EVER HAD A DERMOID CYST?

ADVENTURES IN LIVING WITH A "HAIRY TOOTHED" OVARY

Not a photo of me

A few people I know are aware of about this situation. I wanted to share about it here because I feel it would help any woman who might be struggling with the same issue.

It really helped me, leading up to the actual surgery to read stories from other women who had been in a similar situation. I feel there is a need for women to unite and really be there for each other during times like these! Go, sister-hood power! 

I'll begin my story by going back about three years or so. I was laying in bed one day - on my back, when I felt a strange knot on the right side of my abdomen. It felt like a little golf ball. It didn't hurt or anything but felt completely foreign.

I chose to ignore it since I was not under any medical insurance - single mom issues. Not long after that, I had a dream that definitely alarmed me. In my dream I was walking down a dirt road, when three eerie women dressed in white 1800-style dresses, approached me.

In my dream, the three women had long blonde hair down to their waists. It seemed as though they were just walking along the road as messengers. One of the women came up to me and while quietly placing her hands over her right ovary, tilted her head. She seemed concerned. 

Upon waking up I realized something was definitely going on in that area of my body. Then life got busy because I was struggling financially and could not afford to go see a doctor. 

Every now and then I would feel pain on my right side and soon realized it was on or near my ovary because the pain would come when I was either ovulating or going through my menstrual cycle.

Sometimes the pain was overwhelming but for a short period - maybe a day or less. But I learned to deal with it. Fast forward to a year and half later. I was taking a nap on Sunday afternoon, when I had another dream. This time in the dream, I was babysitting for me ex-husband with my sister Nelly.

​Suddenly, I felt something coming out of my right side. As the object emerged from a large gaping hole on my right side (where my ovary is), I was bleeding profusely from the wound. In my hand I held what seemed like a large portobello mushroom. 

I was crying and telling everyone that I was dying. Nobody seemed to understand me, but the large mushroom object in my hand was very bloody and I felt I was losing consciousness. I woke up while actually crying and holding an imaginary object in my hand. 

At this point I decided if I have any more pain, I would go to the E.R.

Sure enough, the time came again where I felt the pain again in my belly, near what seemed like my ovary. I felt like I had a lot of pressure, kind of similar to menstrual cramps, but not the exactly the same. 

SYMPTOMS OF AN OVARIAN CYST

Six Signs You Might Have an Ovarian Cyst

There are few different symptoms to watch out for if you suspect you have an ovarian cyst. 

There are a few symptoms that you definitely need to look into:

1. Relentless pelvic pain: any pain around your ovaries needs that keeps persisting needs to checked. This could also be while having intercourse or while beginning your menstrual cycle.
2. Unexplainable belly bloating. If you are not used to this and you keep having a bloated feeling, you must have this looked at.
3. A feeling of constant constipation. Cysts can cause blockage and make you feel full.
4. Needing to pee and not really peeing. Cysts will sometimes sit right on your bladder, making you feel like you need to go but nothing comes out.
5. Back or leg pain. My cyst sometimes would sit on my sciatic nerve which caused back pain and pain to shoot down my leg. 
6. Pain while having sex. If you feeling uncomfortable while having sex because you literally have something in the way, then then by all means get this check as well!

There are different types of ovarian cysts, which you can find out more about here. Mine was a dermoid cyst, according to the diagnosis of my Emergency Room visit. At that time (about a year and a half ago), it was about five centimeters or more in size. 

A dermoid cyst is a harder type of a cyst. It may contain skin, nails, teeth, bones, hair or all of the above. So the only way it can go away is if

a) disappears miraculously or
b) it is removed surgically.

They ended sending me home because I didn't have insurance (another topic I want to talk about in another post) and they explained, I didn't have any ovary torsion. Ovary Torsion is when your ovary twists over and causes severe abdominal pain. This could be very dangerous as it cuts off blood flow to your ovaries.

They also told me that my blood did not show any indication of cancer, so I would just have to go home and monitor my symptoms. They told me if I have pain accompanied by nausea (another symptom), then I should come back to the E.R.

Needless to say, I was frustrated and confused. The pain would come and go. Until one day, I finally got medical insurance a year later. It wasn't the best, but it was a push in the right direction. 

