Top 10 things I have learned from laproscopic cyst/ovary removal

[painterchic]

It's been almost 2 weeks since my laproscopic surgery, I have learned alot both from experiencing it and talking to ya'll here on the forum. Time to share, because just maybe somebody is about to go through the same thing and has questions or needs help. It would be great if everyone added their two cents and we will have a nice "what to expect when your expecting laproscopic surgery" list...lol

1. Don't be fooled, this is major surgery. You could be having body parts removed. Don't plan on doing much for at LEAST a week or two. If you are lucky like some, you'll be up and at 'em. But if you're not, then you won't be disappointed and frustrated.

2. Make or buy muffins. Especially bran. You will need them. Don't ask me why. Ok...why? Because your meds will constipate you and make your stomach hurt. AND you will be too tired to make food. You can buy stool softeners too, but they don't make for a tasty breakfast...

3. If you can, shop for or prepare food and stick it in the freezer. And be REALLY REALLY nice to your friends and neighbors before your surgery. They may offer to bring you food. Don't be silly, say yes. You will be glad you did!

4. The CO2 gas may bloat you up. It might not happen for a day or two and you will laugh and say "I am SO lucky!!" and then "POP" You are the now the Pilsbury doughgirl. Only not as cute. But it hurts...not just the shoulder, could be all over. WALK, WALK, WALK.. around the house, it will go away. Could take a week or more, but the worst is the first few days. Try beano, mylanta, etc. too. BEST cure: Massage. Takes away all the toxins, pushes out some gas. Can't get one?... be REALLY REALLY nice to your spouse, significant other, children, whoever.... they may take pity on poor ol' bloated you and help you out.

5. Get one of those beanybag things that you put in the microwave. Put it on where it hurts. Warm feels nice and you can't get in the tub for two weeks. Your body might hurt all over. They say they don't drop you off the stretcher while you are unconscious, but I personally don't believe it...

6. Enjoy your downtime. Remember all those busy days you wished you could lie around, play on the computer, read books, organize your photos, google your old boyfriend,  write that novel? Well, do it. Or sleep. Or both.

7. Sleep. Sleep some more.

8. Driving sucks. Try and avoid it until your incisions/stomach muscles don't hurt. (and you're not on happypills anymore...) It's illegal in most states to drive lying down, I believe...

9. Drink lots of water. Flushes out all the stuff they pumped into you during surgery. Fluffs out the sleep wrinkles in your face..

10. Get on this forum when you can. You will find wonderful women with supportive notes, messages, laughs, and you can read others stories to know whether you are "normal" or not (in terms of your surgery - if you want deeper analysis, try the psych forum...)

That's MY top ten, I hope you all can add a few of your own! Thanks everyone for ALL your help, info, and especially the friendship and laughter.
Have a great day!
Joelle

[boymom1031]

Thank you for this! I am on Day 6 post op and going crazy! I am now going to take your much needed advice, and chill out! The gas is the absolute worst! Everything you wrote is exactly what I feel and what I wished I would have prepared for.  
I went in for a cyst removal that was attached to my ovary but the ovary along with both tubes were removed, plus an ablation.  
Thanks for this!

[lioness_paws19]

Hi everyone,

My dermoid cyst story started when I had pain about a month and a half ago in my right side. I had a sense that it was related to the ovary as the stabbing pain came in waves and eventually subsided. On May 1st the pain occurred again and HORRIFICALLY this time around. I don't think I've ever been in so much pain in my life. I called the doctor and they got me in the same day but the labs were closed by that time so they could not do an ultrasound or anything. They sent me to the ER.

While at the ER they did a CT scan and found an 11cm wide desmoids. I had my laparoscopic surgery just on 5/11/2017 (last Thursday) to get it removed. I went in at 5:30am, and they started surgery just after 7:00am. The procedure was 2 hours and they made three small incisions on the abdomen. The left was slightly longer as this was the one they must have pulled out the dermoid from. (Hair and other gross stuff, y'know?) The right was a little smaller and the center one the smallest in my belly button.  

I was discharged at 2:30pm that same day finally after struggling to urinate (I was literally sitting on the toilet for an hour and a half, lol.) I was ever thankful they put a little nausea patch by my left ear. (I never threw up, although I felt really queasy and light-headed.)

The pain later on at home was mostly due to the gas they put in you--the pain in my right shoulder from the gas was excruciating. Later on I began to feel the incisions as well. I would say it was the first two days that were quite bad and then I slowly eased up on taking the Percocet and Ibuprofen. Five days later and I'm taking nothing for pain. I mostly just ache/feel sore at this point. I took Miralax for constipation twice and I've had numerous bowel movements.

I'm a little surprised at how well I'm recovering. They made three incisions on my abdomen and covered them with mere bandaids. I was surprised and thought this was an underwhelming way of protecting the incisions!

Here's the biggest recovery symptoms I've had/am still having:

- Bloating/gas - especially when first waking up (Yikes!) It hurts pretty bad but subsides after a few minutes. It usually helps to go to the bathroom in the morning.

- Pressure on the abdomen while standing. Walking around is good for the gas I've heard, but it does make you feel pretty uncomfortable down there. LOTS OF PRESSURE. It feels like you're on your period. (Even though you're not--Funny story. While I was still in recovery I kept insisting to the nurses that I got my period while I was in surgery. AS A SIDE NOTE: THERE WILL BE SOME MINOR BLEEDING AFTER THE SURGERY.) I'm still wearing pads just in case/am expecting my period this week.

- Soreness in the shoulders/neck/chest area. OUCH! This was really bad on day one and two. The most painful symptom that I experienced as well. The narcotic (I had Percocet) they give you should help with this. Fortunately this subsides in the first couple days.

