Dear Kate,
I have had just about every reproductive calamity that can possibly happen to a girl. I have literally lost count of how many surgeries I've had. When I was 19, I became very ill. Because of my raging fevers, they put me on antibiotics. I got worse. Then they found a "mass". My ovary was the size of a grapefruit. I ended up losing that ovary.
If your doctor wants to go in laparoscopically and drain/and or remove the cyst, you need to let them do it before things progress beyond the point of no return.
A woman only has two ovaries. And if you lose one all together, it can be difficult to bet pregnant. I know, first hand. I had one ovary and one tube and they were on opposite sides. Against the odds, I managed to have two children.
Honey, no surgeries are fun, but laparoscopies are by far the easiest to recover from. Trust me. I've had 4 or 5.
They put a small incision just under the belly button and another on your tummy in the area they want to be able to look at. By small, I mean they just put maybe 1 stitch and a piece of tape over it. Because of all the problems I'd had, I welcomed the laps because they could really look around and see if there was anything else that needed to be dealt with. They blow your belly up with gas so they can have plenty of room to look around and I found out the hard way, the first time, that not all of the air gets pushed out and some of it stays trapped inside. What hurt me, far worse than the surgery, was the air getting trapped up by my shoulders. It's quite uncomfortable, but it goes away.
I've had so many operations that I could probably put my own I.V.'s in at this point, so I by no means want to make light of your fears. If you feel you need a second opinion, get one. But try not to be afraid of the procedure if it can save your ovary. Some cysts break on their own, and others continue to grow which can harm surrounding tissues. And you don't want that.
You can e-mail me to talk any time...if you have questions or get scared or just need someone to listen.
I wish you the best.
Please let me know what happens.
Take care!