Ovaries removal

[Hayder]

Hello there

Im looking for your advice plz, my wife has been diagnosed with brest cancer and she was treated well. But her doctor says that she can develop ovaries cancer so he recommends to remove them because there is no way to take a clear scan for the ovaries.

My questions are?

Anyone has an experience with ovaries removed?

Is there anyway to take scan for them and then we can see if any changes happen just like MRI ...... and else?

Best wishes

Hayder

[Hidden]

Hi there

Glad to hear your wife has been treated and recovering well I hope.

I had my ovaries removed in May this year, I was diagnosed and treated for breast cancer 3 years ago and the reason I needed my ovaries removed is because of one of the medications (tamoxifen) which I had been taking for 2 years had caused a pre cancer condition of the uterus but also a large cyst on one ovary.

Not sure where abouts you live, but where I am, a scan can clearly see the condition of the ovaries which is what I had and was found my cyst wasn't cancerous.

How old is your wife?

It is a big decision to have them removed when young, I'm in my 30s so its early for me and I have to have bone density scans to make sure bones aren't thinning. I have hot flushes, especially at night and I have a foggy brain at times!!

I suggest you get a second opinion, mine wasn't done lightly and its still early days but feel it was the right thing for me.

I wish you both well.

[Hayder in reply to Hidden]

Dear Cazlav

Thank you so much for your reply.

My wife currently taking Zoladex injections and aromatase inhibitor to stop estrogen so she has some of your side effects already.

I was in Australia and now I'm back to Iraq and she is 30 years old but we are lucky we have two lovely kids.

Our doctor in Australia said that there are no scan for ovaries. But you mentioned that you have scan, can you tell me which type of scan you had?

[Hidden in reply to Hayder]

Yes I had several different scans. First of all I had an ultrasound which showed the cyst but wasn't able to see exactly what it consisted of so I then had a hysteroscopy which involves a small camera (hysterscope) being inserted and there was a monitor that I could see and as you can imagine, the doc then sees everything, any issues etc..and can also use the hysterscope to take samples.

I also had an MRI of my abdomen, so it was all very thorough.

Before my ovaries were removed I too experienced the side effects of tamoxifen which inhibits estrogen production, but this is another level.

[Hayder in reply to Hidden]

Thanks for your information, i will check the best option for her.

Best wishes for you and hope you will be well always 🙂

[xray25]

I had to have my overies switched of as my cancer was hormone receptive stage 2 breast cancer so my hormones would of given me cancer again, I had the choice removal or a blast of radiotherapy that takes 30 seconds, I opted for later as I was having enough ops as it was, good luck to you both

[Hayder in reply to xray25]

So your ovaries haven't been removed? Is that right,

I need to know the side effects if they been removed

[xray25 in reply to Hayder]

No I still have mine but they no longer work radiotherapy is less invasive than an op

[Hayder in reply to xray25]

Thanks and all best

[RuthJ]

Hi I had mine removed in April of this year I am 49 so for me the menopause was coming. Also I had mine removed for 2 reasons I also have PCOS and I also didn’t get on with tamoxifen for different reasons so had to have them removed to be able to take anastrazole. They actually wanted me to have a hysterectomy but gynaecologist thought I wasn’t up to it as only finished active treatment in Jan. I do get hot flushes but not too bad. For me it was the best decision. Good luck

[Hayder in reply to RuthJ]

Thank you so much and all best for you

[blue_sky1]

I had Stage 3 BC Hormone Positive with 11 out of 12 lymph nodes affected and 4 tumours including one over 5cm. I am now 7 years recovered with no recurrence or problems since. I had chemo, mastectomy and recon, and 5 weeks radiotherapy, which was intense. I was on Tamoxifen for 5 years and am now on Anastrozole. At no stage did the doctors advise removal of ovaries as the drugs blocked the oestrogen. A friend of mine chose to have elective ovary removal and has had very bad problems as a result. You are no more likely to get ovarian cancer after a BC diagnosis than any other cancer - is my understanding, unless you have the BRCA gene. But your oncologist will know. Take expert advice and wishing you all the very best. xxxxx

[Hayder in reply to blue_sky1]

Thanks for your reply, yes she has brca 2 which is dangerous and might develop ovaries cancer, but we asked them to monitor them and they say the science hasn't found any scan to give clear signs of cancer in the ovaries so they recommend to remove them to be safer, but i need to check another doctor to see but couldn't find

[blue_sky1]

Hi Hayder. The medical specialists are the best people to advise you in this respect as they have access to huge amounts of data which will tell you the best course of action. Wishing you all the very best xxx

[Hayder in reply to blue_sky1]

Thank you so much

[CancerkickerKathy]

I had my ovaries removed after breast cancer too. I did test BRCA positive so my chances of getting ovarian cancer was higher. Ovarian cancer is hard to detect and usually by the time we know it's there it's too late. My Doc only removed the ovaries. It was an outpatient surgery. Pain wasn't bad at all. She may want to weigh the options of full hysterectomy vs only ovaries. Stay strong.

