TAH BSO Not Nearly As Bad As I Expected – Patsy ’ s Story

I had a TAH BSO (total abdominal hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo oophorectomy) basically everything removed because of fibroids. In May 2012 I realised that I had an extremely large lump in my abdomen, 17cms to exact! How had I not noticed this before? I hadn’t really had any obvious symptoms until a couple of weeks before. My periods had been heavier for a couple of years but I thought that was just part of getting older (I’m 47), and they weren’t ridiculously heavy. My bladder was getting fuller quicker and not completely emptying, but I didn’t really realise this until after the diagnosis. I guess I knew it felt slightly different but not uncomfortable. Anyway I started getting a side pain and after a couple of weeks thought I’d better go to the Dr’s. So the fibroid was discovered, but as it wasn’t 100% sure whether it was a fibroid or not (risk of ovarian cancer) I was referred under the 2 week rule i.e. must be seen by the gynae consultant within 2 weeks. I also had to have an ultrasound. This led onto a CT scan. Due to the size of my fibroid it was determined that a total abdominal (vertical) hysterectomy was required. One ovary was completely hidden by the fibroid and the fibroid didn’t have normal fibroid characteristics. Until the mass had been removed the Dr’s couldn’t be sure if it was a fibroid or something else. One ovary had to be removed and I had to decide whether to have the second ovary removed...
Source: The Hysterectomy Association - Category: OBGYN Authors: Tags: Health fibroids hysterectomy stories oophorectomy total abdominal hysterectomy Source Type: news