Goerwitz

Amy:

Just read your story and was amazed at the similarity of our experiences. I'm 39 with two wonderful boys, age 16 and 7. Had a tubal about 6 months after my 2nd son's birth.

On December 23 of 1999 (2 weeks ago), I woke up at 7 am with quite a pain in my right side and down into my abdominal cavity. About 8 am the pain was so intense I told my husband I'd better make a doctor's appointment to see what was going on. I thought that maybe an intestine burst or something, wasn't sure. I couldn't breathe a deep breath, the pain was all the way up to my right rib, around my gall bladder. I was able to get into the doctor's office at 10:30 am. I explained my pain, the physician's assistant pushed around on my side and abdomen and it hurt with every touch. It had been about a year since my last pap smear so he did one and he said he saw some vaginal bleeding which I didn't see prior to this visit. He left the room and came back in and said he'd scheduled an ultrasound at the hospital @ 4:00 pm to see what might be going on.

Upon arrival, I remember being in such pain, especially when trying to take a deep breath. My husband and 7 year old hadn't seen Mom cry from being in pain before this moment. I normally handle pain very well. I saw concern in their eyes. All I could do was hold my side and lean my head back against the wall while person after person went in for their radiology treatments. There were about seven people in the room ahead of us. Around 4:45, I was taken to the ultrasound room where I explained the pain I was having. She started at my gall bladder since that was the general area of the most pain. She looked at my spleen, liver, right ovary and uterus. She then moved over to my right ovary and she said "Oooh" I said "What is it, what do you see ?" She took several more pictures and said "I need to show these to the doctor, then we'll fill you in on what we need to do next" I was thinking, uh oh, must be more serious than I thought.

In the next 5 minutes a technician comes in with a glass of white liquid and told me to drink it all. Because it appeared my entire abdominal cavity was filled with some type liquid, appearing to be blood. They would have to do a CT scan. Within the next 15 minutes I was laying on the scan machine table and the technician was telling me he'd have to shoot me with some dye so my blood vessels would show up on the scan. While reviewing the scans he asked how long I'd been having pain, as if he assumed I'd had pain for months.

After he finished, I got dressed and he told me they'd been trying to get ahold of my primary care physician. He was in the hospital, but was not responding. He sent me out to the waiting room and said if the doctor didn't call me that evening that I should call him to get the results of the scans. As I was telling my husband and son what had happened and that we'd go home and wait for the doctor to call, the technician came in and caught us going out the door. He said, "Mrs. Duncan, you need to stay here, don't leave, the radiologist just read your scans and wants you to wait here for your doctor."

I was really getting frustrated at that point. I wasn't sure if it was the holiday or what. Why did everything seem so unorganized? We waited for about another hour for my doctor to show up. I realized I needed to go to the bathroom. I hadn't eatten all day and felt constipated. I went around the corner to go to the bathroom. When done, I started sweating profusely. While walking back to the waiting room, I told my husband I felt like I might faint.

Next thing I know, there are about 5 people standing over me and the emergency room doctor saying lets get her up on the stretcher and take her into emergency. At that point I was really wondering, now what? My husband was at his wits' end because of the seemingly lack of attention we had gotten up until that point. Later he told me when I had fainted, he was yelling down empty halls, to anyone who would listen, "Can I get some help here, is there anyone that works in this place?"

When we reached the emergency room they hooked me up to all kinds of monitors, took some blood and asked lots of questions. They were still trying to reach my doctor. After waiting for about 30 minutes, the surgeon on holiday duty came in to assess the situation. He had reviewed the scans and said it appeared I had some type problem near my left ovary and there was a lot of fluid (like blood) all throughout my abdomen. That was what was causing all the pain. I was amazed the actual problem was on the left ovary since all my pain had been on my right side. He said they were going to call in the OB/GYN surgeon since it was a female-organ-related problem. I guess it was around 7:30 at that time.

