Hi all

I saw my gynaecologist last night after having an ultrasound the week before and having symptoms including unusual heavy periods, bleeding between periods, pain in groin, needing to pee more often and bloating as well as diarrhoea (although I also have Crohn's disease). I have a strong family history of breast and ovarian cancer all diagnosed in their 40’s – mu and maternal grandmother both passed away, maternal aunt is a survivor… along with my son being diagnosed with testicular cancer last year aged just 21.

The gynaecologist said (quoting from letter he has sent after my appointment): "The womb itself was of normal size, containing small fibroids that are not significant in size but there are a few of them. The lining of the womb looked healthy and thin. The muscle of the womb itself was thinned out at the place of your caesarean section scar, but this is again quite a common happening and finding. There was no pelvic free fluid, indicating that there is no active inflammatory or infective process going on in the pelvis. The right ovary looked normal and healthy, producing follicles as it should".

The letter then goes on to say " The left ovary was not identified or seen but what is more concerning to me is that next to the left ovary, there was a distended tubular structure measuring about 3cm in diameter, but was painful during your ultrasound scan, and had some lumpiness inside of it, and in keeping with what we call a hydrosalpinx (a distended left fallopian tube, full of fluid and debris). While the vast majority of causes for this blockade are benign (innocent), we do occasionally see early cancer in the fallopian tube developing with this type of presentation on scan and the symptoms you are experiencing".

He did offer me two options:

1 - full hysterectomy - however given there is a risk of cancer he said this couldn’t be done by key hole it would require an abdominal incision and I am on immunosuppressants for my Crohn’s so can’t fight infection very well.

2 - key hole surgery to remove my left fallopian tube along with removal of left ovary if anything looks suspicious on that and insertion of the Mirena coil to help with my bleeding

He said "That will give us reassurance regarding the nature of the blockade and get rid of a potentially blocked tube liable for infection, or worse showing evidence of early cancer".

He said that the tube will be sent to the lab for analysis and that he should have the results within a week or two after surgery.

I am trying not to get too nervous or too worked up but when you hear the word cancer you can’t help it... albeit weirdly the fact he is considering it as a possibility even if remote actually reassures me that he is not just dismissing me as being too young or whatever, especially as my son was mis-diagnosed with an infection last year when it was in fact testicular cancer and by the time it was diagnosed it had spread to his lymph system.

What I want to ask is - should I be worried he isn’t going to look into or at the fibroids more? He hasn’t requested bloods or an MRI should I be pushing for any of these?

Thanks so much x