Oophorectomy, Ablation and Tubal last year - Now: Thickened Uterus and Abdominal Pain

To make a long story short, I had my left ovary removed last April due to a suspicious looking cyst. A month later I had an ablation done to treat my heavy periods and had my remaining tube tied at that time.

After the recovery from the ablation, I was thrilled. No periods and I had so much energy, my moods were better, etc. It was great.

Fast forward several months and I am now having horrible abdominal pains. Sharp, shooting pains on my right side and cramping - similar to period cramps. I do have some very minimal spotting every now and then, but no periods and no bleeding like what I had experiences prior to the ablation.

The pain has been getting worse over the past several weeks. Sex is extremely painful and if I exercise or even run up and the stairs or exert myself at all, the pain gets worse.

I've had one ultrasound which showed a small cyst on my right ovary. Only about 1 cm in size, and the Dr. said that it looked functional, like an ovulation cyst. Nothing like the one that caused my left ovary to be removed last year. She said that perhaps I have some scar tissue from the surgeries that is causing the pain.

Over the weekend, I went to the ER, and they did a CT scan and other tests. Blood work, urine, and the scan all came back fine - nothing wrong with my appendix, colon or intestines. They ruled out appendicitis, diverticulitis, etc. and basically the Dr said that it really does appear to be gynecological. The only thing of note on the CT scan was that my uterus looked "thick".

I have another ultrasound coming up on Monday and have already made an appointment with my gyno for Wednesday to have her compare both u/s to the CT scan. Not sure what she's going to suggest, and I'm not sure what I should demand, for lack of a better word. I cannot live with this pain where is hurts to do anything active. I do not want to lose my right ovary if it can be helped. Would asking for a partial hysterectomy to have my uterus taken be too radical? Has anyone else experienced anything like this. I'm just worried about the thick uterus thing and that is could be a warning sign of cancer or some other issues.

I am only 32 years old, a hysterectomy seems like something I shouldn't consider, but I am obviously done having children - I have 2.

One last sticking point - I had a pulmonary embolism in 2012 that was caused by my birth control pills, so those aren't an option for me anymore, and another reason why I really want to keep my ovary - since I'm not sure what my options with hormone replacement will be due to the issues I've had with estrogen.

Sigh. Sorry for the long winded post. Just scared and confused and weary of these problems. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I was fortunate to not have any real pain considering how many issues I had. I will say though that during my hysterectomy, my surgeon was able to remove a very large cyst off of my ovary without any complications.

You are right to want to keep your ovary, if you can. I don't think anyone really wants to be thrown into menapause if they don't have to.

A total hysterectomy would be the removal of your uterus and cervix. Radical would include your ovaries and tubes. Some do choose to leave the cervix.

If the pain is from the cyst, I don't see that removing your uterus would help. If the pain is from the uterus, then removal could be a consideration.

Really this is all sort of a mute point until you talk to your GYN some more. It is kind of tough, because until they get in there, they just dont really know anything for 100%. We had no idea I even had a huge cyst, or had endometriosis.

Good luck and let us know what you find out. If you are in pain, then you have a right to find out what is causing it.