I am 63 years old and have a 7.7 cm cyst on my left ovary, detected by ultrasound. I am told that it is both liquid and solid. In my mid 20s, I had endometriosis and had blood filled cysts on both ovaries and through my abdomen. They were removed by surgery and I believe that parts of both ovaries were removed too. I have never had any children. I will be having surgery to remove my left ovary and cyst at the end of February, as my doctor is away for the next 3 weeks. He has recommended that I also remove the right ovary and have a TAH. I don't know how much of the right ovary remains, but it seems like it would be a good idea to have it removed too, since it's probably not doing much for me at 63. However, I am not sure that I want to have my uterus removed because of all of the possible side effects that I have read about. My husband and I are still sexually active several times a week, and I am not ready to harm this part of our relationship.
I have read many of the responses on this board about this dilemma, but most of the women are much younger than I am or did not state their age. My mother and sister have both had TAH's, but there was no cancer present. My mother had it at the age of 39 because of problems of pain from her organs being out of place. I don't know why my sister had it. By the way, I went through menopause in my early 40s and no longer have any menopausal symptoms.
The doctor said that he cannot do the ovary and cyst removal laparoscopically. I assume that is because of the size of the cyst, but I will have to ask at the consultation later this month.
Some additional information: I was on Premarin and Provera for several years after menopause started, but had lumps in my breasts and had a benign one removed. I then switched to Climara patch (0.025) and medroxyprogesterone for several years until the WHI HRT report came out on the news. I got off of both and started to use the Estring for vaginal dryness. I recently had another BMD scan and have lost 4% bone mass in 2 and ˝ years (even while taking Fosamax). I started to read more about the WHI HRT study and discovered that all of the women were on Prempro. I believe that plant based estradiol and progesterone are safe from what I have been reading and I started back on the same minimum dose of Climara and 40mg of progesterone cream. I just started 2 weeks ago and removed the Estring and am better than when using just the Estring. My doctor never wanted me to stop the HRT when I insisted that I would, so he is happy that I am back on it.
I'm wondering what experiences post-menopausal women have had in trying to decide on elective TAH with necessary BSO.
Not sure if I should have TAH with BSO
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It sounds like you are conflicted on removal of the uterus. I hope you will get a second or third medical opinion. Perhaps you will be able to have laparascopic surgery.
