The walls in my OB/GYN's office are noticeably absent of anything "baby" - calming seasides and closeups of elaborate flowers stare me down as I wait.
My OB/GYN is pregnant. The kind of adorable pregnant that makes me resent her even though I don't know her or her story.
My creepy little Frankenovary has started to concern my doctors so it needs to come out. My adorably pregnant OB/GYN is recommending that I have the dermoid and my ovary removed to avoid a second surgery should the dermoid turn out to be malignant. I am recommending that people stop cutting me open and taking my parts.
I don't have any answers right now; we won't know anything until the dermoid is out and has been analyzed. I am having my blood tested for various tumour markers and in three weeks I'll meet with my doctor to come up with our plan of attack. I keep flipping back and forth between my two options: save the ovary and risk a second surgery? Or have them grab it all and erase the need for a potential second surgery?
Part of me feels like agreeing to the more aggressive surgery is like admitting defeat before we even know what we're dealing with. But the other part of me feels like I've lost the ability to assume the best and I shouldn't put myself in the situation of potentially requiring a second surgery. I flip flop between the two and I don't know how to choose.
Be more aggressive now and possibly make it harder to conceive a hypothetical future child but ensure I'm sticking around as long as possible for the child I already have? Or try to put my optimist-rainbows-and-glittery-unicorns cap back on and refuse to let them remove a potentially healthy part of me just to avoid a potential second surgery?
Dudes, I just used the word potential so many times that it has lost all meaning to me.
It's pointless to get all wrapped up in my options right now because my blood work may make the decision for me. If any of my tumour markers are elevated, I will require the more aggressive surgery. I could (potentially) spend the next three weeks fretting about a decision that I don't even have to make. But I'm curious - what would you do? Get rid of the ovary for diagnostic / preventative reasons? Or risk a second surgery and just let them take the dermoid?