Scary abdominal surgery that's still sort of optional.

As someone who had to have emergency surgery because of a burst cyst I can agree with DarlingBri. The pain from recovery was nothing compared to the pain from the cyst. Surgery pain was more like, "oh that hurts when I do that" or "I don't really want to stand up straight." The pain from the cyst was more like, "I AM GOING TO DIE MOMMY WHATS HAPPENING WHY AM I DYING?!?!?!?!?!"

I am biased because my surgery for endometriosis was one of the best things that ever happened to me, but I'd say find the best surgeon possible and go for it.

Are they planning to cut you open, or is this a http://www.google.com/search?q=laparoscopy&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari? Plus, my understanding is there is now an even LESS invasive way to remove cysts - sorry! Don't know what that is. Imma tell you a little story... About 20 years ago now, I had ridiculous pain, cramping, and eventually nausea. I went to six doctors in 4 years, three of then GYN's, and none but the last had the brains to give me a ultrasound and diagnose the endometriosis (cysts.) 2 weeks later I had an easy peasy laparoscopy. Pain free ever since! Cysts cause weird weird pain, or sometimes, no pain at all. Get your second opinion. Evaluate your options. Be thankful this was caught after a few months, and not a few years worth, of pain.

I have had quite a bit of abdominal surgery over the years. I am in the UK. I have found that post-surgical pain management has improved immeasurably since the 1990s and that has made a great difference. In my most recent two experiences I was given control of my own morphine, via a shunt. This was great for me. I barely needed to use any of the morphine, but just knowing I had the option gave me a feeling of control. I also believe it helped me to recover faster. I would therefore discuss pain management options in advance with your medical people. Again I am just speaking from my own experience, but I found the pain following simple surgery like you are facing dissipated quickly during the days after surgery. I was back on my feet quite soon. And arising from this, I would say that earlier rather than later surgery may be a good option because that is more likely to be a smaller operation, hence the quick recovery. All of this is just my own experience, trying to think of the factors that made surgery easy: to summarise, a small/early operation, patient control of pain medication.

My father who was a surgeon for 40 years always says "If there is a non-surgical solution, take it."

I have a low pain tolerance Then I would have the surgery because recovery from a relatively simple planned procedure is going to pale in comparison, pain-wise, to the potential pain of a burst cyst. I'd ask: -- If the surgery will be laprascopic and why or why not -- What kind of anaesthesia is planned (general, twilight, etc) and what the risks are -- If the anaesthesia will be administered by an anaesthetist or by another member of the surgical team -- How long you should anticipate being in hospital for -- What the pain management in hospital will be like -- What pain meds you'll be able to go home with -- What the post-op recovery time is like

I've had way too many surgeries, most of them back in the late 1990s. If you have the option to choose between general anesthesia and twilight sedation, go for the twilight. In several of the surgeries I had, recovering from general anesthesia was almost worse than recovering from the surgery itself. Waking up from twilight sedation, you feel groggy and out of it, but you bounce back pretty fast. Waking up from general anesthesia feels more like waking up from a coma after you were hit by a truck. The anticipation before a surgery is usually worse than the recovery. Most of my surgical recoveries were about on par with having a terrible flu for a week or so. You feel like crap, but you can survive it. But seriously: always go for twilight, if you can.

+1 on the planned procedure now-ish vs. the angst and pain for an indeterminate time. Plus: a burst cyst can be a very serious situation, a growing cyst can attach to the ovaries or the colon and be much harder to remove. Your cyst is bigger than a tennis ball now and has not disappeared in 3 months - those are reasons for the GYN to recommend surgery (which she did IMO by saying she would have it removed and referring you to a specialist). Most cysts resolve naturally but most cysts are smaller to begin with. The only way to monitor the growth would be frequent probably transvaginal ultrasounds, which is not feasible. Now you can schedule the procedure for a convenient time, you can prep your home, ask friends and family for help. Here are some older ask.mes with relevant info about prep and post-op time: http://ask.metafilter.com/213008/Ovarian-Cystectomy-FreakOut http://ask.metafilter.com/226416/What-do-I-need-to-have-on-hand-after-abdominal-surgery http://ask.metafilter.com/104600/Laparoscopy-Surgery Next week when you see the specialist and they say to go for the surgery, talk about your low pain tolerance and the anxiety. The questions as outlined by http://ask.metafilter.com/246167/Scary-abdominal-surgery-thats-still-sort-of-optional#3574892 are a good start. You can make a list and bring it with you if you know you freeze up on the spot.

I'm as biased as the young rope-rider on this one. I had over 20 years of on-again, off-again pain and I finally had laproscopic surgery for pelvic adhesions and it turned out I had a peach-size (why they use fruit as a measuring device is beyond me) cyst. Frankly, I had a fairly shitty recovery because I didn't ask questions and I didn't know what to expect. I learned: * don't take narcotic pain relievers after 2 days because they interfere with your body's pain receptors (in other words, the more Percocet I took, the longer my body thought it was in pain); * get up and walk as much as you can, but don't start running 5 miles after three days (I was an idiot, because the breakthrough bleeding was insane and scary and I was too wiped out to get up and walk); * use hot water bottles or heating pads to deal with the abdominal gas-bloat; * find the position that works for you and REST (I was flat on my back until I realized I wasn't helping my recovery. Once I sat upright it was all better.); AND... thank god I did it. After all those years of pain, it was an absolute miracle to become pain free.