[Karen W.]

THE CARDIOLIGIST/SURGEON.

I do not know yet! That is one of the reasons for tests.. more CT scans etc..

Sorry I just thought you might know if that was about standard life expectancy after these kinds of surgeries. It's ok.. I cannot find any real sound stats on it  although the ones I did find were vague.

[Counterpoints]

THE CARDIOLIGIST/SURGEON.

I do not know yet! That is one of the reasons for tests.. more CT scans etc..

Sorry I just thought you might know if that was about standard life expectancy after these kinds of surgeries. It's ok.. I cannot find any real sound stats on it  although the ones I did find were vague.

Makes sense.   

My instinct would be to trust the surgeon (and to ask him when you can), but it doesn't hurt to get opinions from some other physicians. Perhaps your family doctor could help you get in touch (or more likely could get himself in touch) with another surgeon, or specialist, who can help give you some stats in the context of your situation.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!  

It's very hard to advise, but try not to spend too much time worrying, and do some things you enjoy. Stress definitely contributes to our health problems. I spend way too much time worrying myself!!

[Karen W.]

 We all do.. each and every one of us, but it helps to have a handle on the details so one can prioritize and be proactive in there own healing.. then the important things can be handled and taken care of for family and such.

I hope your worries are few and you are happy too.

Thanks for those crossed fingers...and the advice and opinions. Hell! Thanks for the conversation!

[Counterpoints]

My pleasure, and good luck!  Your questions are very good.

[Karen W.]

Thank you!

[Lorie]

I can't find how to start a new topic so I am replying to this topic. I have had a lot of problems and pain this week in my lower stomach (where I suspect my ovaries would be). It started Monday when I had a gush of blood accompanied by pain. The Dr said I had a cyst burst and sent me home with no tests done. The following day I was in so much pain so I went back to emerg and they kept me there all day. The Dr on call was the same Dr whom I seen the first time he ran a X-Ray, Ultra Sound and a Ct scan and found nothing. I'm still in a lot of pain and the pain has spread from my lower stomach to shooting down my right leg and my lower to mid back now. Will a MRI show things these other tests couldn't?

[grizelda]

It's probably better to learn sooner rather than later to avoid X-rays of any kind if at all possible.

[rperry81]

I know this post is old, but I was reading in here and ppl was talking about this drink they have to drink etc.....that drink is for a colon test basically and you have to drink something special for it, I found this out from a lady i worked with her brother had to do it and have tests ran for colon cancer

[rperry81]

I can't find how to start a new topic so I am replying to this topic. I have had a lot of problems and pain this week in my lower stomach (where I suspect my ovaries would be). It started Monday when I had a gush of blood accompanied by pain. The Dr said I had a cyst burst and sent me home with no tests done. The following day I was in so much pain so I went back to emerg and they kept me there all day. The Dr on call was the same Dr whom I seen the first time he ran a X-Ray, Ultra Sound and a Ct scan and found nothing. I'm still in a lot of pain and the pain has spread from my lower stomach to shooting down my right leg and my lower to mid back now. Will a MRI show things these other tests couldn't?

If all those tests were ran and it came back nothing then my suggestion to you if this has not been taken care of yet because it has been a year ago, is to go to a regular primary care doctor because ER doctors only run tests and look for certain things not the whole problem, if nothing was seen then for sure follow up with a OB doc and have them run your ultrasound and further tests! I have experienced this myself and I was told by my OB doctor that I have what is called varicous veins in the legs well I have that in the uterus and what happens is it swells up with inflammation right before the period comes and is to much blood flow in the uterus and can stay through out the menstrual and really there is nothing to do about it other then hysterectomy OR if you are bleeding constantly and non stop they have a procedure out that I just learned about it is called NovaSure and they do this which stops menstrual altogether ( newbielink:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endometrial_ablation [nonactive]) to avoid hysterectomies. The other thing is I'm sure you found out by now what it is, but it could have been a tubal pregnancy even though they ran an ultrasound maybe they did not detect it yet, did they run a pregnancy test? I'm sure they did if they ran xrays they have to. Have you had kids before? Another pain that can be happening is from having kids is a prolapse bladder, I went into the ER from this pain and they ran a CT on me because I was complaining of these pains and they wanted to check my gallbladder on a CT and other organs it all came back normal of course and they did pelvic exam and he tells me I don't see no prolapsing going on etc..., etc......well first off I knew he was crazy because my ob had just told me I had this, and I just recently went to another OB and was diagnosed with prolapse and the extra blood flow in uterus! So see don't always trust ER they are good to help the pain some and run test but not to look at the whole picture! Another thing that could be going on with you is if you have had kids also is an umbilical hernia of the belly navel, I have that and have to have surgery for them to correct it because it flares up and swells up and it pulls and tugs and gets caught up in there and I can't stretch my abdomen area because it will hurt like hell and shoot pains as will the prolapse even with intercourse and as the extra blood flow in uterus. The last and final thing is it could be your sciatic nerve those can cause lower abdomen pain and shoot into the legs and you also have what is called round ligaments in there and those stretch like a rubber band from and with pregnancies and when pregnant a baby will basically bing them back and forth and they hurt like HELL also, I've had that with 2 of my children. I'm curious to know if you found out what was causing your pain so if you get this message please write back, I'm very interested in knowing what your cause of pain was? Thanks!

[cheryl j]

A CT is basically the same thing as an xray, but allows multiple views or cross sections, but uses the same the same technoolgy as an xray, and exposes the patient to radiation. An MRI is basically a giant magnet the creates an image based on the polarity of protons in water molecules in the body. It does not expose the patient to radiation. MRIs are better for looking at soft tissue, and are more useful for finding tumors than CTs in some body organs.

[evan_au]

Another commonly-used imaging technology is ultrasound.
When pregnant women have an ultrasound, they are advised to drink some water first, so that the baby shows up better against the background (which might be the bladder?).
They have improved the technology significantly - my daughter had to drink much less water to get a good ultrasound image than my wife did.

PS: You don't want to do a CT scan of a pregnant woman, as the ionising radiation is not good for the baby.
- An MRI would be medically OK as there is no ionising radiation, but it's hard to tell the baby to sit still long enough to get a good image
- Overall an ultrasound is far easier - it's smaller & cheaper, and you don't have problems with claustrophobia and strong magnets attracting stray pieces of metal.