Will I need open surgery?

[blackandsparkly]

Hi, my name is Janis and I am so pleased to have found this site!

I had a laparoscopy to drain a cyst on my right ovary at the beginning of August.  I was in hospital for a week because they also needed to do another op to remove my IUD which they thought had caused the cyst in the first place....I then took two weeks off work to recover when I got home.

I went for a check up scan yesterday and it showed that the cyst is filling back up again and they now want to remove the cyst altogether.

My question is, can they remove the cyst by doing the laparoscopy procedure again or will it be open surgery?  I assume the cyst is still quite small as I'm only having very mild pain in my side.

I'm worried because I'm self employed as a childminder and can't afford to take loads of time off work again so soon!  I know I need to be putting my health first and of course I will just have to deal with it if I do need to take lots of time off work.  I was just wondering if any one here had had open surgery to remove a cyst and how long it took to recover?  The children I care for are school age, can pretty much entertain themselves if need be and don't need me running around after them.  I have a good relationship with all the parents and I know they would be happy with this for a couple of weeks as long as they were still getting their childcare!  But I would need to be able to drive to school, pick them up and drive them back to my house.  Am I being unrealistic?

I do feel stupid worrying so much about my job when I should be concentrating on my health, but hey, this is real life!

Any advice you can give me would be really appreciated.

Janis

[allmymarbles]

My daughter had a single long-standing ovarian cyst that caused her pain. She refused surgery and the situation eventually resolved itself. Was this the right thing to do? It was, for her. She felt that the surgery was not necessary.

[MarieMichele]

We have women from several countries that share their stories here, and yes, the treatment they receive varies greatly in different countries.  In the US, the patient has a lot of choice and control (but pays for it).  In the UK and Canada, the health system seems to control the process a lot more.  Not sure which is better, to be honest.  I do worry, though, when women get neglected by health systems that are trying to avoid spending money.  Although Americans that cannot afford health care are in a similar bad situation.

[blackandsparkly]

Thank you for your reply.  This is my first time here and it's comforting and informative reading all the posts.

I think I need to get back onto the doctors and hurry this procedure up a bit.  I'm assuming this is mainly an American site?  If so, things probably happen differently over her in the UK with the NHS.  They are renowned for their waiting lists.....don't want to be waiting so long that I end up having to have open surgery when it could have been a laparoscopy if they had just done it sooner!

I'm off to read your profile now!  Thanks again for your reply.

Janis

[MarieMichele]

This is not the first time I've heard of a cyst-draining not providing a permanent cure.  Cysts will often fill up again when the main structure of the cyst is still left intact.  Yes, a laparoscopic procedure should be possible while the cyst is still small enough.

I worried about my job, too, neglected my health, and when I finally relented and took care of myself (I needed open surgery) my "reward" was a job layoff from which I am still suffering.  I am not saying that will happen to you, but what irks me is my boss told me "not to worry" and all my fears were realized anyway.  There's got to be some kind of karma that bounces back on those that lie to people just to humor them.

Neglecting health is never smart.  The problem only gets larger with time.  Maybe if I acted sooner I could have had a lesser surgery and down time.  I will never know for sure.

So I would say, have the laparoscopic procedure.  The recovery period is generally two weeks.  The larger surgery requires 6+ weeks to recover, and that is not an exaggeration.  My entire story is in my profile.  

In my non-medical opinion, open surgery is open surgery when we are talking about gyn surgery.  It takes about as long to recover no matter how much work is done internally.  It's the incision size that makes recovery take longer.