As some of you may know, I’ve been trying to lose weight. I’m not on a strict diet, but have started to eat smaller portions and cut out really fattening stuff. I also went on a daily exercise regime. I managed to lose 14 lbs in a few months and was quite pleased with myself. My weight is still slowly going down, but I’m finding it harder to exercise, without hurting myself, so that has basically stopped lately. The funny thing is that while I’m losing weight everywhere else, my stomach seems to be getting bigger. I look pregnant. Bending down to tie my shoes is almost impossible. I have to straighten up in order to breath!
I very rarely go to the doctors, but decided to get something to help my IBS, so off I trotted.
Doc: “Do you ever feel bloated”
Me: “Sometimes”
Doc: “Hop up onto the couch and let me feel about”
I hop onto the couch, wondering why.
Doc (prodding around my womb area): “You do feel rather bloated”
I’m wondering what she’s feeling there for, because it’s my stomach that’s big, not down there.
Doc: “I think I’ll send you for a scan, just to check things out. Sometimes your ovaries can cause bloating”
I’m even more confused now. What have ovaries got to do with IBS?
Doc: “I’ll arrange for some blood tests also”
I hate needles!
Blood tests done, the doc phones me up with the results. Most were fine, but my kidneys had a query and my cholesterol is a tad high. What was acceptable a few years back is no longer acceptable due to my age. She puts me on Cholesterol tablets and wants a urine test done in six weeks time for my kidneys.
I didn’t expect that from just popping in for IBS, but I’m glad she’s sorting it.
Now the fun really starts!
I go for my scan, after drinking a pint of water, on an empty stomach. I just made it to the room before bursting. He’s scanning up and down, up and down and up and down. Then he scans my back at both sides. Back onto my stomach and womb area scanning more. Finally he finishes.
Me: “Did you find anything?” I ask, as I’m trying to wipe all the jelly from my torso with one piece of now soggy paper towel he had given me.
Doc: “You have a large cysts here” he says, pointing to the top of his stomach.
I give up on the clean up and pull my T shirt over all the jelly, hoping it will soak it up. It doesn’t.
“Should I worry?” I ask
Doc: “I don’t know. We can’t tell from an ultra scan. I’ll write to your doctor and they’ll probably arrange another scan for you”
I’m worried!
The next day I get a phone call from the doctor’s surgery – Gulp!
He tells me not to worry but the results were back and they have found a cyst, or something, on my ovary. They will arrange for me to go to the gynecological unit for a scan.
Me: “But they told me the cyst was at the top of my stomach”
Silence…. then….
Doc: “You need to go to the gynecological unit for a scan”
Me (even more confused): ”OK”
Doc: “If you haven’t heard from the hospital in two weeks, phone me”
Me: “OK”
Doc: “If you are uncertain of anything, come to the surgery and speak to us”
Now I am really scared. I have two cysts?
This doc wasn’t the one that I originally saw, so I wasn’t completely happy about this confusion. The doctor I wanted to see was on holiday, so I made an appointment to see another doctor the next day (Friday).
She calls up my notes on her computer and my eyes got wider and wider as I sneakily read the results from the scan.
She has a massive cyst of 22cm x 23cm x 13cm (8.66″ x 9″ x 5″) It runs from her ovary up to the top of her stomach and right across the left side. It is so huge that they can’t see where it is attached. I will need a cat scan in order for them to see.
The young doctor was so intrigued that she asked if she could have a feel.
“My! That is a large stomach” she said, as she prodded around to try and feel the cyst. She couldn’t, I assume because I am so bloated.
I am really scared of hospitals and petrified at the thought of an operation, but now I know what is inside me, I WANT IT OUT!
Just look at this thing! When you are only 5 foot, 9 inches covers a lot of ground, and it’s 5 inches deep!
How can these things grow inside you without your knowledge? I feel like I have a alien inside me, waiting to burst out!
I wonder how much it weighs? I should end up much slimmer than I thought I was.
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