How I Lost My Right Ovary | My Personal Story on Losing an Ovary

I’ve been wanting to write my story on “How I Lost My Right Ovary.”  I didn’t know how to publically tell it, yet I knew I wanted to do it.  I think for so long I attached part of my identity to not having one ovary.  I felt defined for so many years by not having one ovary.  There were times I fell less of a woman, incomplete and not whole.  I attached my self-worth and self-esteem to not having one ovary.  Well, after I started My Fit Healing journey out of nowhere, the thoughts stopped because I did the inner work and up-leveled my self-love.  I no longer felt there was missing part of me, instead, I felt blessed and grateful my life was saved.  I felt more empowered to tell my story to show how we shouldn’t be defined by a health issue, illness or missing organ.  Now, I’d like to share with you how I lost my right ovary in 2006.

How I Lost My Right Ovary goes like this.

I started feeling really sharp pains in my abdominal area one day.  I thought they were cramps or colics from something I ate that didn’t sit well.  There were times I’d be paralyzed with pain and couldn’t even move because the pain would be unbearable.  I’d literally stay in a frozen position, the moment I moved the pain would get sharper.  There were two particular times that I vividly remember.  I was walking to my apartment from class on a summer day and it happened on the side street.  I felt a horrible and sharp pain on my right side.  I had to hold on to the rail and couldn’t move at all.  The pain lasted for a few minutes and dissipated after that.  I was fine and thought nothing of it.  Thought it was just cramps or colics.  Well, the 2nd time I can remember it happened at work.  I was in charge of the front room to welcome people.  All of a sudden I found myself holding on to the table because I was in excruciating pain, pain that you can’t move because it intensifies it.  Pain that makes you cry and doesn’t let you breathe.  I knew it wasn’t my appendix because I lost that in 2001.

I just thought nothing of it again. My mistake!  I was too worried about school, my social life at school, my boyfriend then and my college life.  On the weekend of June 3rd, I decided to go home to surprise my parents for their wedding anniversary.  I went to visit a friend because I didn’t want my parents to see me yet until the 3rd, which is the date of their anniversary.  I planned it so well and I knew they would be so excited to see me.  Well, on June 2nd, I walked down to the bathroom and I recall getting super hot, like hot flashes.  I was sweating and didn’t understand why.   I felt my blood-pressure drop and just got dizzy.  I remember I took my shirt off and put it on the floor to lie down to cool off.  All I remember next is waking up on the ceramic tile ground.  I managed to pull myself up and next thing I know, I woke up on the floor again.  What is happening I thought?  I had no idea.  I walked upstairs and it happened two more times as I was trying to get to the second floor.  I woke up in the middle of the stairs, tired, confused and dizzy.   I had fainted 4 times total.  No one heard me because I managed to get myself up again.  I went to the room and I fainted in the doorway.  I was immediately taken to the ER after fainting 5 times.  I was unconscious by the time I got the ER.  I remember kind of opening my eyes and all was blurry and fell back asleep.  I remember they put me in a wheelchair and that’s all I know.

I had no notion of life or what was happening.  Next thing I know my Mom woke me up and said: “you are going into surgery and they are going to remove your ovary.”  I remember crying and saying to her “no I don’t want to lose it.  Don’t let them take it out.”  I was not capable of making decisions and my parents had to consent to emergency surgery because I was on the verge of dying.  The blood was in my abdominal area and had gone up my lungs.  I had a corpus luteum cyst that ruptured and in efforts to save my life, they had to remove the ovary and fallopian tube, in what is called a Unilateral Salpingo-Oophorectomy.

I woke up heavily under morphine and with a massive headache.  The light was so bright and my parents were there on June 3rd, their anniversary.  What a surprise I gave them.  I remember being so drugged up that I felt happy and I don’t think I had comprehended well how I lost my right ovary.  My headaches wouldn’t go away.  They were pounding headaches due to iron deficiency anemia produced by all the blood I lost.  I had 2 blood transfusions.  They saved my life again.  I’m sure I can’t remember many things from this tragic time on How I Lost My Right Ovary, but I’m trying to be as descriptive as I can.

In this image, you can see my scar… It’s 13 cm wide.

Now, I want to share with you what a Corpus Luteum Cyst is, symptoms and awareness information.

Corpus Luteum Cyst Symptoms | How I Lost My Right Ovary

• Pelvic pain that is dull or sharp aching.
• Pelvic pain before or during the menstrual cycle.
• Painful periods PMS.
• Abdominal bloating or swelling.
• Nausea and vomiting.
• Painful bowel movements.
• Painful intercourse, very painful and major discomfort.
• Pain in the lower back or thighs.
• Breast tenderness.

Many of the symptoms are associated with PMSing and can be confusing and often ignored, trust me I did that too.  I often thought it was cramps due to period and since I had been irregular most of my life until 2006 I didn’t think anything of it.  I thought I was probably getting a second period within 28 days, which it wasn’t unusual for me.  Even when getting yearly pap-smears, I was never told I had a cyst on my Obgyn through a pelvic exam.  If the doctor is not able to say something, please ask for an ultrasound if you experience any of the symptoms.

I learned that all women have ‘cysts-like-fluid-sacs’ called follicles as part of our monthly cycle.  If the follicle keeps growing it becomes a Functional Cyst.  There are two types of Functional Cysts, Follicular and Corpus Luteum.  Well, a Corpus Luteum Cyst may disappear in a few weeks.  In some cases, a Corpus Luteum Cyst may expand by filling with blood or liquid and attach itself to the ovary, which is exactly what happened to my right ovary.  The Corpus Luteum Cyst may still exhibit no symptoms, but in some cases may grow, bleed or twist the ovary. This may cause pain in the pelvis or the abdomen and may require surgery.

In my efforts to tell you my personal story of How I Lost My Right Ovary due to a ruptured Corpus Luteum Cyst, I want to ask you to help me bring awareness for preventive Women’s reproductive health.  It is so important to be empowered with information to prevent many unneeded situations, such as what happened to me.

I can’t even tell you what is going through my head right now. On January 16th, 2018, my new Obgyn told me he reviewed the pathological results from my surgery in 2006 and my ovary was healthy.  It was functional and ovulating.  There could have been a way to save it by removing the cyst carefully and suturing the ovary back.  Yet, I know it was an emergency surgery due to the loss of blood in my abdominal area and lungs.  I don’t know if the young surgeon could have done anything to prevent the removal of my right ovary.  Now, I sit here writing facing a similar situation.  I’m on the verge of losing my left ovary to an endometrioma cyst and I also have uterine fibroid tumor of 8cm in diameter.  My surgery is on Feb 9th, 2018.  Stay tuned for my blog post on my Tumor Story and facing this situation for the 2nd time.

Please share to bring awareness and make sure if you have daughters, and they experience painful periods to take matters and make sure they don’t have ovarian cysts, uterine fibroids, endometriosis or other female reproductive problems..  This is all I ask. If my story can bring awareness and help someone save her ovaries, I’d be so blessed.  More blessed than I am today.  I’m staying super positive, hopeful and with a lot of faith that my surgery will turn out great and a hysterectomy won’t’ be needed.

Do you know someone who is going through the same or has? Let me know in the comments!

What can you tell someone that is going through this situation?

Thank you for reading my story on How I Lost My Right Ovary,

Much love to you,

Mary Miranda

Check this blog post: I wrote this not knowing my bloating belly was produced by the tumor.  I thought it was mostly from Leaky Gut Syndrome Bloating After Eating

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