Cyst removal in 2nd trimester

[rathernotshare]

Has anyone had keyhole to remove a cyst during pregnancy? Mine has grown from 12cm at 8 weeks to 14cm at 12 weeks and it's started causing pain now so will be having it removed on consultant advice. Has anyone else had this? I have so many questions to ask 😩

Mine was a similar size. 10cm at my 12 week scan and 15cm at 17 weeks.

At 17 weeks it started twisted and it caused ovarian torsion, which was incredibly painful. It was removed in an emergency cystectomy, just in time to spare the ovary which was already starting to turn grey. Not keyhole - I'd been told that wasn't possible because of the pregnancy.

Ovarian torsion was incredibly painful. Recovery from the operation wasn't. It was a bit sore but not awful at all.

PS at the time we thought the baby was fine, but she's spent all day singing "row row row your boat gently down the stream, Mary Mary Mary Mary like a cup of tea", so maybe the negative affects are only showing after three years

@FriedasCarLoad thank you for sharing! I was told they can do keyhole up to around 20 weeks but if it was an emergency (like yours) they won't faff about! One of the risks of the 'wait and see' option. Oh bless her, so glad to hear she is fine(ish 😂)!

Couple of questions if you can recall -

What can they give you painkiller wise afterwards?

How soon did they check the baby after? Is it a 'baby is fine right now so can safely say they've not been hurt' or a 'baby is fine right now but it might take a turn in a few weeks' kind of situation? Basically, am I going to be panicking for a few weeks after or is it immediately going to be clear whether or not the baby is ok?

I feel so guilty as I am making a choice to put my baby at risk! But if I don't I might have torsion 😫

I had an ovarian cyst @ 10 weeks and had keyhole surgery. When they operated- they found that it was twisted around the fallopian tube so they had to remove that also. I had a scan the next morning and was told all was fine. I was given a week's worth of codine but only used 2 days. I was in some discomfort for a while afterwards and needed to have wounds checked weekly -but all was good in the end. Hope you get on ok

@Imnotamagician that's great thank you! Must've been a rough wait until the morning though, was it not really sore having the scan the next day? I've had appointments with gynaecology and appointments with midwives but they seem so disjointed no one can really answer me. I'm terrified I'll go in for surgery and they'll forgot I'm pregnant (irrational I know!)

Painkillers - I had morphine in A&E waiting for the operation. I had a spinal block then the general for the operation. Then I had oramorph for a short time afterwards, switching to paracetamol as soon as I could manage the pain.

I mean, it hurt afterwards, but it was managable. Hugely helped by only having one thing to do - recover! It would have been so much harder to manage it had I been rushing back to work, or worse still, caring for a baby.

I can really reassure you about the checks on the baby though.

Obviously they could see her whilst operating - well, in my case he could see her moving through the wall of the uterus.

In recovery, when I was still very groggy, they did an ultrasound. So I knew within a minute of being awake. And I think they told me right away that they'd been checking the heartbeat and knew it was fine - low from from the drugs but as expected.

And then I had so many extra checks and scans, because every time they checked me and the scar they'd check on the baby.

Also, if you're worried they'll forget you're pregnant, get them to write it on your belly when they prep you for the op.

Forgot to say, they knew the baby was OK straight after the operation, as in she hadn't been hurt.

They knew she'd got the general anaesthetic out of her system within I think hours.

Subsequent checks were to see about my recovery, including the scar and the ovary and no more cysts etc. They'd always point the ultrasound at the baby afterwards, but that was partly because they were there anyway, and partly for my sake. There wasn't a risk of anything going wrong for her afterwards.

@FriedasCarLoad thank you so so much I can't tell you how much you've reassured me, it's hugely appreciated!

It was a very scary time - especially as dh couldn't be with me at the time - but the sonographer was so lovely and really calmed me down. I had to wait a while as the surgery was done very late at night - but when I did have it - it wasn't too uncomfortable and the 1st thing that was said to me was that baby was fine and that the surgical team were quite amazed - as they didn't normally do that procedure ( it was still talked about after I had my baby as 1 of the assistants was talking to me about a patient having this procedure done- not realising it was me she was actually talking about!) I also had oramorph before surgery - and I must admit - it is fantastic stuff and I wouldn't have coped with the pain without it. Wishing you all the very best.

@Imnotamagician thank you so much. Honestly that scared me a little when she said 'it's pretty routine but rarely done in pregnancy', made me worry they won't know what they're doing! Of course they will, but I'm really struggling with anxiety! I feel like I need to brief the surgeon on how my baby is so important to me (like no one else's is?!) before they put me under 😂

I had this a month ago at 12 weeks. All very straightforward and recovery wasn't too bad. Let me know if you have any questions, you'll be fine xx

@ohwerehalfwaythere thank you, were you able to side sleep still afterwards? Worried about the pain but not meant to be on my back!

Side sleeping is only recommended from 28 weeks I think so it was before that for me. Honestly i don't think you be able to as you'd be putting a lot of weight on one of the incision sites and that would be really sore but after a couple of nights of good sleep I felt a lot better and probably could have then x

@ohwerehalfwaythere ah my midwife said second trimester onwards but hopefully she was just over cautious! Did you have additional monitoring ongoing afterwards or just in the immediate aftermath?

Nope, routine pregnancy care

@ohwerehalfwaythere @Imnotamagician @FriedasCarLoad one more thing that I've been thinking about! Did your cuts heal ok given that they were on a growing baby bump? I'm not sure how they will manage to close because the areas constantly growing and stretching!

Mine did heal after about 3/4 weeks - I needed to go and have it dressed / checked for the first 2 weeks as it wasn't healing as well as it should have been originally. But once it did heal - it didn't cause any problems. How are you doing?

@Imnotamagician amazing thank you! I'm ok thank you just waiting and waiting for a date and really working myself up about it. Feel like I'm in limbo!

The cut healed well. It itched sometimes but this was held by moisturising and avoiding clothes that rubbed.

Pregnancy had a greater impact on my sleep than surgery

Wishing you the very best of luck.

Healed totally fine, no problem at all. Four incisions but really small

Thank you so so much ladies I can't tell you how much it means to hear first hand accounts 🙏 I will let you know how it goes, been told it will be in the next 4 weeks x

Thinking of you! You'll be totally fine. Take the painkillers when offered but it's really not bad at all xxx

My op is next week and I just had my pre-op and they couldn't answer any of my questions, please help if you are able because I am flapping!

I am rhesus negative - consultant said I should get an anti d shot post op but the pre op nurse said that's up to maternity to sort out?

Did you have any vaginal bleeding afterwards? Given it's a side effect, I'm a bit unsure what to do if I have it?

I have a scan booked for 6 days later, do you think this will be ok to do?

I also just wanted reassurance they will check the baby right after but they weren't able to give me this, I'm so scared I will be sent home without knowing if my baby is alive