Two Large Ovarian Cysts

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My sister had a full hysterectomy after the birth of her second child. She was in her late 20's early 30's. It was rough on her, but she found a doctor and a therapist to talk to. The doctor put her on a cocktail of estrogen and testosterone and the therapist helped her deal with the loss she felt while she was still so young.

Make sure to talk to your doctor, ask questions, as many as you need. If you ever feels emotionally "off" find someone to talk to as well. Not everyone needs to, but just be aware that it's possible.

I have an ovarian cyst removed while I was 3 months pregnant. It was about 7cm if I remember correctly. It was removed laproscopically as well. The recovery really wasn't that bad. A few days of resting with some pain (I took minimal meds, since I was prego). I think in like 3 weeks I was back in the gym just as before. So its really not a bad recovery. My ovary was not removed, so I don't really know about the rest.
I wish you the best of luck on monday and hope that everything goes as smoothly as possible.

I had a large (size of a grapefruit) cyst removed a few years ago. They also needed to remove the ovary, so I'm down to one. My incision was from the belly button all the way down, so I had a long recovery.

As far as living with just one ovary, no big deal. I've had changes with my period, some hormone issues, and a decreased sex drive. However, these are mostly due to age (mid 40's) and non-related issues.

I was having some pain also- I wasn't in agony or anything but it was nagging me, esp around the time of my period. So I went to my primary doctor, who ordered a cat scan suspecting a kidney stone. The cat scan turned up a 10 cm cyst on my right ovary, and a 3.5 cm on the left. I was ordered to follow up with my gyn, who performed an ultrasound. On ultrasound, the 10 cm cyst looked cancerous- it was terrifying as I had a 6 mo old baby. I also knew how deadly ovarian cancer was, and with a cysts this size, the prognosis would not be encouraging. Surgery was scheduled with my gyn and an oncologist to remove the ovary. The situation was very similar to what your doctor told you- worst case scenario being a complete hysterectomy. However, my pre-op ultrasound 1 week later showed that the 10cm cyst was shrinking. The doc said that confirmed it was not cancer (cancer does not shrink), and was in fact a hemorrhagic cyst. Surgery was canceled, and we opted for a wait and see approach. I was so relieved that day, I went out to my car and cried like a baby. To make a long story short, both completely resolved on their own in 3 mos. I don't have any experience with the surgery or recovery, however, I do want to wish you luck and a speedy recovery. I know how unnerving this whole situation can be.

Sorry you are going through this! I can't tell you a lot about what will happen if they take out both your ovaries, but I would like to tell everyone that not only are ovarian cysts very common, the smaller ones (2cm and less) are absolutely normal in all women of reproductive age. They are called follicular cysts. Every month, (generally) one of these will produce an egg (ovulation) and the cyst will become a corpus luteum cyst that will also maintain certain hormones that maintain a pregnancy should you become pregnant, and in that case, it doesn't go away until the placenta grows enough to take over. It is true that some cysts get much larger, and can bleed and may require intervention; and in rare cases those with suspicious features in this category may turn out to be cancer. But the vast majority resolve on their own. The fact that they did not see your left ovary at all means it probably is small and normal. I hope all goes well and everything turns out to be benign and you get to keep your left one :)

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