Here's a weird question I hope someone can answer.

My sister has a friend who recently had surgery to remove tumors in her uterus (she actually had a hysterectomy and the weight of the mass removed was reported to be 30 pounds.)

Why did her weight not change after the surgery? She weighed the same thing when she got home that she did when she went to the hospital.

How is it possible to remove 30 lbs. of mass from a body and not alter the body weight?

Do you realize how big a mass that would have been to weigh 30 pounds? Think of a 5 pound bag of sugar...do you really think it is possible for her to have something 6 times that big in her? That really seems awfully large!

That aside, often times weight does not change immediately after surgery because for certain operations gas in used to fill up the body cavity (it is used in hysterectomys) so the patient has the weight from gas still remaining in their body. In addition, there is fluid retention and swelling - both which add weight. I would think in several weeks when she has recuperated, she will notice a change in her weight.

I agree it sounded unbelievable. My sister says she's quite a large woman. I've heard of it happening before but found it really hard to believe.

Another question, GA, how long does this type of gas typically stay in someone's body after this sort of surgery? Is it uncomfortable?

Since that would be the equivalent of giving birth to quadruplets weighing 7.5 lbs. each, I find this tumor weight to be preposterous. Even a cantaloupe, for example, does not weigh 30 lbs. Okay, prove me wrong.

The gas is used to expand the internal tissue and organs so the doctor can see more clearly to operate. It usually stays in the patient a few days, depending on their level of activity. It's not painful - just feels like you are a bloated.

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Originally posted by tsaeb:
Since that would be the equivalent of giving birth to quadruplets weighing 7.5 lbs. each, I find this tumor weight to be preposterous. Even a cantaloupe, for example, does not weigh 30 lbs. Okay, prove me wrong.

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http://www.imj.ie/news_detail.php?nNewsId=3152&nVolId=114

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I am not saying that this is the same as the condition that Oceangurl is talking about. It is just to show that a 30 lb. tumor is possible.

DD

Geez, people: how did a medical forum become one of folks chiming in with what they "believe?" Shouldn't that be in the religion forum? Shouldn't medical issues be dealt with by people who actually "know," rather than believe? Does anyone question how much "gas" weighs? Does anyone really think "gas" would add to someone's weight? First of all, gas is used only in laparascopic surgery, and would not have been used in an operation to remove a 30 pound tumor. Second, those people who have retained gas after such operations may be slightly (and I mean SLIGHTLY) bloated, but all but a tiny amount is removed before the operation is over. It's carbon dioxide. How much do you suppose that weighs? It may cause discomfort, for a couple of days. That's it.

Have there been 30 pound tumors? Yes, there have. But it would indeed be pretty huge. It's most likely that the weight mentioned is incorrect. But it's certainly true that weight gain occurs very commonly after surgery, for reasons that actually were described correctly, in the same post that incorrectly speculated about gas: the hormone changes that are brought about by the stresses and other effects of surgery cause retention of fluid. For most major abdominal surgery, there is signifcant fluid retention in the first few days, followed, as recovery proceeds, by a time of very high urine output as the fluid is resorbed and excreted. Weight can change by a very significant amount over that process.

Nor is it correct that the gas used in laparoscopy is used to expand tissues and organs. It's to fill the abdominal cavity, so the scopes can get in and see. It separates the abominal wall from the contents of the abdomen, but does not -- unless disastrously placed in the wrong location, causing enormous and potentially fatal problems -- distend any tissues or organs. And, as I said before, what gas is left CAN cause discomfort; classically shoulder pain as it accumulates under the diaphragm, causing irritation of nerves which refer to the shoulder.

It's admittedly more of a comment on me than on the forum that I've bailed out: I should just correct misinformation and not get annoyed; that's what I did for a long time.

I worded poorly. When I said gas was used to expand tissue and organs I didn't mean it so literally. I meant expand the skin surrounding the organs, or as Sid words so much better, to separate. I also should have specified that gas is used in laparoscopic procedures. I was just offering various scenarios that would explain why weight loss was not evident immediately. And I know gas does not weigh that much but being filled with it does have some affect on you!
Gas would be used in a hysterectomy if it was done laparoscopically...and tumors can be removed by laparoscopic surgery as well...although not a 30 pound one.

I don't doubt for one minute that 30 pound tumors exist. I was just amazed that this woman had one on her uterus. I would have thought that she would have been extremely distended and if 30 pounds had been removed from her she certainly would have seen some change in weight. The fact that she didn't lead me to wonder the tumor weighed less.

Thank you everyone for your input. Thank you Sid for your clarification.

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Originally posted by sid1114:
It's admittedly more of a comment on me than on the forum that I've bailed out: I should just correct misinformation and not get annoyed; that's what I did for a long time.

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Sid1114: This forum would be dull without all the foolish laypersons piping in with good intentions on the positive side and misinformation on the negative side. Also, since you have been missed, I thought that I would do a bit of heckling so that you could return gracefully after getting a more patient perspective, which you did (I can live with the believer jab). Like Georgia85, I just doubted the huge tumor in the uterus, since I never heard of a 30 lb. baby.

I don't know how much it weighed, but I had a football sized cyst removed with my right ovary that it was attached to. That is pretty big.. football sized.

I didn't know I had it. I was and am a fairly large lady and when I was uncomfortable from certain positions, I thought it was from me being over-weight. I only found out I had it when I began to feel excruciating abdominal pain and went to the ER. They found this cyst after about 8 hours in the ER when the staff did an Ultrasound.

That IS a very large tumor... but all things being equal, I can easily see it happening.