- Have someone help you get out of bed and get you into bed. It really hurts your pelvis and on the first two days your shoulders. I've noticed it helps to have your head elevated while you sleep. You will need to have someone pull you up with their hands. Five days later I still struggle with lifting myself up out of bed.

- Your incisions are sensitive. FUNNY STORY: I WALK AROUND WITH MY UNDERWEAR FOLDED OVER MY LOUNGE PANTS. The incisions are really sensitive to touch. I can only do soft pants. It's going to be a while yet before I can wear jeans.

- You look like you're 4-5 months pregnant from the gas they pumped into you. I'm not even joking. I've never been pregnant before and I'm not currently sexually active so this is really weird for me. It's three incisions and a huge tummy right now and it looks kind of funny...

- Sore throat. This one is mildly annoying. I thought I was getting a cold but it's actually from an air tube they put in me I guess???

- Going to the bathroom: MAKE SURE YOU BREATHE WHILE YOU PEE/POOP!!! SERIOUSLY. BREATHE IN AND THEN BREATHE OUT SLOWLY AS YOU SLOWLY "GUIDE" IT OUT. IT REALLY HELPS. Urination was not easy for me at first and was really painful for the first several times, but breathing in and then breathing out slowly helped. For constipation the nurse recommended Miralax. I've only needed to take it twice so far and I've been having almost regular bowel movements now.

These are my experiences. Thanks for reading!

[lioness_paws19]

I just left the huge comment above but I wanted to also say that laughing, sneezing and coughing hurt tremendously following a laparoscopy surgery. I can't wait until I can laugh again ;)

[Misburke]

I just had laparoscopic cyst removal. March 17, 2017. The cyst was the size of a grapefruit.  The Doctor had to enter in 3 places to remove the cyst. The procedure went well. Today I am sore all over my belly. I am placing an ice pack on the lower belly to reduce pain and swelling.  I have the most trouble with the larger incision on my upper belly, it was dripping a little so I had to put a gauze pad on it with medical tape. I have to get help when I have to stand to go pee. My muscles are sore and I worry that I may tear open if I get up on my own.

[Nik2017]

Hy girls from Europe, Croatia..
I had laparoscopy about 8 years ago , they remove from right ovarie 5cm of teratoma -dermoid ( as they guessed before on ultrasound) and they remove one small cyst from right ovary, bc they suspect other teratoma, but it was normal cyst...
So my experience with laparoscopy,
Well I was happy to go on laparoscopy finally to removed that stuff from my body , and live life normal..
So I think I came in hospital happy and ready...
I didnt ask to much question, and doctors arent that much talking...
Only pain I felt, well first one was when I drink some stuff to clear all food inside my body, I dont know that in english..
Few hour after drinking that liquid, day before operation, I feel need to go to bathroom...
Omg I tought I would die, that my ovaries will exploded, I was like that for an hour..
I went on surgery, they gave me some happy pill..
I wake up , little funny like calling same person for two times to tell them I was fine and eeverything is good..
I get up easily to toilet for urine, and nothing I take for pain...
But tommorow mornig, that gas , was like big knifes trought whole upper body, every move I make I felt crazy pain..until I finally get injection in my but , after 20 minutes I was like a bird...

I had pain all time, but it was normal pain to expet..
Only that two stuff I told before make my pain extremely..
But I was young and strong, just waiting to get rid of that, forget it and go for life, without pain, worries, doctors checking , and guessing ...


But to mention I met other womans , that had different experiences, some felt very pain after surgery, but I think we all where very happie we dont have cancer or something,
So we also laught a lot, I was the youngest and I bring little positive energy,and they each was interesting on some way..

In all of that healt thing going on, you meet other woman, what also became part of all of that experience...

Sorry I talk a lot, but I like to share one part of have remmeber my laparoscopy :-)

So girls, womans, mothers
Be brave, dont panic, belive in best outcome, and accept what you hear after surgery!

:-)

[Jo_ann_33]

Thank you! It's comforting to read that I am not alone in this experience. I had surgery to remove 5cm dermoid cyst from my left ovary as well. Its been 3 weeks now and occasionally i could still feel sharp pain from the insides near the incision sites and i've been having daily bloody discharge similar to discharges nearing the end of a period. Sometimes the color is dark brown and at times bright red. I dont know if the pain and discharges are still normal. It can really get me down.

[hokumuah]

Did you ever find out why you were still bleeding after three weeks? I'm in my fourth week post-op and I have bleeding like you described. My doctor can't figure it out, so I'm headed back in for all the ultrasounds and CT scans all over again. :(

[Jo_ann_33]

I was told that I have incompetent cervix/cervical erosion as a result of an additional procedure I had done during my lap. The doctors had to keep my cervix open using a tong-like instrument. The "bitten" area didn't heal as expected. It was like a wound that won't heal and keeps bleeding when there is contact.

I still spot until now. But because my tests (ultrasound and pap) are normal, my doctor told me not to worry about it.

Good luck on the tests. I hope to hear updates on your recovery and hope your bleeding will stop soon. :)

[jodie_carter]

hi i had my left ovary removed because i had a 20 cm ovarian mass anyways im loosing alot of weight is that anything to do with ovarian cancer because iv never got my results back if it was cancer it just looks scary they say 28 yr old female

[KaylaD82]

If they didnt call to say it was cancer, then I would air on the side it isnt. Thats some big news to not tell someone. I had my left ovary removed because a cyst ruptured 2 weeks ago and I have lost 5 pounds despite eating and doing nothing but laying around because I;m still in pain. So Im guessing its normal, my Dr doesnt seem concerned at all.