Hi all,
My CC has recently recurred and I have to have chemoradio/brachy. I was aware of and asked about ovarian transposition surgery and am waiting to hear back about whether this will be possible for me. I'm not 100% sure if I would go through with it (as I had a radical hysterectomy in March and I'm not keen on more surgery any time soon), but I would be really interested to hear about any experiences with it, in particular the experience of the surgery itself, when it happened in relation to your chemoradio and also whether the surgery was successful.
For context, I am 40 with no children (not interested in having any, so I don't want to harvest eggs), so I'm probably on the slow slide towards menopause anyway, but I hear that radiation-induced menopause can be much worse than natural menopause, so I'm debating over whether I could save myself some suffering now by having the transposition surgery.
Many thanks,
KM
I had the surgery, but I had it done at the same time I had lymph node removal surgery, so not to really sure on what just a ovary transposition surgery would be like. My surgery was a 5 slit laparoscopic surgery. For me the surgery was unsuccessful and I still went into menopause. I was still recovering from my surgery when chemo rads started. I'd say to probably pass on it or really think about it, I think it would have been better to be 100% during treatment. I read after that the success rates of it stopping menopause are pretty slim . If you have any questions feel free to ask, best of luck
Hi Rissag,
Thanks so much for your knowledge and experience. I was actually offered the surgery for this coming Monday and I did accept the offer, but I am now having second thoughts. Given that I'm 40 now anyway and am only 5 months out of a radical hysterectomy, I'm leaning more towards it not being worth it for me. The only reason I would be doing it would be to delay menopause, but I'm probably only 5-10 years away from that anyway. You make another really good point about wanting to be in tip-top shape for the chemoradiotherapy. When I spoke with the surgeon this morning he said that it would be more complex for me having already had a hysterectomy, which put the frighteners on me a bit. It's so hard to know what to do for the best!
KM x
Yeah I would say to pass then, I did it to try to preserve fertility and I was already having my lymph node surgery at the same time. I think after having a hysterectomy it probably would result in more soreness. One of my sides still gets really sore, not to sure if it was from the ovary transposition or lymph node removal though. If u do decide to go through it make sure to tell them to put them at the highest point, I didn't know but I guess there was different places they could be placed, mine weren't placed that high.and now I have really no idea where my ovaries actually are lol. On my first post treatment scan it showed I had a slightly swollen structure that was non cancerous, on my second scan that was a mri it showed it was one of my phillopian tubes just hanging out lol. Wish you all the best in whatever decision you choose.
Lol just seen I spelled Fallopian tube wrong
I can forgive you this once, but don't let it happen again!
I've decided not to proceed with the ovarian transposition surgery. I'm still recovering from the abdominal hysterectomy and I don't really need any more surgeries in that area, if it can be helped. I really appreciated your input. It was really helpful.
KM x
Lol.
km I'm glad you made a decision that you feel was right for you. I'm glad it's been a couple months since your hysterectomy so you can be rested when your chemo rads start. I wish you a well treatment and hope everything turns out good, if you ever have any questions feel free to ask.
