Surgery recovery time/surgery the best option?

I am one of the fortunate people, so far the biopsies have only come back stating precancerous. At this point I understand I don't have the worries that I am sorry most of you have. I have been on pins and needles twice, waiting for results.

History: I had a large polyp, a few smaller ones removed and gave me my first tattoos during a colonoscopy last spring. Doctor mentioned that if the polyp, was something (cancer?), I would be in for surgery. Biopsy indicated precancerous. Was scheduled for a followup in three months, which took six months to find an appointment. Second colonoscopy doctor said area where he removed previous looked healthy, and grabbed a sample for biopsy, almost as an afterthought, I think. Future colonoscopies every three years. Doctor called me today, said biopsy showed precancerous stuff. Wanted to do a sigmoidoscopy and burn the area where the polyps were removed.

Today I had the sigmoidoscopy and he couldn't remove the entire polyp. He tried a couple of different snares (and injecting air or water to lift the polyp), then tried cauterizing the polyp The polyp was non-lifting. Another note on the pictures said residual polyp 35mm. I think that meant 35mm size. He talked about a group in Seattle (I live on the other side of the state) that might be able to remove the polyp with different technique or procedure and said the other option was surgery. I thought about that a bit (this was during the sigmoidoscopy) and said I would rather try the different procedure or technique before I had surgery. A while later he said that surgery was the definitive treatment, other procedures might (or was that would?) result in ongoing or further polyp removal/colonoscopies or something like that.

Surgery doesn't seem like a fun choice to me. I had my gall bladder removed via laproscopic surgery, and it took five to six days before I felt reasonable. I might not have been the best paitent, perhaps not eating as well as I should have during the week following, had a bit more pain that I would have liked, just laid around home and took pain killers. I suspect that removing a portion of the colon will lengthen the recovery time and increase the "fun" during recovery. Maybe surgery is the best choice in order to prevent future problems and end the ongoing string of colonoscopy/sigmoidoscopy.

Colonoscopy doctor said a general surgeon would perform the surgery, referred me to the same one who removed my gall bladder. Is a general surgeon the best choice?

I would love to hear from anyone who had a portion of there colon removed, would you tell me about your recovery?

Anyone have any thoughts on surgery versus some procedure similar to polyp snare that my doctor mentioned?

Thanks again, blessings and best wishes to all of you battling nasties in your colon,

Jeff