This is going to be a TMI medical female things sort of entry. Consider yourself warned.

Back when I was pregnant, my GYN told me that I had a cyst. In my... Yeah.

"It's not a big deal," they told me. "Probably it'll pop when you give birth and go away." Lovely imagery, that, but so much else goes on down there that you don't really want to envision during birth, a popping cyst didn't faze me too much.

It didn't. About two months later, when I went back to the GYN to have my IUD inserted, the cyst had grown some, and the doctor had to drain it before he could get the IUD in place. Which wasn't comfortable, but it didn't take too long. (And looking at that syringe full of greenish goop made me slightly sick to my stomach.)

Now... If you haven't been chased away yet, here's where you get a second TMI warning, because it's going to get worse.

The cyst came back. I could feel it, when I sat on the floor (which I do a lot, with the baby), or shifted on a hard chair, or coughed or sneezed.

So finally, I called my GYN and made an appointment. Went in this afternoon, and he took a look.

"It's moved!" he said. Surprised. "It's almost on the outside now!" I could've told him that.

He poked at it some more, asked some more questions. And then, instead of sending the nurse for a needle (sorry, Karen) to drain it, he went and got some paperwork.

They have to clear everything with my insurance first, of course, but sometime in the next couple of weeks I'm going to go to the hospital, and they'll get an IV in me and dope me up good. And then my GYN will come in and open up the cyst to drain it. And he'll sew the hole open so that the damn thing will continue to drain for a few days. Which is why I'm going to need to be good and doped up.

This is outpatient surgery, mind. I'm going to go home afterward, with my draining cyst.

The doctor thinks that if it gets a chance to completely drain before it closes back up, it'll go away.

But if it doesn't... He's going to refer me to a friend of his who does gynecological oncology (!) work, for more extensive surgery.

It seems so unfair. I made it through childbirth without so much as a tiny tear. Not a single stitch. And now they're going to have to open me up for a stupid cyst???