[Hayder in reply to CancerkickerKathy]

Dear Kathy thanks for your reply and all best.

Yes my wife' chance to ovaries cancer is high as she has brac 2 .

How old are you? And what do you feel with the sides effects?

Actually i wanna check as my wife still young

Regards

[CancerkickerKathy]

I will be 50 soon. I suppose in a way it wasn't as bad for me because I was already past menopause and having children wasn't going to happen anyway. I do sweat terribly now but haven't noticed any other side affect. I think even if I was younger I would have done the same thing. If I kept my ovaries and had a baby then ended up with cancer the baby might lose me as a mother. Am I making sense?

[Hayder in reply to CancerkickerKathy]

Yes you make sense,

The good thing, we have two kids and i don't want kids anymore. The most important thing is here health.

Hope you will not see cancer anymore

[Arumana]

Hi,

I am 43 years old BRCA1 positive. I was diagnosed breast cancer in march 2017. I finished my treatment end of last year. I did everything what Dr suggested BMX and ovary removal. Dr suggested same as there is no scan that detect ovarian cancer early, I shouldn't wait and watch. I too was scared about ovary removal and side effects. But I had to chose it because it would give me safer future ! I am 9 weeks postop of total hysterectomy and oophrectomy. So far no side effects, but don't know about future. Both my genetic counselor and onco repeatedly asked me to do oophorectomy first then BMX. I did lumpectomy first then after diagnosis of BRCA I went for BMX . It's so frustrating that for BRCA people it's another burden, it's not only just breast cancer treatment. Because of BRCA , I have been going under knife every 6 months. I know it's fir safer future but it's so frustrating.

I understand your wife's situation. I am sending her hug and best wishes. Hope she will finish all her treatment very soon and go back to normal life. I am waiting to start normal life too.

[Hayder]

Dear Arumana

Thanks for your reply , hope you'll be very well soon.

Did you have just your ovaries removad or fallopian as well?

What do you mean by BMX.

Regards

[Arumana in reply to Hayder]

My gynoclogist removed uterus,ovary,tubes. When my youngest child born, I had fibroid in uterus. So gyno suggested to remove uterus too as I did open abdomen surgery

[Arumana in reply to Hayder]

Sorry, something went wrong, I couldn't finish my writing. My gyno didn't want to take any chance so she removed uterus. It was not suggested by onco. BMX means bilateral mastectoy. What angelina jolie did for prevention, I did the same except I had cancer.

[Arumana]

Did you ask your onco if your wife can wait for some time? As she is only 30 , may be she has some time. Genetic counselor can suggest better. They have data about this.

I know I may get some side effects but if I live longerfor these prevention surgery ,I am ready to bear it. This is my mantra now.

[Hayder]

You definitely will live longer.

Yes my genetic counselor recommends to remove both ovaries and breast, but we the most important things are ovaries as she doesn't take any medicine to prevent the cancer while for breasr she takes to kill estrogen.

Thank you so much for your help

[Redwine50]

Hi ,been on tamoxifen for 2years and started intermittent bleeding.first year had exploritity op to check but this year gynaecologist said best to have everything removed .go in December.,.scared but so grateful that I'm being looked after so well by both hospitals.

Gynaecologist has said to stay on tamoxifen after op.has anyone else had heavy bleeding with tamoxifen?

Good luck to all you ladies

Kx

[Hidden in reply to Redwine50]

Hi Redwine

I didn't have bleeding at all whilst on tamoxifen for 2 years, I did however start with stabbing abdominal pain and was constantly bloated so I visited my GP and several tests and 2 exploratory examinations later was diagnosed with a thickening of the uterus and an ovarian cyst the size of a small melon so was advised to come off tamoxifen for a while. Weeks after being off it I had a huge bleed that scared, ended up in a&e as was soaking through layers of pads in minutes, I was diagnosed with endometrial hyperplasia so everything came out in May and I'm on tamoxifen once again as can't cause me any more mischief. I wish you luck with your op.