Pilonidal Abscess

(cycle 7, day 8)

That's what I had. I hope to never have one ever again, but at least I'll know to see a doctor sooner when my tailbone begins to hurt.


Friday March 11
My tailbone was a little tender. Didn't think anything of it. It continued for the whole weekend, only getting a little worse by the end of Sunday.

Monday March 14
Tailbone started hurting more. Did some research over the weekend about bruised tailbones so I called my chiropractor in hopes they might be able to help since I read that they might be able to with a bruised tailbone (which is what I thought it was at the time...). I started noticing some swelling, I just chalked it up to a really badly bruised/fractured tailbone since there was also some redness in the area that mistook for bruising.

Tuesday March 15
Swelling got much worse. It had turned into more of a welt than a little swelling and it hurt 10 times more. By the end of the workday I was in tears from the pain. Now I was starting to worry that it was something far more serious than a bruised/fractured tailbone but I kept my appointment with the chiro just incase it was nothing. I didn't want to waste a doctor's time or my own if I didn't have to.

Wednesday March 16
Went to my chiro appointment. I was in so much pain, I couldn't even stand to sit in my office chair, or stand, or lay down, or anything really. She wasn't able to help me, but advised me to go to the walk-in clinic because it needed medical attention and was likely an infection and they would take care of it for me. Even though she couldn't do anything for me, it helped me out when she told me what it likely was and how it would be taken care of. It helped calmed my nerves and prepared me before going into the doctors.
When I came back to the office, my boss could tell I was upset about it and told me to go home and rest and let him know what happens so that he could plan his time at the office while I wasn't there. I went home, relaxed for a bit and then headed to the doctors. I needed to get this fixed as it was starting to be quite painful and I could barely drive without wincing at the pain.
It didn't take super long at the clinic and the doctor knew right away what it was and advised me to go into the ER the next day to see the doctor there so that they could get this 'thing' taken care of quickly. In the meantime he prescribed some antibiotics to help with the infection until I could get into the ER. I ended up having to skip my sister's boyfriend's birthday shindig because of the pain :( I felt bad, but I just couldn't do it in the state I was in.

Thursday March 17
I got out of bed a little later, which was nice. It was nice to not deal with my boss, lol. I went into the ER like the doctor told me to. It was pretty bad. Within 30 minutes the doctor attending the ER called me back to take a look and pretty much immediately called down the general surgeon for a consult. Less than 30 minutes after the first doctor looked at me, the surgeon also looked at me and I had been admitted to the hospital as a patient and would be getting surgery sometime in the next 24 hours. After the surgeon looked at it, I had nurses in and out of my room for various things, blood samples, pain meds, one to collect personal valubles before going into surgery, and another to start an IV. Two hours after first getting to the ER, they had a bed for me on one of the other floors and that's where I would be staying until I was good enough to go home, whenever that might be. I was prepared that I would be having surgery, but I wasn't prepared to stay the night at the hospital. Seemed like I was caught off guard with that, even though I knew in the back of my head that that would be the case, it just didn't really sink in until I was almost set up for surgery.
At that 2 hour mark, another nurse got me in a wheelchair and got me to my room. I was basically being prepped for surgery which was going to be at 5pm (just 3 hours after first getting to the hospital!). I had to remove my nailpolish, all my peircings, my bobby pins, one nurse cleaned my back because I didn't have time to take a shower before they started calling for me in the operating room. By that point I had started feeling a little overwhelmed by how fast everything was happening. Could you really blame me? within less than 3 hours of getting to the ER (not even seeing a doctor yet, just getting registered) I was in the OR getting my Pilonidal Abscess operated on. It also happened to be the day AF showed up, so much fun! NOT!!! At least I got to deal with all the horrible-ness all at once... And AF wasn't even that horrible to deal with this time.
I got out of the OR after about an hour and back to my room. By that time, my mom was there... I would've rathered she not shown up. I don't know what it is, but she's just not comforting to me anymore, if anything she's an annoyance... Right off the bat she was wondering where my husband was. He was there before I went in and told me to text him when I was back in my room and he would come back to see me before visiting hours were over. I was fine with that, but she wasn't. It's not like it was a life threatening rare surgery, it was a common standard procedure surgery, in and out of the OR within 45 mins and awake and in my room within 60.
I spent my time in the hospital sleeping as much as I could. That's all there really is to do if you don't get a TV. It helped that my meds made me drowsy. I was awake for short periods, pretty much every hour. I didn't sleep well, but I slept a lot. It made for a very long night and long next day.

