what to tell people

Tell them whatever you feel comfortable with. I told those I work closely with, along with family. Others, I just said I am having surgery. If they were nosy enough to keep asking questions, I told them I was getting a boob job. I am a DD cup to begin with so it made them shut up pretty fast. LOL

I think I told everyone and I am thankful that I did , I found out alot of information from people whos mothers, sisters , friends ect had hysters at an early age. I still had all three of my children in summer camps so I had no choice but to tell people , I needed help with rides to and from. I had alot of support and alot of friends who send over dinners and also took my girls over night and for play dates while I was in recovery.

I have had a hard time with this issue as well. I have two children, ages 5 & 7. I just told them that I have to have surgery on my female parts. Unfortunately this is like my eigth surgery, so I think people are getting quite sick of me. I just hope that I recover from this as well as all the other ones. We are going on vacation to Disney World 3 weeks after my LAVH. I told the kids that we will have to take things a bit slower, but we will stil be able to go. I just want the surgery over with!

I told my close friends and co-workers, but yes, everyone else got the "I'm having surgery" line.
Funny story - I had to decline a task at our last PTA meeting because it was the same week as my surgery, and when someone asked me (in front of everyone) what the surgery was for, my friend announced I'm having a boob job (even more humourous because I'm a DD!). I said, yes, I'm finally pursuing my dream of being a porn star. Everyone laughed and no one remembered that I actually hadn't answered the question.
I agree that you have a right to keep it to yourself. I've found though that people ask "Is everything all right?" when they mean "Is it cancer?" I think most people are genuinely concerned, which is great.

I told close female co-workers a few more details if they asked, but on the whole I just told people that I was having major surgery and that I would be off for 8 weeks. I didn't find that any of the men asked for further details, maybe the fact that I looked like I was five months pregnant made the type of surgery self-evident?

I work in a very small company, about 15 people, mostly men, and I decided to be upfront with everyone. I didn't want my boss being put on the spot for 6 weeks with everyone trying to figure out what it was. Besides, they would have come up with a much more "interesting" reason for me being gone that long!

I am glad that I told people. I have helped a lot of people who had questions that would never have been answered had I not told them. But that is just me.