keeping ovaries or not

I am havig a TAH in a bout 3 weeks. I have 2 "dinner plate"( Doc's description) size fibroids pressing on my bladder and bowel....The Dr. wants to take out my Ovaries so we will never have to worry about cancer (I'm 48)

She says she is going to give me a low dose patch (HRT) to wear and slowly wean me from using it...has anyone done this? I am scaired and trying to gather all the info I can.

reeni

Hi Renni Bear, I'm sort of in the same situation as you. My surgery is scheduled for May 7th. I had an MRI on March 2nd which showed "something that needed to be looked at on my right ovary" according to the radiologist. So, in addition to my huge fibroids, now there is something wrong with my right ovary. My doctor suggested keeping the left ovary - says I have 4-5 more years of good from it, but since I'm 47, I'm thinking that if he thinks the right ovary looks like cancer, then I want them both out! Otherwise I think I would sit around scared everytime I felt a pain thinking it was something else! I am sooo ready for this to be over. Ever since March, I guess I'm paying more attention to my aches and pains, so now I seem to have some kind of pain all the time....and my clothes are getting tighter and tighter despite doing the South Beach diet all the time! It really is a hard decision on whether to leave the ovaries or take them. It seems so many people end up with a second surgery to remove them later and then some people seem to leave one but it never "wakes" up. It's a hard decision to make because there is no going back!

I had LSH (laparoscopic supracervical hyst) and BSO (removal of tubes and both ovaries on 4-9-04. I kept my cervix. When I was told I would need a hysterectomy I initially wanted to keep my ovaries. The day before surgery I still had not made the decision. However, after a good talk with the doctor I decided removing my ovaries made the most sense in my situation. I'm 51 years old, my ovaries would be sputtering anyway and probably causing problems down the road. Plus I was on Lupron injections for 2 months to shrink the tumors so my ovaries could have been permanently shutdown due to the shots. My main concern about lack of ovaries was what would happen to my libido and would there be any help to get it back. The doctor said I would get estrogen AND I would be keeping the cervix. It is now April 17th. I was cleared to have sex April 15! The estrogen patch is working just fine. Actually GREAT! All my parts are working just fine without my ovaries - and I don't have to worry about them anymore. Plus I think in my case my fibroid tumors were so big they were probably all wrapped around my ovaries and it would have made the surgery so much more difficult to scrap the tumors off of them. My sister-in-law has also had a hysterectomy and has been on HRT for well over 10 years with no problems. My doctor really calmed down my fears of HRT. If you remove your ovaries you'll be needing HRT, otherwise you'll go into instant menopause I'm sure. Good luck!

Hi;
I haven't been to this site in over a year, but saw it and decided to browse today.

I had a TAH BSO in June, 2000. I can't believe it was that long ago, but have been very happy that I had it done.

I was 42 when I had the surgery due to fibroids. My ovaries were fine, but since my husband and I had decided on no children years ago, my GYN Dr. suggested I have both ovaries removed to prevent possibility of future problems. I agreed and my doctor put me on HRT patches immediately after the surgery. I did not have any problems with them, except that I preferred and paid more for the original brand which was clear and thin, vs generic which was opaque foam.

Last fall at my annual exam with GYN Dr., she suggested I try going off of the HRT. She gave me several weeks of patches that slowly decreased the dosage. I was completely off in about 12 weeks. The only side effect I have noticed is a slight increase in body temperature (hot flash) in the early morning hours. It is manageable with temporarily throwing the covers off.

Good luck with your surgery.
Jane

This is just my opinion but I believe I would just have to let them go. I have a friend who has ovarian cancer now. They let one ovary so that she wouldn't go into menopause and now she is fighting with ovarian cancer. Let them go. My dr. told me if he could save my ovary (had one removed in 1997) that he would however we both knew I had multiple cysts on my ovary and that it probably wasn't going to happen. I had really prepared myself for that. Besides, for someone who has had poly cycstic ovaries and already lost one to cysts and whose grandmother died from ovarian cancer, I was ready.

Please know that if you lose them you will be just fine. Modern medicine will be sure of that!

allycat

I don't have a choice as I have an ovarian cyst and both ovaries are encapsulated in scar tissue. If I had a choice, they would go.
I just had surgery in Feb and am facing another in ten days. I don't want to have to go back in a couple years to get the ovaries out.
Now a lot of this may be because I am 46. I am close to menopause anyway.
If I were younger, I would really research this.

I am concerned about HRT but will meet with my Dr. on Thursday to discuss this.

Good luck in trying to find the answers that are RIGHT FOR YOU