2 things
Firstly, congratulations to littleshortgirl (my niece) on being offered a place at Clare College Cambridge to read Natural Sciences. Well done!!! Now you just need to get those As and you're good to go ;)
Secondly, I had my appointment with the Gyn today. Saw the consultant and had a nice long chat with him. My slightly elevated CA125 was actually 35 and in some instances that would represent the highest level of normal. I asked how big the cyst is and it's apparently 4-5cm ... !!! Wow didn't realise it was quite so big :(
We discussed treatment options and have decided on a Laparoscopy (keyhole surgery) to remove the cyst and any of the ovary that is needed. We discussed removing the entire ovary (my concern being repeated cysts) but on his recommendation I'm going for just the removal of the cyst.
As I need surgery anyway, we discussed options for my heavy periods and the three most obvious treatment options are the coil (hormone containing one), a hysterectomy or endometrial ablation. No, I'd never heard of the third one either. From reading the leaflet what it seems to boil down to is that they use electrical energy to destroy the lining of the womb... effectively microwaving it LOL. It takes about 4 minutes to do and is successful in 92% of women - successful means a significant reduction in bleeding, with around 40-45% (according to various websites) having no periods at all (can we say woot! *crosses fingers*). It can also reduce the pain and the PMS *crosses fingers on other hand* [website]
It does of course mean you can no longer have children but as I'm fairly sure that I'm unlikely to do a 180 after not wanting more children for the last 13 years that suits me (although I think it's something I definitely need to come to terms with beforehand - as knowing you don't want =/= knowing you can't have). Because it also wouldn't be a good idea to get pregnant after having the ablation, and as they'll already be in there with the snippers anyway, they will take out my tubes whilst they are at it.
So to summarise:
Laparoscopy of the cyst
Endometrial ablation
Sterilisation
They are all ops that can be done as a day patient but he said that I would be in for a day or two as they'd rather keep an eye on patients for at least 24 hours (2 days would be if there are any complications). I'm on the waiting list now and he said they would do it as soon as possible. I'm hoping that the rapid appointments keep coming now ;)
Now, how do I feel about that all... I'm not sure. I started bleeding today and the thought that this could conceivably be my last ever period almost bought me to tears of joy. In fact I'm welling up again now. I don't think I quite realised how much knowing the bleeding is coming mentally drains me. Having to make sure that I'm close to a toilet all the time (although I'm kinda used to that given my mother and daughter and their bladders lol) can be so restricting. I do go out but I'm constantly worrying about whether I'm about to leak :( But as I'd seen the doc before about it I thought it was just something I'd have to cope with and now, knowing I don't, is... a relief, to say the least.
Like I mentioned up there though knowing that the procedure takes away my choice about having more children is something that I'll definitely have to work through. Realistically I know it's highly unlikely that I'll be in a position to even consider it as a possibility given my total lack of a love life in recent years and the thought of having to deal with teenage angst when I'm in my 50s would put me off if nothing else did. I've also got to the stage where I'm beginning to look forward to grandchildren. But... I would no longer have a choice. I need to do much thinking on this.
The removal of the cyst is, of course, a no brainer. It needs to go. I'm beginning to get fed up of the nagging ache if nothing else, although as I told the consultant I'm almost convinced it's psychosomatic pain anyway. I think I'm relieved they're doing it keyhole, although I'm slightly worried that they'll hit something else with their clippers whilst they are in there. Which is a possibility. I suppose I just have to hope that they don't or that it's something easily fixable.
I'm also still slightly concerned that if/when they send the cyst for biopsy that they'll find it's not quite as harmless as they thought, although hopefully even in that situation it would be contained within the cyst and need no further treatment. Seems so far that the mother and exhub could well have been right though... and argh I hate that I just typed that. Now I feel like I'm tempting The Fates :( Still, nothing I can do about it. Worrying won't help or change anything.
Think that covered just about everything. So changing the subject completely.
Last Monday I, and most of my family (except son and littlest sis + hubby), went on a trip to South West Wales to look at a bit of woodland. Took 3(ish) hours to get there and the photos are very accurate, except they just don't get across quite how steep the hillside is; how muddy the very, very, long (and completely inaccessible by anything but a tractor) the track up to the wood is; and how there are just no open areas that would be suitable for pitching a tent. So it's back to looking. My father has wanted to buy a woodland for quite a few years now but isn't having much luck finding anything. Personally I want something that is more than a woodland. A few nice and big clearings, or maybe a meadow at the bottom leading down to a river would be great. I want them to be able to put a yurt up on it! And I want a treebog (kind of a composting toilet but you don't have to remove the composted bit). And we want tree-swings, and tree-houses. I'd love it if he could find something that you could live on (although I wouldn't). Something where you can really get back to basics as a really good hidey-hole in the event that the country and it's infrastructure completely breaks down. And somewhere that we could go for long weekends. It's a nice fantasy anyway, but so was the swimming pool that he talked about when we were little ;)
Oops, it's half past midnight now. Really must go to bed as I don't think I slept overly well last night and we're going shopping in the morning so I'll have to get up. I'm sure I owe a load of comments from my birthday post and I'll try and get to those, and any comments here, just as soon as the kids are back to school. I may even start showing as online on Yahoo and MSN then too ;)
*hugs everyone*
Secondly, I had my appointment with the Gyn today. Saw the consultant and had a nice long chat with him. My slightly elevated CA125 was actually 35 and in some instances that would represent the highest level of normal. I asked how big the cyst is and it's apparently 4-5cm ... !!! Wow didn't realise it was quite so big :(
We discussed treatment options and have decided on a Laparoscopy (keyhole surgery) to remove the cyst and any of the ovary that is needed. We discussed removing the entire ovary (my concern being repeated cysts) but on his recommendation I'm going for just the removal of the cyst.
