surgery to remove ovaries

Hello,
On 2/7 I had an abdominal hysterectomy and they left my ovaries. Turns out there was a rare form of cancer - endometrial stromal sarcoma. Now I'm scheduled to have the ovaries removed on 4/3, and will be done laproscopically. I have felt SO GOOD except for fatigue. Of course all this will throw me into menopause and I wonder what I'm in for. I would like to think I could manage it without drugs. No hrt can be used because of cancer. Has anyone else had to have another surgery so close together and how was your recovery? I want to get back to work someday! No chemo or radiation is planned and I feel good about that.

s Jewie

Hopefully you will find the laproscopic surgery fairly easy to recover from.
I was thrust into a surgical menopause without the use of hormones. One of our posters, Dare to in DC, once said:
When HRT is not an option for us, due to a cancer diagnosis, we seem to tolerate menopause better than those where HRT is allowed to be an issue. And I agree fully with this statement.
It is not too bad. Some hot flashes and flushing, and mild insomnia. But doable.
Best wishes.

karenann

I just had a TAH and am still waiting to see what symptoms show up. My doctors said I could be on hormones (despite the cancer), but they said they usually don't prescribe them until symptoms show up. Then, of course, they wouldn't tell me what symptoms to watch for. They gave me an abdominal patch with some sort of hormones in it, but I haven't used it yet.

My cousin just had her ovaries removed lapraroscopically. She did this as a preventataive measure as she has had breast cancer and tested positive for the BRCA1 gene, which puts her at a higher risk for ovarian cancer. She also can not take hormones due to her cancer history, but is doing great. The surgery was in January and she has had little to no side effects.

I am having a TAH in May and will get my ovaries removed as well. Good luck!