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gymcoach10
05-03-2007, 01:19 AM
Hello to all! I have been gone for a while- 6-8 weeks! As most of you know, I am dx w/ sle, raynauds, fm I had masses arise on both my ovaries in early March (kind of really scary my grandmother died of ovarian cancer). My dr wanted to wait 6 weeks and retest- if one thing I have learned here, seek a second opinion, which I did three weeks later. I found a wonderful gyn who saw me immediately. She ordered repeat tests, found that the masses had grown and had spread to the fallopian tubes so ordered immediate surgery. I had a total hysterectomy and ovaries removed. She did a search of my abdomen as well- found out no cancer!! Yea!! My question is- have any of you had a situation where this goes from organ to organ...I have had since diagnosis and this started my appendix out, then my gallbladder, and now my girl parts. Each time had non cancerous lesions/masses present. Any thoughts on this?

On another note, my mother has had some form of arthritis for years, overactive bone growth, thyroid disorder (a huge goiter!) and has always refused to be on medication or attend follow up appointments. She had tests done for pain in her abdomen about 6 months ago and they noted lesions on her liver. She, too, had to have a total hysterctomy due to enlarged uterus and such which is pretty normal i guess. She had a spot come up on her face, not like my normal butterfly rash, but different. She has had the spot for several months now. I finally convinced her she needed to make sure it was not cancer and took her to the dermatologist. The spotis on her face and very noticable. The dermatologist did a byopsi and she got the results today. It is lupus. Isn't that crazy. I have always thought she had some type of autoimmune issue especially the more I have had to deal with. The dr told her she had to have the ANA and stuff completed and that she had to go on Plaquenil immediately. He asked if she had ever heard of Lupus, and only then did she mention I had SLE.

My daughter, who I have posted about before, has many of the same symptoms I have, she has been tested, and the results were not what the dr expected, but not high enough to be positive. He recommended we moniter her.

Any new research on genetics links? Obviously, there is something here.

thanks

peonyprincess
05-03-2007, 06:21 AM
Welcome back!

I am glad that you had an uneventful surgery and that everything has turned out to be a-okay. There are times when we get down and think that someone must really not like us because we have this terrible disease, then something wonderful happens and all we can say is wow!

As for the genetic thing. I know there are some studies going on as I have googled them before, but cannot remember where this was being done,etc. I do know that if you go to the Lupus web site, that they have a list of current studies. I would be interested as not only do I have lupus, but so does my 10 yr old daughter and they are currently looking at my 17 yr old as well. Simply amazing.

Again, welcome back!
Nancy

neongirl
05-03-2007, 02:21 PM
It's great to see you on the board again:) I'm glad the surgery wen't o.k.. There are a wide variety of autoimmune diseases in my family, arthritis, diabetes etc.. , there is definitely a genetic link in my opinion. As for the ovarian and other internal lesions, I know from my Dr. that it is common among women with lupus to have anti-bodies to ovarian tissue.....going out on a limb here, if that is possible, than it could be possible to develop anti-bodies to other internal organs, which would make the body attack that organ....I know kidneys in active lupus nephritis have lesions, so I would guess any organ being attacked could have lesions:worried: .

helloos
05-03-2007, 02:47 PM
Glad to see you back.

I am glad that you got that second opinion. You are right though, when I had a mass on the ovary, they said recheck in 4 weeks and I was lucky it had gone down or away as they said.

The surgery is a hard one, been there done that. I am glad that you can put that in your past now.

I always new that Lupus can run in families. I tend to think that in some it does, in others it doesn't. I think that is why there is so much contraversy on it. (sp???) hmmm

I always tend to have non cancerous masses here and there. Thank goodness they are non cancerous.

Nice to see you again!