I can sympathize on what kind of pain she must be in. Strangely enough, some women suffer no pain at all and don't even know they have one. The key indicator, does she hold her abdomen when she walks? I always did that because it made the pain feel better.

Keep us updated!! and wish her luck for me! The surgery isn't actually all that bad (its outpatient), its just that they cut through your stomach muscles, so it takes them a little time to heal!

Well, they do routine blood tests, in my experience, if there is any possibility of surgery, if only for a complete blood count including a slide to see if there are adequate platelets.

I admit I don't get the part about a d & c. That stands for dilation and curettage (sp?), meaning the scrape off the cellular coating of the uterus. But... the uterus is by definition not the ovaries.

Perhaps she is bleeding, and cannot mention this to you. D & C used to be one procedure related to that. I've had it and gone right back to work. On the other hand, I used to be a work maniac.

Thanks again. I talked with her again last night. It seems they originally thought she had an enlarged uterus, but found instead it was a cyst. So maybe that is why she is talking about a d&c. My mom probably doesn't feel comfortable talking about these sorts of things. I think people my age are more open about gyn stuff. And like I said my mother never complains about her health. She sounds a little bit like you ossobuco as far as ready to jump up and work again and I don't want her to over do it.

It's funny because last night, I was asking my mom questions (trying to probe too much as I didn't want her to feel uncomfortable either), and my dad has to jump in about his medical issues. My dad is the opposite - he was at the doctor's yesterday and wanted to tell me all about what they did. Unfortunately for dad, nobody takes his ailments seriously as he is always complaining about aches and pains. I guess he didn't like the attention I was giving to mom so he had to show me pictures of his colon - even after I said I would prefer not to.

I should know later this morning as my mom has an appointment early. Again thanks all.

If she has the surgery, make sure she gets plenty of fiber afterward! Because they go into the abdomen, it slows everything down. It takes about 4 or 5 days before the digestive track gets going again and can be quite uncomfortable. The first day my digestive track was functional again, I lost 10lbs...not kidding unfortunately on that and it was 6 days after surgery.

It appears that she has a cyst the size of an orange. They are going to try a procedure tomorrow where the recovery time is 24 hours. My aunt had a similar procedure and she said she felt pretty good when she got home. If this does not work they will have a laparoscopy (sp? something like that) and worst cause a hysterectomy.

are they going to drain it? That is not so bad, kinda painful during, but they dope you up for it. The laproscopy is the surgery that i have referring to, and really isn't so bad other than the small cut through stomach muscles (maybe an inch or so) and the constipation afterward. She will get some swelling though if she sits up too long. The size of an orange is pretty big. i am guessing if they are going to try to drain it-it is a simple cyst which bodes well-meaning it is just a fluid filled sack and nothing else! good luck and keep updating us!!!

Not sure dragon exactly the procedure, but since they haven't set a specific time (will know late afternoon), it supposed to be a simple procedure. Hopefully that will be it and no more worries. Since my aunt went through the same thing and was successful, hopefully it will work for my mom as well.

I also offered to take my niece overnight as her parents will not be home until early on Saturday from their trip. My mom still wants to keep her there, but I'll see when she gets home from her procedure. I did tell her that she should make sure she will feel alright.

Just an update - my mom came back from her procedure - according to the doctor everything seemed to go well - no cancer - we will know for sure if she any other procedure or an operation late this week. And she really did seem fine. You would have never known that she had any sort of medical procedure that day. She said she felt fine other than her stomach hurt slightly.

Fingers crossed.

My fingers are crossed too. Thanks for keeping us posted, Linkat.

I will be thinking about you all...

Great news, Linkat. I hope she's all done with procedures.

Well, my mom needs to go back. They will perform a laproscopy (sp?) and while she is there if that does not remove the cyst, they will remove her ovaries. The first will require a day surgery with a two day recovery while the second will require a two week recovery period - with a two day hospital stay. We will of course hope and pray for the first. This will happen in three weeks - on the day of my daughter's kindergarten graduation.

Fortunately my mom seems to be as positive as you can be under the circumstances and she even mentioned that she would still like to go to the graduation if she felt up to it.

well good luck to her! I will hope for just the laproscopy. i have had three and they aren't so bad. the only hard thing is that they cut through your stomach muscles so it takes that a little while to heal. oh and it slows your digestive tract down significantly so make sure once she is home she eats lots of fiber!! there is one crazy quirk with a laproscopy-they pump your abdomen full of carbon dioxide gas so they can see what they are doing, and afterward, it causes you to have this pain in your shoulder blade-its weird.

Well good luck! i will hope for the best for you all!!!

Thank you - I appreciate it!

Linkat--

One of the kindest things you can do for your mother is to take your father out of earshot and listen to the litany of his aches and pains until he's all talked out.

Most households have a Designated Invalid--often self-appointed--and when anyone besides the Designated Invalid has medical problems the harmony of the household is completely disrupted.

Then be very firm with your father that you and your mother need uninterrupted female chat time.

Hold your dominion.