A 44 year-old woman from the United Kingdom was stunned and shocked to find herself a size 26 even after months of dieting, eating healthy and losing nearly thirty pounds. Lorna Fulton had been told by doctors that she and her husband would likely not conceive naturally, so she had set out to lose weight in the hopes of becoming pregnant. When her weight suddenly and inexplicably shot back up, she assumed that she was expecting. However, when a pregnancy test done by one of her doctors came back negative, she knew that something was amiss.
Fulton was referred to specialists who found that she had a deadly 70 pound ovarian cyst.
She explains the harrowing tale,
“I joined a diet class and started eating healthier and within a few months I’d lost two stone. I went out to buy a new outfit to celebrate. I had been a size 24 so I picked up a size 22, hoping it would now fit comfortably – but I couldn’t get into it as around my middle was too big and I had to go up to a size 26. It was so noticeable that people at work thought I was pregnant and kept asking when I was due. So I went to see my GP, who was convinced at first I was pregnant. But when a pregnancy test proved negative I knew there was something more sinister lurking. I was referred to hospital where I had a biopsy, a CT scan, and an ultrasound. Finally a specialist told me that I had a huge ovarian cyst, which from the scan they could see was filled with fluid. They told me if I didn’t have it removed I could die.”
A full hysterectomy was recommended for Lorna.
During the full hysterectomy, which was done at Glasgow’s Royal Infirmary, doctors ended up draining more than 8 ½ gallons of fluid from her stomach. Lorna recalls,
“The doctors said it was too risky to remove it whole so it had to be drained. Plus there was a chance it could come back in my other ovary. I had to have my operation in the maternity unit. It was horrible. I was really sad, but I knew I just had to deal with the fact I wouldn’t be having children. I knew what was involved in the operation, but I just wanted it gone. I went under the knife and said goodbye to having children once and for all. Waking up from the op I felt much better and the following day weighed myself, at that point I’d been 19 stone and after having the lump removed I was now down to 14. It was unbelievable I’d been carrying around all that weight. I’ve now accepted that children are not on the cards for me. But things could have been so much worse. I’m lucky to be alive.”
The National Health Service advises that ovarian cysts, which are fluid-filled sacs that develop on a woman’s ovaries are rather common, and are usually harmless and typically disappear without the need for further treatment or medical intervention. They typically only cause symptoms when they rupture or they are larger than normal, or when they block blood supply to the ovaries. A good majority of ovarian cysts are not cancerous.
