I had a huge 35lb cyst – people thought I was pregnant
A woman from England is celebrating “life-changing” surgery after doctors removed a huge cyst she said was so big it made her look pregnant.
Siobhan Foster, 26, began suffering from “excruciating” abdominal pain in March 2022, and doctors later found a huge, 40 cm (approx. 15.7 inch) cyst, 16 liters ( approximately 4.2 gallons) of fluid to the ovaries, fallopian tubes, and uterus.
“I was very tall and I had trouble breathing,” Foster told the South West News Service. “I had problems with the food.
“People were like, ‘She’s pregnant.'”
However, Foster’s road to surgery was not easy.
The procedure was delayed by 11 months because she was placed on a waiting list for cyst removal by the UK’s National Health Service, the country’s publicly funded healthcare system.
During those 11 months, Foster’s cyst grew to weigh 35 pounds – the size of a toddler.
She had trouble walking and getting out of the house was a challenge. The 26-year-old even had to give up her childcare job because it was getting so difficult.
“I was very insecure,” admitted Foster. “I was embarrassed.”
She described how the cyst looked like it had a “large lump” inside.
Luckily she was finally able to have the laparoscopic surgery last June which took 4½ hours. In doing so, the doctors drained and removed 16 liters of fluid from the mass.
“The cyst went to a dangerous place — it connected to my kidney,” Foster said. “It was a shock.”
Foster only stayed in the hospital one night and after three weeks of recovery she is walking around again and feeling like a “new person”.
“The surgery changed my life,” Foster said. “It was the best.
“It’s like going to sleep and waking up three stones [42 pounds] easier,” she continued. “Now I say to myself, ‘You look amazing.’ ”
Foster said that since the procedure she had shrunk from a size 24 to a size 18 and was wearing crop tops and dresses.
Luckily the cyst was also benign.
“I see myself and not a knot,” Foster said.
“I feel like a new person in a new body.”