As I need surgery anyway, we discussed options for my heavy periods and the three most obvious treatment options are the coil (hormone containing one), a hysterectomy or endometrial ablation. No, I'd never heard of the third one either. From reading the leaflet what it seems to boil down to is that they use electrical energy to destroy the lining of the womb... effectively microwaving it LOL. It takes about 4 minutes to do and is successful in 92% of women - successful means a significant reduction in bleeding, with around 40-45% (according to various websites) having no periods at all (can we say woot! *crosses fingers*). It can also reduce the pain and the PMS *crosses fingers on other hand* [website]
It does of course mean you can no longer have children but as I'm fairly sure that I'm unlikely to do a 180 after not wanting more children for the last 13 years that suits me (although I think it's something I definitely need to come to terms with beforehand - as knowing you don't want =/= knowing you can't have). Because it also wouldn't be a good idea to get pregnant after having the ablation, and as they'll already be in there with the snippers anyway, they will take out my tubes whilst they are at it.
So to summarise:
Laparoscopy of the cyst
Endometrial ablation
Sterilisation
They are all ops that can be done as a day patient but he said that I would be in for a day or two as they'd rather keep an eye on patients for at least 24 hours (2 days would be if there are any complications). I'm on the waiting list now and he said they would do it as soon as possible. I'm hoping that the rapid appointments keep coming now ;)
Now, how do I feel about that all... I'm not sure. I started bleeding today and the thought that this could conceivably be my last ever period almost bought me to tears of joy. In fact I'm welling up again now. I don't think I quite realised how much knowing the bleeding is coming mentally drains me. Having to make sure that I'm close to a toilet all the time (although I'm kinda used to that given my mother and daughter and their bladders lol) can be so restricting. I do go out but I'm constantly worrying about whether I'm about to leak :( But as I'd seen the doc before about it I thought it was just something I'd have to cope with and now, knowing I don't, is... a relief, to say the least.
Like I mentioned up there though knowing that the procedure takes away my choice about having more children is something that I'll definitely have to work through. Realistically I know it's highly unlikely that I'll be in a position to even consider it as a possibility given my total lack of a love life in recent years and the thought of having to deal with teenage angst when I'm in my 50s would put me off if nothing else did. I've also got to the stage where I'm beginning to look forward to grandchildren. But... I would no longer have a choice. I need to do much thinking on this.
The removal of the cyst is, of course, a no brainer. It needs to go. I'm beginning to get fed up of the nagging ache if nothing else, although as I told the consultant I'm almost convinced it's psychosomatic pain anyway. I think I'm relieved they're doing it keyhole, although I'm slightly worried that they'll hit something else with their clippers whilst they are in there. Which is a possibility. I suppose I just have to hope that they don't or that it's something easily fixable.
I'm also still slightly concerned that if/when they send the cyst for biopsy that they'll find it's not quite as harmless as they thought, although hopefully even in that situation it would be contained within the cyst and need no further treatment. Seems so far that the mother and exhub could well have been right though... and argh I hate that I just typed that. Now I feel like I'm tempting The Fates :( Still, nothing I can do about it. Worrying won't help or change anything.
Think that covered just about everything. So changing the subject completely.
Last Monday I, and most of my family (except son and littlest sis + hubby), went on a trip to South West Wales to look at a bit of woodland. Took 3(ish) hours to get there and the photos are very accurate, except they just don't get across quite how steep the hillside is; how muddy the very, very, long (and completely inaccessible by anything but a tractor) the track up to the wood is; and how there are just no open areas that would be suitable for pitching a tent. So it's back to looking. My father has wanted to buy a woodland for quite a few years now but isn't having much luck finding anything. Personally I want something that is more than a woodland. A few nice and big clearings, or maybe a meadow at the bottom leading down to a river would be great. I want them to be able to put a yurt up on it! And I want a treebog (kind of a composting toilet but you don't have to remove the composted bit). And we want tree-swings, and tree-houses. I'd love it if he could find something that you could live on (although I wouldn't). Something where you can really get back to basics as a really good hidey-hole in the event that the country and it's infrastructure completely breaks down. And somewhere that we could go for long weekends. It's a nice fantasy anyway, but so was the swimming pool that he talked about when we were little ;)
Oops, it's half past midnight now. Really must go to bed as I don't think I slept overly well last night and we're going shopping in the morning so I'll have to get up. I'm sure I owe a load of comments from my birthday post and I'll try and get to those, and any comments here, just as soon as the kids are back to school. I may even start showing as online on Yahoo and MSN then too ;)
*hugs everyone*