Hello All,

I have just signed up and this is my first post.  I am 52, post menopausal by about a year / year and a half and have had an ultrasound scan (external and internal) yesterday and this is what they say they found in my pelvis:  a unilocular anechoic avascular cyst, measuring 8cm by 6cm. 

I am having pains in what feels like my ovaries (mainly left) and sometimes feel quite nauseous.  The cyst is not attached to any thing as far as the sonographer could tell.  The cyst is on the lefthandside of my pelvis.  I am also weeing very frequently.  I've had an overactive bladder in the past and have never thought much about the frequency but over the last month or so, it's been excessive - sometimes with normal amounts coming out, other times I go, then immediately want to go again but little / nothing comes out.

My menopause seemed to happen without me really noticing, other than that I stopped having periods (peri menopause, they just got a bit heavier, and dwindled in number until they stopped in either March or August 2021).  I had a few hot flushes but nothing that was too awful or too frequent.

There is a history of Breast and Ovarian cancer in my family, especially Breast cancer.  My sister had it very badly and had to have a double mastectomy, chemo and radiotherapy.  My Mum had it but managed to just have a lumpectomy and radiotherapy.  My Aunt also had it.   I think all of them were oestrogen sensitive.  One of my Great Aunts died of Ovarian cancer. 

Anyway,  I'm having blood tests done on Weds and they're going to look at the CA125 (??) and various other 'normal' things, like kidney function, diabetes etc.  I actually paid to go and have my scan yesterday as I can't bear waiting and just wish they'd try and rule out the 'big' stuff first before the piddle around with the less worriesome stuff.  I thought that what's the point in waiting to have bloods, wait for the results, then be referred for an ultrasound and then possibly on further, which would all take weeks, when I could just get it done straightaway.  

So, I'm armed with my ultrasound report with the above description.  Unfortunately, the internal scan couldn't pick it up as my uterus is low.  I'm planning on phoning the doctor tomorrow to ask to be referred for further investigation.

Am I being paranoid or is this something that should really be looked at further, ie MRI / CT Scan, removal of cyst and pathology?  I'm aware that as I'm post menopausal that it's a higher risk for malignancy but, on the other hand, it's possible that the cyst started to grow when I was per-menopausal?

Sorry for the ramble but I'm very worried, especially given my family history.  I already feel like a ticking time bomb for  Breast Cancer.  Although my sister was tested and hasn't got the BRCA! or 2 genes, her Oncologist said that that can be pretty meaningless, as there are likely to be many more BRCA genes out there that just haven't been identified yet!

Thank you so much if you've read this and I would be so grateful for any advice x