Friday March 18
I slept most of the day. I didn't know when I was getting out and being released. It bugged me, but there wasn't anything I could do. It just sucked because I knew his mom was coming down for the weekend and I was stuck in the hospital. I felt bad that I wouldn't be able to visit much with her while she was here, but at least I was on the mend from the horrible few days before this.
Sometime shortly before lunch was my first dressing change. I wish they would have warned me how much it was going to hurt. I think that was by far the most painful part of my whole experience. I just figured it was like a band-aid and you just changed it when it needed to be changed. I didn't know that it was whole process : (  Because of the gaping hole in my ass left by the abscess, I have to have it packed with Mesalt (litrally salt in the wound) to help draw out the infection and help it drain. The pressure they used to put it in and the stinging of the salt combined was too much to handle, and they even gave me some morphine in my IV to help, it basically didn't even do anything. It hurt like a mother fcuker! I'll tell you this, I'm almost looking forward to child birth after how much this hurt and for how long, lol.
The surgeon made his rounds in the afternoon and allowed me to be discharged as long as I would be able to come in everyday for dressing changes. Of course I lept at the chance to go home, but I kind of liked having all those nurses to take care of me or answer any questions that popped into my head. I got changed and made my way downstairs after getting my prescriptions from the nurse and set up my first dressing change and my husband came to pick me up during his coffee break. It was so nice to be home.
Of course, conveniently my phone was dying so all the attempts my mom made to get a hold of me I just blamed my not getting back to her on my (nearly) dead cell phone : P  I didn't feel like talking to her or letting her know I was going home because I didn't want her to drop in for a visit or insist on taking me home. I have a husband to take care of me, I don't need my damn mommy!
Sean's sister and the gang came down to drop off his mom since it was more convenient for them, and coincedently myself as well since the original plan was for me to pick her up in the afternoon and them come down on sunday to pick her back up... It was nice visiting with them and of course seeing our neice which is always awesome, but I'm pretty sure I overdid it and had to go to bed early. I felt bad, but I had to listen to my body so that I could recoup faster.

Saturday March 19
I layed around most the day, I tried my best to hang out with Sean and his mom for at least a little bit, but it was hard given the circumstances. I had my mom bring me to my first dressing so that Sean could spend more time with his mom since she was only down for the weekend. BIG MISTAKE! It just confirmed my thoughts on having her at the hospital when we finally have a baby. Just waiting for the doctor to see me since I asked to get morphine before the dressing change so that it would help with the pain I knew I'd endure she drove me nuts! If it wasn't her trying to make small talk (about things I didn't want to talk about, including the fact that she wasn't impressed by the fact that my husband didn't buy me flowers! of all the things to be upset about, that's what she was upset about, I'd rather he clean my house and take over kitchen duties for me than buy me flowers that are just going to die and kind of a waste of money) it was her complaining about the wait time for the doctor. I just wanted to sit there in peace and wait, it didn't bother me, I just wanted something to help with the pain since the nurse the day before told me that at the next dressing change I should ask for the highest dose of morphine. I'd rather wait than go through the pain without it.
When I finally got my shot and it had time to set in, it was time for the much dreaded dressing change. I swear it hurt more that day than the previous one. It felt like she wasn't gentle at all when really it was her job to pack my wound tight with Mesalt and it was that resulting pressure that hurt so much. It absolutely didn't help when my decided to stroke my head to 'help' take my mind off the pain, if anything it made it worse. Not only was I in pain from the wound, I was also annoyed by my well meaning mother. Right there I decided that I would do whatever I had to do to avoid having her there with me again.

Week Starting March 20
Did I mention Sean did all the groceries and meal planning for the week? It was so nice to have him get a taste of what it's like for me to do them everyweek. He's been so great with everything this past week. I'm so glad I married him, he really is the one for me <3  I still wasn't able to visit much with his mom, but that's okay, I know she understood.
Sunday I had Sean drop me off for my dressing change. It went much better, not pain wise, but at least I didn't have anyone annoying me today... After that dressing change going almost as bad as the previous 2 days, I wasn't sure how much of it I could take and was really starting to dread having to come in everyday for one. Much to my surprise, by the 4th day, they were nearly painless. The wound didn't have to packed as tight which was a god send because it meant it was healing and that I could actually handle coming in everyday for a dressing change and could start to see a light at the end of this very long tunnel, lol.
By Tuesday, I could actually start sitting on my ass, something I hadn't done since the Wednesday before! It felt so nice, haha. My hips were getting sore from always laying on them so it was a nice break. Wednesday I was able to drive myself to the dressing changes, that too was also nice, being able to drive myself instead of needing a driver. It's amazing what you miss when you don't have it anymore. I was getting a little discouraged that I might not be able to swim on our vacation, but after today's (Thursday) change, it might actually be a possibility. The nurse said today, that since the wound isn't draining as much as it was, I can start skipping a day between changes, that's progress! I just hope I get to the point where it doesn't need to be packed anymore by the time we leave for vacation and that I can put on waterproof band-aids so I can go swimming.... I might not be able to do the zip-lining or dolphin swimming, but swimming in general would be awesome right now.



So that's what I've been up to. It's been a long week, but it's finally starting to get somewhere. Less than 2 weeks for me to heal up enough to swim. I think my body can do it!
I also want to thank all the doctors and nurses that have helped me out since this ordeal started. They were amazing while I was admitted and have been amazing ever since. I never once felt like I wasn't important or that they were too busy, which is odd since usually the ER takes forever, lol. Thanks!