Am I really ready or not?

:hair: I think I'm ready one minute then I think I'm not.
I'm 36 years old and would like to keep at least one ovary. Will one ovary do the job? See I had a Laporoscopy done in Nov. and my uterus was enlarged and I had a cyst removed from my right ovary along with some adhesions. A month ago my DD suggested a hyster, he said I might as well take the ovaries as he thinks something could go wrong down the road to cause them to go bad anyway. I really wanted to try to keep them. What should I tell him? My date is for June 18th. Sometimes I just want to call the whole thing off and just I know I will feel better if I just do this, I'm trying to be strong. But I feel so afraid breast cancer runs in my family as well. Also when I have a pelvic exam I can hardly stay on the table it hurts so bad. And when I push on my stomach anywhere even around my navel and upper stomach it hurts everywhere. Could my entire stomach hurt from my ovaries and uterus? I don't know what to do. Does anyone have any advice?

Hi Jen
I'm 36 also and feeling like you are. My Dr. asked If I want to keep my ovaries , I said, "yes". The left one might have to go but if there's nothing wrong with it, it's stayin.I think one will do the job. I have no choice about the Uterus. It's huge with Adeno and Endo. I know what you mean about the pelvic exams It hurt! But I know what is causing the pain now and it's a relief to know something can be done. I tried to ignore the symptoms but each month it's worse and my stomach is swollen and hurts all over but more on the left side. Also leg pain and bowel problems. It's a comfort to know that other women have gone through this and have found relief of pain. I'm scared too but more scared to keep on like this. I wish you all the best with lots of courage!

Castle Date : June 8th TAH

Jen ~

Hi. I had a TAH/BSO on March 6th at the age of 26. Your feelings are perfectly normal. I was wishy-washy about the decision right up to when they wheeled me into the operating room. It is such an enormous decision to make. I think that something would be wrong with you if you did NOT have these feelings of doubt. Now, 10 weeks post-op, it was the best decision I ever made. I had lived more than 10 years in constant pain. I had forgotten what it felt like to feel good. My heating pad had become my best friend. I didn't go places because I never knew when the pain was going to become sever and I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to drive myself home. This decision takes a lot of soul searching. You have to be at peace with your decision. Good luck to you. May you find the peace that you need to get through this time.

Chrissy

Jen,

I know what you are feeling. I'm 35 years old and had my hsyter 2 weeks ago. At first I was like, take everything, I don't want anything left in there. Then I started educating myself and found that the ovaries did so much for us. I then went to my doctor and told him that I was very confused about my feelings and that I was leaving the decision to him and God. I told him that I prayed many times about this situation and I felt confrontable with "their" outcome on my ovaries. He told me to be prepared to not have them coming out of surgery, that he seriously thought my pain was due to endo. Well, when he got inside, he found my pain was due to scar tissue from my previous c-section wrapped around my ovary, squezing it and pulling it. I got to keep my ovaries! I don't know if you beleive in prayer or not, but I truely believe that sometimes you just have to pray and then leave it in God's hands. I had decide either way, with or without ovaries, it would be for the best. Good luck on your surgery.

Mary Beth
5-3-01

Do you have time to get a second opinion about your ovaries? Take a look on the Hormone Jungle message board, too. I would say it's not necessarily a walk in the park to get rid of the ovaries, but some women do get rid of even healthy ovaries because of fear of cancer or other reasons.

It sounds as if you're not comfortable with getting rid of yours, and a second opinion might give you more information to help you decide. You could also ask your current doctor what, specifically, he thinks could go wrong with your ovaries down the road and why, and whether this is a higher risk than most women face (and why again).

I hope this helps!

Often if you're not comfortable with your decision it's because you still have questions that need answering.

Dear Jen,

Hi! You've definitely come to the right place for support. There's some awesome women on this message board.

My advice would be to look at all "options" and all possible "outcomes" to those options. You can't truly make an informed decision until you do so. It would be so easy to decide to remove your uterus and ovaries if you were 100% sure that you would be better off than you are now. But.....keep in mind that for those of us who don't have life threatening conditions, we really cannot be guaranteed a better outcome. Some of us are really struggling years down the road with aftershocks that we never expected.

Remember, we are in the "minority"--some say thirty percent, but the medical establishment really hasn't provided adequate research on this. Chances are you won't go through what I'm going through, but you can't make an informed decision without knowing about women like me.

I would MUCH have preferred to have a second surgery to remove troublesome ovaries later if that meant I could have bought myself a few years with my own hormones.

Best wishes!

Dear Jen,

You read my mind. I'm 30 and having a partial hyst on June 22. I'm not a newcomer to surgery... but this one makes me nervous. I only have one ovary left anyway, and the doc says I can keep it. I've never been so indecicisive in my life. My brain knows this is the right thing to do, buy me heart is scared. I have total faith in my doctor though, so that's comforting.

Hang in there. You'll be fine. I do agree on a second opinion about being able to keep your ovaries. If it's not broke don't fix it. Good luck.