Surgery on March 18th.. Keep ovaries?

Hello..I am having surgery on March 18th, due to severe abdominal adhesions resulting from 3 c-sections. The adhesions are connecting the uterus to the bladder. I have had bleeding since December 14th, that was the first sign something was wrong, then the pain started (it gets worse in the evening).
The doc gave me 3 choices....1. Live with it. 2. surgery to repair (tried lap, couldn't fix it that way) adhesions, but he said they could come back. 3. Tah would remove the cause (uterus) he said I could decide on the ovaries (lt. has 2 small cysts). I chose a TAH but am unsure about ovaries and HRT. I,m 40 and totally confused. I have a strong family history of breast cancer and heart disease and the info on HRT is confusing.

Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated. The whole thing scares me.

C

Hi Coz!

I had adhesions due to C-sections, so I know how painful they can be. Mine were removed laprascopically 5 years ago, and luckily, haven't returned.

What does the dr say about the cysts on the ovary? I get a small one that usually "pops" on its own. Since the kind I get are benign and don't get very big and my ovaries looked healthy, my dr left them in.

Whether or not you keep your ovaries, this is a personal decision you that your dr should talk about. Personally, I feel that if something's healthy, leave it alone. But, if it's something that will continue to cause you trouble, you may want to consider taking that ovary and leaving the other one.

Good luck with your decision and surgery. Keep us posted on what you decide and how everything goes.

s
Pam

Hi there Coz

I am very sorry your having to deal with all this and make added decisions on top of it.

I had a TAH 2 months ago and i kept my ovaries. I did a lot of research on this as well. I also had a huge cyst on my right ovary, but was removed with no damage done to it.

1) If your ovaries are healthy then you may want to keep them. Your own natural hormones are healthier for you.

2) if there are no health risks in keeping them you may want to keep them.

3) having Endo, ovarian cancer things like this can come back and this make the choice harder.

HRT can work great for so many women. Some times it can be a balancing act before the right HRT works best for a women.

I (my own personal opinion) If they are doing there job and there is no risk keeping them, I would keep them. As i did. They say there is a 50% chance of them failing with in 2-5 years post hyster. This also leaves a 50% chance they won't fail and keep up the good work

Gather all the info you can and make a list of questions for your Dr. Both of you working together, you can come up with what is best for you.

I big and i hope you find peace with your decisions soon. Please keep us updated on your surgery and let us know how your doing

Michele

Hi!
You and I will be recooperating together! I'm having my surgery March 14th! I also am 40 yrs old and am having my uterus removed with the option of leaving my one ovary. My dr (and it seems like everyone I talk to) wants me to have the ovary removed as well. But my thoughts are "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I've changed my mind every other day about this issue, but feel that in the end, I will opt to keep it since that's what my heart is telling me to do. I'm thinking I have a few good years of ovarian function and if it happens that I don't, I'll deal with that when I have to.
My 2nd biggest concern is how long it'll be before I'm back up to speed. I teach Jazzercise, an aerobic dance program, 7 times aweek and I want to get back as soon as possible, but don't want to be stupid about it either. Anybody out there have a similar situation that can give me an expected healing time.
Thanks and good luck,
Michellesjazz

Coz,

Tough choices aren't they! I come from a family who - if you're female and related by blood or not - has had to have a hyst. I'm the newest at age 46. My sister-in-law had breast cancer and then had to have a hyst. She's 49. Because of the cancer she elected to have one ovary remain rather than have no hrt. She is experiencing all the hormonal symptoms of menopause - hotflashes, insomnia, etc. She thought they wouldn't be "as bad" because they took one ovary. She really didn't have a choice.

I had both of mine taken because I have no family history of cancer. Now I'm dealing with the issues of hrt. I don't have any bad problems compared to most. Just niggling little adjustments here and there.

You might want to post to the Hormone Jungle and see who has "toughed it out" through total surgical menopause and not taken hrt and see what their experiences were. I think The Road Less Travelled would be of some help to you too. You're fortunate that you have some time to do more research. Boy, do we get that down going through this! Best of luck.