Good news-Bad news 6 week checkup

Everyone,

I guess I'll be checking in here more often now....

Had a TAH/BSO got rid of those nasty s, 12 in all, one of them the size of a grapefruit. Recovery went amazingly well, I'm back to jogging for now and feel great..life is good again!

6 week checkup was great except for one thing: the path report showed that I had a granulosa cell tumor on my left ovary. The only thing I found out about it is that it is a very rare type of ovarian cancer. My Dr told me in 24 years of practice he only has one other patient with it. He had me make an appt with a specialist the end of Oct to discuss it further, but he did tell me not to panic. It looks like all of it was taken out as it was still intact and only on the ovary and had not metastasized anywhere.


I had opted before not to do HRT except for the "natural" type, which seems to be working okay sofar. A few hotflashes here and there and some vaginal atrophy. (trying Replens for that).
With this cancer scare I am really wondering about HRT now (in case I should need it later on). Does anyone out there know anything about this type of cancer...anything would be helpful.

I do feel very, very lucky to have had my surgery when I did and to decide to remove the ovaries at the last minute.....my guardian angel was working overtime that day!

And thank god for this site to be able to ask questions and get answers

Hello Tazz:

My mother was diagnoised with the same type of cancer when her overy burst and had emergency surgery 7 years ago. She is in her 7th year of remission

Because her ovary burst she had to undergo chemo. I'm very happy for you, that is not your case

My mother was under the impression " if it ain't broke, don't fix it" and had not had an annual exam in 10 years. She now knows the importance of the exams and I'm happy to say she is a very good and living life healthy and happy!

I so very happy for you that is was caught early and you won't have to endure what she did. She refused to do HRT, due to the risks of cancer again. I also have refused to do HRT, due to my angry cells, but I'm doing OTC's and still trying to adjust.

Please keep me posted as to what the specialist has to say.

Taz,

I am so glad everything seems to be OK. I'm doing a happy dance for that.

My guess is that if you've managed 6 weeks without estrogen, you'll do OK. I used estrogen for a while after my surgery, but when other research suggested there might be some risk after ov ca, my doc pulled it (he did let me "wean" off - the risks are tiny). I do use vaginal estrogen cream, and that helps the dryness quite a bit. I use just 1/4 applicator once or twice a week.

Johns Hopkins has an excellent ovarian cancer website. Here is a link to the home page

http://www.ovariancancer.jhmi.edu/

Your tumor is a type of sex-cord tumor, and is described here

http://ovariancancer.jhmi.edu/stromal.cfm#gct



If you have not done so, I would STRONGLY urge you to consult a gyn oncologist. Especially because your cancer is rare, these are the docs who may have seen it before and can advise you on the risks and benefits of treatment and follow-up.



Dorrie

Wow...glad your Mom is okay now!!

I figured this probably would have been pretty nasty to deal with and yes I am definitely going to see the specialist.
And thanks for the links, will check them out later since I am really supposed to be working now.

I feel even luckier now..just hope it can't come back in some other tissues, etc. Will put this on my list of questions for the oncologist.

Dorriel, do you really think after 6 weeks I should be okay with any menopausal symptoms? It really hasn't been bad, but I am continuing with herbal regimen and soy food products as I had been before surgery. I am trying Replens for the dryness which seems to be helping...don't know how well "everything" will work since I have to waut another week to be safe. I am a little wigged out over THAT subject...scary. Which seems silly since I never used to have problems in that area!
Any suggestions in that department?