Surgeons Take Large Tumor Out of Woman

A 15-pound, watermelon-sized tumor that had grown undetected inside a severely overweight Westlake Village woman was surgically removed three weeks after being discovered by a doctor who was treating the woman for unexplained bleeding.

“Whoever dreamed that anything was growing inside me,” said Bonnie Novak, 49.

Novak said she was thrilled that the surgery to remove the tumor from her uterus had gone smoothly. On Friday, three days after the operation, she was walking the corridors of Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks.

Once weighing as much as 387 pounds, Novak said in a telephone interview that before the operation, she had lost 55 pounds in a commercial weight-loss program. She said her clothes had become looser except around her waistline, where her girth remained undiminished.

Novak said that she began bleeding May 8 and went to the emergency room at Conejo Women’s Center in Agoura.

The bleeding was stopped, and she was referred to Dr. Sharon Norling, a gynecologist at the clinic. Norling knew immediately that Novak had a growth, she said. She referred Novak to specialists to determine the size and location of the tumor and whether she was healthy enough to undergo surgery.

“It was difficult to examine her adequately because she was over 300 pounds,” Norling said.

The doctor said the tumor, which had to be lifted out by two surgeons, was by far the largest she had seen during her seven years of practice. “She’s done remarkably well,” Norling said of Novak.

Tests to determine whether the tumor was malignant had not been completed by Friday, Norling said.

Her spirits raised by the successful surgery, Novak vowed to keep dieting until she weighs 130 pounds.

Although she knew she had health problems, she attributed all of them to her weight. “Of course, there was something else wrong,” Novak said. “It was the size of a basketball.”