I found an OBGYN that I thought would finally take care of my "growing gremlin". Yes, I did come up with a name for it! I met with Dr. Andrade of Dr. Hanna Farris' practice. He was very nice to begin with and seemed very concerned about my now larger ovarian cyst. He told me it was about seven centimeters and it needed to be removed as soon as possible. This was around July 2018.

As you know, timing has to be perfect. The time he had available for the surgery was not until after October. I had follow up visits but the doctor's office just didn't seem very concerned about me. I came to the realization that my medical insurance was not their optimum choice, so they kept pushing my case further back.

Fueled by frustration and anger, I kept calling the office and following up. My message finally got through and I was scheduled for surgery on December 5th, 2018. By this time, you could imagine my emotional state. A day before my surgery, Dr. Andrade called to inform me that my surgery was to be postponed due to some alarming test results.

CA19-9. That blasted marker! The Doctor was concerned that I could be experiencing endometriosis or a chocolate cyst. Another concern was pancreatic cancer. So he felt that I had to have another CT Scan of not only my pelvic area but abdominal as well.

Back to the waiting game again. After endless, frustrated calls back and forth with the Dr.'s office because I had to go through a lot of "red-tape" due to my insurance coverage, to ensure I had referrals for all my exams, I finally got the tests done. 

The results came back negative for cancer, but for some reason, the Doctor saw this was a good time to go on vacation without telling me. The pain came back, accompanied by nausea - which sent me to the E.R. again.

By this time, the cyst was notably bigger but they refused to do the surgery during my E.R. visit because there wasn't any available OBGYN Surgeon. I ended up getting a referral through this visit to the awesome Dr. Laurel King. 

OVARIAN CYSTS CAN BE DANGEROUS

I was very happy and relieved to meet with Dr. King. She was extremely thorough in explaining how ovarian cysts can be dangerous and cause various markers to go up during tests. She wanted to get my cyst removed as soon as possible because she could see that it was really affecting my whole pelvic area. She explained how she would remove the cyst and do her best to save my ovary. If necessary, she would have to perform a Salpingo-oophorectomy which basically was the removal of my ovary and fallopian tube.

The date was set! January 18, 2018. I felt a real final wave of relief even though in the background, there was a fear that this procedure would be postponed again. Life is not normal when you have an abnormal growth in your body. I wanted it out!

Posing in my hospital gown

Laparascopic Surgery

You can understand the joy and excitement amidst the anxiety of finally being in my hospital gown the morning of surgery!

This was my road to becoming whole again - well, it a not so whole anyway - because I was going to have a possible ovary removed.

My baby watching over me!

Since you are reading my words, you know that I made it through despite my anxiety about going under General anaesthesia. Needless to say, I am here and can confidently say that the hospital staff at Memorial Regional was amazing. 

They made me feel very comfortable and ensured that I had minimal discomfort or pain. I was afraid that I would react to the anaesthesia, but honestly I came out of it while I was dreaming. The nurses had to wake me up.

After laparoscopic surgery

I found out after surgery, that my ovary indeed had to be removed, along with the fallopian tube. Apparently, my ovary had been overtaken by the little "gremlin" and was no longer of service. Who needs a "hairy toothed" ovary anyway (inside joke with my friend Julie)?

Photo courtesy of https://www.instagram.com/duvet_days/

WHAT THE OVARIAN CYST TAUGHT ME

I learned a lot from this whole situation. But the one things that really stuck out is:

LISTEN TO YOUR BODY

Your body is incredibly and intelligently intuitive and communicates with you all the time. There are signs all over the place! I said it earlier, everything is connected. For me, I feel the cyst served its purpose in showing me that I tend to hold on to pain in an unhealthy way. 

Questions to ask yourself:

1. Am I holding onto emotional stress?
2. Where am I holding on to this stress?
3. What areas of my body are alarming me?
4. Do I have unprocessed grief that is hidden in my body?
5. Am I giving my body the rest it needs?
6. Am I listening to my body?

The white roundish thing in the pic is the cyst "my little gremlin" that took over the ovary. The left yellowish thing is my colon. Now you know me from the inside ;)

Emotional stress can grow into ugly looking things that take up space and ruin the environment for other normal activities. Apparently women can have dermoid cysts while still in their mother's womb. Over time, the cyst grows - acting as a messenger to take care of yourself.

Apparently the cyst I had was about the size of a grapefruit. It took me that long to pay attention to my sacred womb. I got the message though. I am going to be more attentive to my temple.