Doctors remove 50-pound watermelon-sized ovarian cyst from Alabama woman

"It wasn't a fun surgery, and there were moments I was in pain," Rahn said Friday. "But I had such an awesome support system, I didn't have a chance to be worried about anything."

Physicians discovered an enormous mass in her abdomen, later telling her it was in one of her ovaries - and that they needed to get it out right away.

"I remember crying every time we talked about it," she said.

"She knew something was wrong," said Jones, one of Rahn's surgeons. "What was interesting is that she never had the shock and awe; she had this relief, like, 'Of course there's a mass.'"

Rahn - mostly reassured but still concerned - was wheeled into an operating room at the hospital the next day, May 26, she said.

Ovarian cysts are common and usually harmless. Many women never even know they have them because the cysts come and go without causing problems, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Rahn has a message for others: Listen to your body and advocate for yourself. It's important, she said, for people to press for answers concerning their medical problems.