Going to the dr and don't know what to ask

I had an emergency abdominal hysterectomy due to cysts on Monday last week. I am going to a follow up visit on Tuesday and don't quite know what questions to ask my dr. While I was in the hospital I was still in shock and didn't ask too many questions. All I can remember is that they were still waiting on the pathology reports and that one of my cysts was 13cm and borderline but I don't know what that means exactly. I also had a 10cm cyst on the left side and I think he said something about adhesions. What other quesxtions should I ask my dr. Any and all suggestions are appreciated because I don't know where to start. I am also planning on going back to my hometown of Phoenix is there anything I need from my Houston dr to make sure my new dr can take care of me right?

So sorry to hear that you had to have emergency surgery.

I would say you would need the op report explaining exactly what they did and especially the pathology report. If you had any bloodwork done you would need those results as well.

I am not sure what to ask the doctor because I had my 2 week post-op appt. on Thursday and I got emotional about something and all my questions went out the window but I am lucky my doctor gave me his email address so as soon as I got home I could ask him my main question which was, can you do something about my hot flashes, night sweats and chills that make my teeth chatter all within an hour. LOL. He said yes.

Ask him for sure if you have anything you need to worry about now or if the surgery resolved your problems entirely. Ask what caused it, if you want. Ask what to expect now and ask about HRT if you are interested in it.
Write down your questions before you go. It helps.

Whats an HRT?

Mexanese -

HRT is hormone replacement therapy. I am presuming they took your ovaries because of the cysts. If they did that's called an oopherectomy. If they took the ovaries and especially because of your age your doctor may recommend hormone replacement. This could include some or all of the following estrogen, testosterone and progesterone.

Make sure you get copies of your entire operating report you want to know what all was removed (uterus including cervix?, ovaries?, fallopian tubes?). You want to know what was found and also get a copy of the pathology report. Your doctor at home may also want to know what lab did the pathology report. He may want to have his own pathologists read the slides, pathology reading can be as much art as science and my doctor had my pre-surgery pathology (from a D&C) re-read by his pathology team.

Find out if the "borderline" was borderline for bursting or they think it was borderline for ovarian cancer. If they think cancer (even if borderline) find a gynecological oncologist in Phoenix to talk to about your follow-up.

You may want to ask him if he thought the adhesions were due to endometriosis. Endometriosis can return even after a hysterectomy and that could have an effect on using systemic estrogen because endometriosis is estrogen fed; you can use vaginal estrogen because it can keep your vagina healthy and it doesn't go systemic, it stays local.

Hugs and keep us posted.

G.

The doctor said it was a complete hysterectomy. He said when he opened me up it was hard to tell what was what and that there was one mass that was just about the size of a football. He tried leaving my uterus but he said it wasn't possible.