Help In Making A Decision

Any advice from you girls would be greatly appreciated, I know some of you have been through this agonizing decision. I had cancer of cervix, a cone biospy was done to remove it, at this point it has been removed, but a hysterectomy will now be done. I have the option of keeping one ovary, my left one is giving me some trouble so they are going to remove that one. Based on there being cancerous cells aready having been in my body, I fight the battle of whether having this one ovary removed for fear of cancer may develop in this one later on. Or do I keep this one and not have to take hormones. I am 38 and my mother started menopause at 43, so most likely I will start meopause early. For those of you who have had ovarian cancer how hard is this to detect, for those of you with possibly the same options I was given any info would be appreciated.

I haven't had ovarian cancer but I now from my research it is very hard to detect. I am facing a similar decision and I decided to have them take both ovaries because I don't want to deal with it (I am also 38 and they were also going to take my left one) -- I never want to have abdominal surgery again, nor do I want to have to worry about cancer down there later on. What is the down side? HRT. But I would rather take my chances with that (and the breast cancer issue) because I am confident that I can make the right choices to protect myself from heart disease, osteo, and breast cancer -- through diet, lifestyle, and natural HRT. If you think you will only have five more years til menopause, does that mean you are in perimenopause now with declining hormones anyway? What is your family history re: cancer of female reproductive organs? What does your doctor advise? All that is something to consider. Of course this is such a personal decision. Good luck on a tough issue!

Hi Tulip,

I'm yet another 38 year old. The issues Jennifer brought up are good ones to talk about with your Dr. She's also correct in the issue of ovarian cancer being difficult to detect. In my particular case I wouldn't have known anything was going on except I requested some blood tests done due to a significant family history of cancer (mother, father, aunt). At the time I really wasn't experiencing any unusual symptoms (at least unusual for me). It was pretty scary to find out while being in very good health that I had cancer and was stage III when it was found.

One of the other issue you might want to discuss with your Dr is if the cancer you've already had will make it possible to take HRT or not. Some cancers are estrogen receptive meaning they feed on estrogen, even the natural soy type estrogen(that was how it was described to me anyway), some are not so HRT is an option. Mine was estrogen receptive so am not able to take HRT for at least two years after being cancer free. I don't know if I really want to even chance it after that, even though the hot flashes and night sweats can be a pain at times.

I don't want to scare you with my story as there have been alot of people with cervical cancer that have been treated sucessfully with no reacurrence anywhere. Please do talk to your physician regarding all of your questions and fears prior to surgery, I'm sure he/she will be able to answer alot of your questions. Just in case, also write them down before going in, alot of it is hard to absorb all at once.

Take care and keep us posted on how you're doing. Sorry for the novel

Vicki

Hi Tulip, when I had my hyster I asked my doctor about keeping my ovaries. His reply was leave them if they are healthy. He told me that cervical cancer is a different type of cancer to ovarian cancer. I decided to keep mine, but this is your own personal decision to make . Be informed before you make a decision. Good luck and best wishes, love always

Hi Tulip:
Like Vicki, I had no symptoms what-so-ever with my ovarian cancer. I am 42, and thought I had severe stomach flu. It turned out to be the tumor ( small melon size) pressing against my bowel.
After the ultrasound and CT scan, reviewed by my gynocologist and gyno/oncologist, they knew what they were dealing with, and suggested a complete hysterectomy. I told them take everything!!! My thinking is if it is not there, nothing can grow on it.
My sister had cancer of the cervix 15 years ago, and also had everything removed just to be safe. She was 32 at the time.
She has had no further problems.
My tumor had spread to the tissue so I required 4 sessions of chemo to get rid of the remaining bad cells there.
It is indeed a very personal decision that only you can make it though. Good Luck !!
Take care,
((((((hugs))))))))
M.

I am 37 yrs old and had the same concern. I talked to my oncologist about this and he told me that cervical cancer and ovarian cancer are not related and that you have a higher risk of getting kidney, bladder, colon or lung cancer than ovarian because these are usually the same type and the way the cancer grows. Sorry I don't want you to start worrying about all these other cancers now but that is what he told me. This is a very personal question but I decided to keep ovaries but then when they got in there my right one had benign cysts so it was removed and my left one was moved up in case I had to have radiation which I fortunately did not. I am kinda of regretting the decision now only because the dr thinks either my left one has shut down or I have a thyroid condition so I go Monday for some testing. Discuss your concerns with your dr I know they don't like to take your ovaries at such a young age but he should be able to give you all the facts so you can make an informed decision. Good Luck!

I was diagnosed with cervical cancer. I went in for my hyst and dr decided on whether to keep my ovaries or not after actually looking at them. I did keep them, and my doc also told me that there was no connection between the two.

I have to echo some of the replies that you have already had. I had a tah/bso due to a large ovarian tumor. Both of my ovaries were taken. I am glad because I sure would not have wanted to always be afraid that another tumor would develop on the other ovary and I would have to have surgery again. Also, I belong to a local chapter of the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition. This disease is so hard to diagnose. The slogan for the organization is "It whispers...listen."
Good luck making your decision. I am just throwing this out too. Does 1 ovary provide enough estrogen without any additional HRT?

Yes, one ovary is plenty. Some people are even born with one ovary and would not even know it unless somebody told them.

They can't detect it early now, but they are making headway on finding an earlier detection method. I don't know. I hang out a lot in the hormone jungle. The older you are the more I'd say take them out myself. 38 you're already in perimenopause so finding balance might not be so hard with HRT. I know that ovarian cancer and cervical cancer aren't related but I agreed to having the cervix out too at the time. My feeling was get it all out! There are trade-offs but peace of mind is a wonderful thing.