An OB/GYN doctor showed up and did an assessment. He said he viewed the scans and came up with the same observation, looked like a problem with my left ovary or possible and ectopic pregnancy. I explained that I'd had my tubes tied years earlier. I told him I was through my child bearing period and wasn't expecting to be fertile. He came and went several times. Later he came and said they would set me up for scope surgery to see what's going on in there. He gave me the name of the OB/GYN surgeon that would to the surgery, although I would not meet him until surgery time because he was delivering a baby at the moment. They wheeled me to the operating room, had me sign the papers that they may remove a cyst, and may need to take an ovary or tube and complications could arise as well. I signed and wrote my understanding of what might take place. They prepped me, started an IV, took the fingernail polish off one of my fingers. The anesthesiologist came in and asked a list of questions and began her work.

In a few minutes the surgeon came in and I explained the pain and what all the other doctors had told me. I told him my mother had ovarian cancer (removed and doing fine now). I told him to take whatever he needed to take in order to get rid of the pain. He said he'd use the scope and may have to make a larger incision down at the bikini line, if necessary to see and do a more extensive procedure.

I said okay and that's the last thing I remember until I was waking up. The doctor was there and said he found a large cyst on my left ovary the size of a grapefruit (yikes) that had ruptured and spread mucous throughout my abdominal cavity (thus the pain). He took the ovary and tube on that side and also found another cyst on the right ovary which he took. He left my right ovary and uterus intact. He irrigated my organs three times to get the gunk out. He said the fluid was all they way around my liver and gall bladder. The first thing out of my mouth was "How did the tests look?" He assured me that the pathology work had already been done before he closed me up and everything was non-cancerous. I remember thanking him and especially thanking my God for his grace during this unexpected emergency.

I remember finding it hard to sleep that night. I had left a message for my boss on his phone mail around 2 am in the morning to let him know I wouldn't be at work the following Monday due to the surgery. The next morning (Christmas Eve) the doctor came in and further explained the procedure. He had cut about 10 inches long across my bikini line, which was quite painful and stapled. He said they were all pretty grossed out when they were trying to take the large cyst and everytime they touched it that stuff was squirting out. I really didn't want to laugh too hard at that point. I thought I was going to bust those staples right out.

He said everyone was surprised by what they saw. Every doctor that had seen my the night before in the emergeny room, came by to check on me and see how I was doing. That night my husband and sons brought in a little Christmas tree and brought in a few presents to open. Was a wonderful memory even with the pain. I had the IV and catheter until the next morning around 5:00 am. I told them I wanted to see if I could get up and go to the bathroom. I knew they wouldn't consider letting me go until I peed and passed gas. I had a liquid diet of broth, jello and juice the day before, which I didn't eat. Same thing that morning, yuk. I asked for some hot tea and that really made the pee start flowing.

I talked the doctor into letting me go home around 11:00 am that day. I said "Come on doc, let me go home. I can lay around there just like I can here, but I'll be with my family for Christmas." He agreed it would be okay. Said I'd need to get my staples taken out on Monday, 12/27. The first few days home were pretty uncomfortable and the surgery had caused early onset of my period. I was able to drive myself to the doctor's office to get my staples removed. I took it easy the rest of the week through the Y2K and bowl games (Yeah Huskers). I went back to work this past week on Monday 1/3/00. Feeling tired and still in some pain, but took the steri strips off on Wednesday nite. Stitches are itching which is a good sign, must mean things are healing okay. Still feeling bloated, but did lose 15 pounds through the ordeal. Go back to the surgeon for a follow-up exam next Tuesday afternoon. I have lots of questions to ask after reading through all the ovarian cyst Web pages.

Sorry - didn't mean to be so long on this note, but your story inspired me to write and tell you mine.

God Bless you and may He keep you healthy from any more cysts or problems.

Take care -

Cindy

Omaha, Nebraska

Amy and Richard Goerwitz
Amy@Goerwitz.com
Richard@Goerwitz.com