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Pregnancy

ovarian cysts during pregnancy?

2 replies

missmorse · 29/01/2015 22:26

Does anyone have any experience of ovarian cysts during pregnancy? Sorry for the long post, but I'm feeling a bit mopey and upset right now…

Some background: I’m an expat in the US, first baby, currently 16 weeks. During our first scan around 13 weeks the sonogram technician thought she saw something that might be a cyst, but wasn’t sure. She and the doctor asked me to come back for another scan which was last week. After a lot of humming and haring, with at least 4 different doctors/technicians/nurses peering at the screen for ages, they decided they still couldn’t tell if it was a) a cyst, b) a fibroid, c) just my colon… (hah)

So the doctor recommended I get an MRI. That happened super early on Sunday morning and I’ve been playing phone-tag with the doctor since then to get my results. He finally called back just now and told me I have two very large cysts, one on each ovary, around 6-7cm in size each. Benign, but big enough I’ll need to be removed, as they are unlikely to go away on their own.

So the question now is whether we do it right away while I’m pregnant, or a couple of months after the baby is born. After talking with him about the risks, I feel like it’s probably fine to leave it till later. He seemed to think this will probably be fine as I don’t have any pain or a history of cancer in my close family.

But if I’m honest with myself, I’m basing the decision to postpone it mostly on pragmatic reasons, rather than the risk factor. I just started a new job and don’t have any sick leave yet. The MRI alone just cost me $700 out of pocket, and I dread to think what a surgical procedure will cost. So if I leave it till later I’ll have more time to save up to pay for it. (We’ve already started saving up for the roughly $2000 we’ve budgeted for the birth itself, assuming there are no complications. And yes, this is with very good health insurance through my employer, and not inclusive of my monthly insurance premiums. I miss the NHS so damn much right now… )

Anyhoo. I’m partly having a bit of a moan because I’m feeling fed up and sorry for myself :( And partly asking if anyone else has had experiences of these kinds of cysts, so I can reassure myself it’ll be fine to leave it till after the baby is born. From what I've read in other threads on this topic here on the site, in the UK they recommend removing them if they are this big, even during pregnancy?

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Number3cometome · 30/01/2015 10:42

Yes, they picked one up on an early scan at 8 weeks (I have PCOS so wasn't surprised, but she said it was on the right which is unusual for me)

I forgot to mention it at the 12 week scan, but will mention at the 20 week one.

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missmorse · 30/01/2015 15:50

thanks number3. I'm feeling less freaked out this morning than I was yesterday. The whole MRI experience, and the long discussion of risk factors, scared me tbh. But looking at some of the other discussions on here, it sounds like they are pretty common. The doctor did say these are large enough they're probably not due to the pregnancy itself and won't go away on their own. But I'm going to hope it works out fine.