This is going to be the last part of my personal experience with ovarian cysts and endometriosis. I left a few details out because they could be considered graphic to some readers. If you have any questions please feel free to email me! I would be more than happy to answer discuss anything pertaining to this topic!!
Recovery
What the doctor didn’t prepare me for was the emotional toll I would go through. My hormones were at an all-time high. Because of the surgery I had just had, my body thought I had just given birth. There were a lot of days where I knew I hadn’t had a child, but my body felt like it was missing the baby it had just had. I don’t know how to explain it other than I was sad a majority of the first week. My appetite also changed; I could no longer eat most of my favorite comfort foods. Fast food also began to gross me out. My grandmother made me homemade chicken noodle soup and I could barely eat it. I was eating the same meals every day and I couldn’t do anything other than sit at home.
During the recovery process, we got a hurricane. We decided we would evacuate which was rather annoying for me. But luckily my uncle lives only four hours away so I would at least be comfortable in his home. I was starting to heal nicely which meant I was able to do a bit more. We would go out to eat or to the movies and I was starting to feel like things were getting back to normal.
That was until I went back to work. I went back in October or November of 2018. I have a terrible memory so I can’t remember exactly when. I just know it was roughly three months since I was last there. My first day back I began to bleed when I shouldn’t have been. My bleeding had stopped towards the middle of my second week after the surgery. I immediately called my doctor and they told me to start my pill right away instead of waiting. Because I was doing more than just walking around, my body was just trying to figure out how to balance everything. My bleeding was completely normal.
Life felt like it was getting back to normal. My periods were irregular but at least my pain had gone away. I learned that I would need to go back in about a year to get another ultrasound but other than that, everything was good.
That was until roughly four months ago when the pain came back. I knew that I needed to see my doctor right away, so I did. I found out that my cysts were back, and they were already at a decent size. We upped my dose for birth control in the hopes that it would slow the growth or decrease it. Everything looked to be okay otherwise, but I would come back in six months to check up on them. Four weeks later the pain began to get worse so of course I went back. I had just finished my first semester since starting school again in the spring, so I didn’t want to go through another big surgery and miss time. That’s when I found out that they cysts hadn’t grown, but they had developed a solid component. The doctor wasn’t worried, but she had me get bloodwork done to be safe. Everything checked out and after doing research and speaking to the doctor I found out that it is common for women during “child-bearing” years to experience cysts with solid components.
I’m still going to seek another opinion because you can never be too safe. But take it from me, go see your OBG/YN whether you want to or not. I got lucky that what I had wasn’t too serious. But it could have been a lot worse. It might seem scary or embarrassing, but it could save your life.