Doctors told him to lose weight. The problem was a 50-pound cyst

(CNN) – Kayla Rahn was not pregnant. She did not even have a "baby food". What the 30-year-old man had was a 50-pound ovarian cyst, and although it was successfully removed, questions remain about how it went unnoticed for so long. long time.

The Alabama woman began gaining weight in the summer of 2017, although she did not make any major dietary changes, although at first she thought her recent career in an office was to blame. Tasks that were once simple, like putting on her shoes, became almost impossible, as she struggled to catch her breath or lean over. In the fall, she began to feel pain and noticed that her stomach was hard. The strangers began to ask if she was pregnant – with an investigator going so far as to ask if Rahn was expecting twins – and occasionally rubbing her belly.

Health professionals told her that she just needed to lose weight. Rahn tried, but despite her efforts to eat healthier and go to the gym, she continued to win. When she went to work, she immediately lost her breath. She said that she spoke to four doctors, none of whom identified the growing mass in her ovary.

Dr. Gregory Jones, a staff physician at Jackson's Montgomery Hospital, said that he thinks it's right to characterize this as a "lack."

"Certainly, something of this nature that is not identified during a repeat examination is a lack," he said before offering this reminder: "The doctors are missing things, we all do it once in a while, we're all human, they all work very hard to take care of our patients. "

Jones and Jackson's team, however, have not failed. When Rahn's mother forced her to go to their emergency room on the night of May 25, Dr. Richard Sample scanned her and the diagnosis was made fairly quickly, Jones said. .

From there, Jones and surgeon general Dr. Reza Seirafi took over and Rahn was operated on May 26th. Jones estimated that the operation did not last more than an hour and a half. When it was over, they had removed a 50-pound mucinous cystadenoma, which Jones says is a type of cyst known to "produce large masses in the pelvis."

"The unusual part of it was just the size and volume of the mass and that it had remained unrecognized for so long," he said.

Rahn, too, was stunned by the size of the growth – which she nicknamed "Juicy Lucy" – when she finally saw him.

"Basically, they told me it was about the size of a watermelon," she says about what she knew before her operation. "I knew it was big, I did not expect it to be that big … There are watermelons of different sizes, do you know what I mean?

Since the cyst was removed, Rahn said that his life had improved. Now she can put on her own shoes and even pick the ones she wants to wear, an opportunity that was stolen from her by swelling in her legs before the cyst was removed.

The future is brighter for Rahn, but she and Jones have both had a lot of advice for people who might be in a similar situation, unable to get definitive answers regarding their medical problems:

Ask for a second opinion

"I love when my patients do that," said Jones, noting that a second opinion can give a good return not only to his patients, but also to him .

Rahn took care to make the same remark, saying, "If you see a doctor and you do not get the answers you think are appropriate, go see another doctor.

Bringing a loved one to doctor's appointments

Jones pointed out that a friend or family member "can give a point of view that sometimes you do not give" when he or she is alone. acts on your symptoms or antecedents.

Write everything in advance

"Writing things before the appointment is very important," Jones said. "Organizing your thoughts for communication" will help you do whatever you want to do during your appointment and help you to remember anything that could help you get an accurate diagnosis.

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