Wow ... well here's where things came out. I saw both a vascular surgeon, who diagnosed it as a "vascular malformation" -- a vascular anomaly one is born with that can get blown out (it was diagnosed using an MRI and an ultrasound). She recommended sclerosing it (kind of like what's done to spider veins). They inject a solution (in this case, pure alcohol) into the vein which apparently burns & kills the tissue, then the area hardens and it's reabsorbed slowly (like an injury) into the body. She said it was going to be extremely painful (overnight-in-the-hospital-on-a-morphine-drip painful). My other option was plastic surgery, but they would've taken out a huge chunk of flesh & possibly mutilated (for lack of a better term) my labia. NO THANKS!

So the sclerosing went GREAT. I didn't need the morphine at all. Now, 5 days after the surgery, I have absolutely no pain for the first time in ... oh, 6 months?! How 'bout that! I'm going to get back on my bike this weekend (yes, the doc said that was okay "activity as I see fit") and see how it goes.

YIPPEE! Thank you to everyone who answered & for the advice/discussion. It really helped me out, and I hope it helps other women who might be suffering w/the same problem. THANK YOU!!!