Queries about Dermoid Ovarian Cyst Surgery - Laparoscopy and Laparotomy

[chismum65]

Hi :) sorry for using mumsnet, I know I'm not a mum (far from it haha) but this seems to be a good website just to ask other women about this kind of thing!
I'm a 17 year old girl and am currently in hospital recovering from surgery, which I came out of at around 7 yesterday evening. It was an operation for what turned out to be a dermoid ovarian cyst measuring 10cmx7cm (I had known it was an ovarian cyst before - I first went to hospital 11 days ago with acute abdominal pain and stayed for a couple of nights, had a scan which found the cyst and then was booked in for an op).
The surgeons started the op as a laparoscopy, however they discovered once they had made the tummy button puncture that it was a dermoid cyst and that it was too large to be simply laparoscopic, so they had to get it out using a laparotomy.
I have been in a huge amount of pain overnight, and I am normally v stoical about pain, but I suppose this is expected seeing as I have not only 1 but 2 cuts.
In your experiences of this kind of operation, how long do you feel it would be before I could :

1. Go back home - could I be here from now until friday?
2. Go back to school (I have A Levels coming up so don't want to miss too much this term)?
3. Start running/horseriding/yoga again?
4. Be intimate with my boyfriend (not sex, other stuff)?
5. Do stuff like babysitting, seeing friends, going to parties etc.?
6. Very random - but starting singing again? I know I'll be using the muscles around there so have no idea whether it will be different after the op!
7. Drink alcohol? I'm not a big drinker anyway but it would be useful to know when I'm at a party or something.

1. What foods are the absolute best for speeding up the healing process?
2. Will I be able to wear normal clothes which press on the stomach? I have a smart dress code for school.

Thank you so much, sorry for such a long post and for using mumsnet but I just don't want to hurt myself by rushing into anything strenuous so I really needed some advice from women who weren't my mum etc. as she doesn't want to worry me!

I'm sorry you've had to go through this. My old age makes me unable to remember / answer all of your questions but I had a much smaller cyst removed a few years ago and I remember the pain (felt like a heart attack, I imagine) lasting for a few days. Peppermint tea helped.
I thought of be back doing Zumba within a week or two. I was wrong. I knew when it felt safe to do that and other thugs. So will you. But you'll have a follow up appointment with the consultant am please don't be shy to ask him every one of these sensible questions. I wish you a speedy recovery. You'll be able to go back to school quite quickly though.

I had a grapefruit sized dermoid cyst removed 2 years ago. I also had the ovary and the Fallopian tube removed as they were damaged.

I was in hospital for 2 nights, although my surgeon said I could go home after 1, I still felt very sore and wanted support with pain relief.

I had 4 weeks off work - I'm a nursery teacher and wanted to ensure that I was completely well and able to cope with 30 very small children before I returned. You may well be ready to back after 2 weeks.

My tummy was very, very uncomfortable, bloated and bruised for a good 2 weeks. for the first week I did very, very little and then gradually increased my activity level.

I was a singer in a former life and although I didn't try singing straight away, I think I would have been ok after about 3 weeks, but it depends on what sort of singer you are and how involved all your muscles are (if you see what I mean).

In terms of imtimacy - it really is a "whenever you feel ready" sort of thing. I wouldn't have wanted anything particularly strenuous for a couple of weeks, but if you're not talking about full sex, then it really is just as soon as you feel comfortable.

Running/horse riding/yoga - presumably you will have a follow up appointment, so I think I would wait until after that as all those activities are high impact.

Parties - I was exhausted for the first week, as a result of the general anaesthetic I think.

For the first couple of weeks I wore very lose clothing, particularly around my tummy as I was very bloated.

Thank you so much to both of you :) really helpful for me. I think I'm just going to take each day as it comes and see how the pain is, the morphine does not seem to be enough for me, so the doctors have reevaluated me possibly going home tomorrow. Instead I'd just stay another night. I have walked around a bit to get everything moving again, its painful but nice to get out of bed.
Fortunately everything else in that area was left alone - my absolute main worry was my ovary being damaged/taken out as obviously I will still very much need them in the future!
A couple more questions I was thinking about - how have your scars healed? I'm very pale so am worried they'll be obvious! What kind of things did you use to treat them (I.e bio oil etc)?
Littlefish I suppose my intimacy question was a bit silly, we obviously haven't had sex (I never have anyway) and now the op has happened that definitely won't be happening for the time being!
Thanks so much again to both of you, its nice to talk to women who have been in the same position as me as at my age my friends just haven't!
I welcome anyone else's experiences [smiley]

I'm have absolutely no scarring at all apart from a tiny line in my belly button which no-one else would ever notice. I put some arnica cream on the bruises and wounds and they healed up beautifully.

No question is silly - feel free to keep asking.

Ah good, I'll ask my mum to buy some arnica. Thank you! If anything else springs to mind I will ask :)

My scar is small, fine and just below the top of my knickers at the front. They fade and shrink so please don't worry of, at first, it's bigger than you'd like. I had keyhole surgery though.
Buy fresh mint and take it with you to the hospital (Sainsbury's, etc. sell little packs in the fresh herbs section). Ask for hot water when you're thirsty and pop a sprig of mint in. Helps with wind left from surgery.

Ah good idea. I may ask if the hospital themselves have any herbal teas.
Another question that's sprung to mind is whether the cysts came back for you? I know that these cysts normally arise out of the monthly cycle, and if my body has a tendency to make them grow too big (I had a similar cyst at the age of 13 which went away after a while but caused me pain) I'd prefer if there was something I could take that decreases the risk of it happening again (especially as it gets closer and closer to my exams!). I was told that you can get put on the Pill, did this happen for you?

I'm afraid I can't help on the issue of reoccurrence. My left one will obviously not come back as I have no ovary left for it to grow from! I have no idea about one growing on my right - I know there was nothing there when I had my operation as my surgeon had a good look around!

Good questions but I've no idea. Probably excellent to questions for huge consultant who you're probably going to see before / after the op. I've been seen & operated on privately and in private wards. I'd take my own peppermint tea as it's much easier to ask for hot water than to rely on them digging around fr a peppermint one. Fresh mint is a but better anyway ;)

How are you chismum?