Date:
- Friday, April 27, 2001
Story
Hi! This is Tiff, i am just updating from my last post i put on
here. I had my second surgery yesterday (the 26th) and it went well.
Although i am in excruciating (sp?) pain right now, i feel pretty
confident that he did it right this time. I am not going to go all
into detail about it because i am really in pain right now and in an
uncomfortable position lol. But the doc. said it was deeper and more
infected than he though, so he cleaned it out good, and somehow
graphed my skin so its not as deep to pack, so it is less painful to
pack and unpack now. And the good thing is that i only have to have
the nurse come once a day now, and thats good, last surgery it was
twice a day and the wound was 4 inches deep.....can we say painful!!
Thanks, bye
- Date:
- Thursday, April 19, 2001
Story
Hello..I am a 21 year old female. I fell down on my tailbone
rollerblading when i didn't know how about 3 years ago and It had
been sore but I knew that sort of injury couldn't be rectified.
About two weeks ago, I noticed a lump on the crack of my butt and
that I couldn't sit like a normal person...in the past week, it
became so infected and so big, I felt that I had a new intentity on
my body! I was a little scared. The heating pad was my friend and
when i went to the doctor, he told me it was a pilonidal cyst. I
wanted so bad to just stick a pin in it and drain it out becuase the
pressure was so unbearable. Today, i went to the doctor again and he
drained it for me. It felt sooooo much better and I wanted to just
hug the guy. I am scheduled in a week for a follow up to see if the
infection has gotten better and then I can schedule for my surgery.
Thank you for your stories. I have learned so much from your
experiences and I will definitely heed to the tips you people have
shared.
- Date:
- Monday, April 16, 2001
Story
I am so glad I found this site...a few weeks ago I started having
severe pain above my tailbone...my family just figured that it was a
bruised tailbone so i took advil and slept on my stomach with a
heating pad...finally after a few days i was in such pain that my
mom took me to the orthapedist figuring i had a broken tailbone..in
literally one second he told me it was a pilonidal cyst and sent me
to the rectal surgeon...they drained it immediately and i was in a
great deal of pain for about four days...i have to have surgery in
august to remove the cyst itself but i dont care how much pain i am
in after the surgery because i dont think anything will ever compare
to sitting in the car for four hours on a car trip hysterically
crying and no one believed that i was in any pain...i am so glad i
got rid of this infection and i am not even worried about the
surgery..great site!
- Date:
- Sunday, April 08, 2001
Story
My daughter had the surgery Feb. 7, 2001. The incision was about
4-5 inches long and about 1-2 inches deep. We cleaned and packed
2x/day and everything seemed to be progressing nicely. Finally
healed end of March; but in a few days it was opening back up. We
are now shaving, cleaning and packing again. She plays fastpitch
softball - she pitches. The doctor said it was ok for her to play,
but I can't help thinking the strenuous motion she goes through
re-opened the wound - especially after reading some of the stories
here about athletics, horse-back riding, etc. I'd be interested in
hearing from others as to physical activity and re-opening of
wounds. It seems the doctors are not limiting activity, but maybe we
should be - ??? Thanks to all of you for sharing your stories; it
helps to know what other people are experiencing with this condition
and my prayers go out to all of you - this is a very frustrating
thing to deal with - and I'm just the parent!!
- Date:
- Saturday, April 07, 2001
Story
i wrote my story here, and i just realized that there is not
nearly enough awareness about this disease/condition...i am hearing
all these people tell their stories, but im sure there are many more
who arent even aware that they have it. lets try to bring this
painful and embarrassing topic into the light, and help out other
people suffering!!! i
- Date:
- Saturday, April 07, 2001
Story
about a year ago, i noticed i was getting these painful lumps
right above my tailbone. i couldnt sit or stand or walk or anything.
i always thought it was just a bruised tailbone, so i thought just
relaxing would take care of it. i hadnt gotten the lump for a while
until a few days ago, and this time it was soooo painful i couldnt
even eat or sleep. because i didnt think it was anything serious, i
didnt tell anyone at all, but it finally got so bad that i went to
the doctor's. he took one look at it, and told me it was a cyst, to
go home and put a hot compress on it. i went home, and it was so bad
that i had to wake my mom up and get her to bring me to the
hospital. i thought it was more serious than what the doctor
thought... so i saw another doctor at the hospital, and he told me
it was in fact a pilonidal cyst, and that if i had left it another
day, it would have exploded (literally) inside me, it was so bad. he
said the abcess was the size of a tennis ball. so he prepped me for
the lancing, and i have to admit i was a baby about it. i have never
ever had a needle in my *ss, and it wasnt fun, as everyone here
knows...so, the lancing went well (the doctor told me he had drained
over 3 ounces of abcessed fluid from it), packed the incision, and
told me to come back 2 days after to remove the packing. i didnt
sleep for 2 days because i was so afraid it would be painful, but i
got a new doctor the 3rd time around, and he was amazing. he slid
the packing out, and i feel great. he told me if i was lucky the
abcess would never come back, but from what ive read it most likely
will. yeah, im scared out of my mind that it will, but its nice to
know that there are more people (especially females) out there that
know how this feels, and people to talk to the next time it happens.
its nice to know that theres support for us, because no matter how
much anyone tries, no one could possibly understand how this
feels...
- Date:
- Saturday, April 07, 2001
Story
Hey everyone! I have to say im very glad i found this site, i was
beginning to worry that i was the only one out there with this LOL!
Well, im 15 now and noticed i had some pain at the top of my
tailbone when i was about 13/14, i let it go for a whole year, being
too embarrassed to tell anyone about it haha. I finally went to the
doctor after showing my mom the small pinhole size hole on my
tailbone with small amounts of blood coming out of it. See, my story
is a little different, as it severely conflicts with my
sport....horse back riding! And i dont just ride for pleasure
either, i mean i ride every day for atleast a half hour, i show
almost every weekend in the summers...its my life!! its the love of
my life and its my dream to become a professional, it going to be my
career also! Anyways, on w/ my experience lol. So in the spring of
1999 i went to get it checked out, he sent me to a surgeon and the
surgeon said it was a pilonidal cyst, he gave me a shot of novicane
and lanced it right then, i couldnt go to school afterwards, because
i could barely sit! That healed in about a week or two, but it kept
opening up and being soar, none the less, i still kept riding all
summer, i was scared to tell anyone it was still bothering me
because i was having a great riding year! But i ended up not being
able to ride one day, it hurt soooo bad! I went to the surgeon again
and he decided to schedule a surgery to remove the whole thing. I
got the surgery in early August of 1999. It was my first surgery but
i wasnt very nervous, they put me out (in twilight zone or whatever
they called it lol) and i couldnt remember or feel a thing, before i
knew it i was in the recovery room not feeling too bad. My surgeon
came to talk to me and said it was HUGE with lots of cavities but he
was "pretty confident" he got it all out so he stiched it up. Two
days later i was at home feeling pretty well actually, the day after
my surgery i had even gone to see my horse! But on the 3rd day after
surgery i noticed a big lump by the incision, like it was filling up
with pus or something, and it was warm to the touch. I told my mom
about it and then i started getting sick to my stomach, and i had a
high fever of like 103*! So my mom ran me to the ER and the doctor
there said it had gotten infected, so he took the stiches out (W/O
any numbing...AHHH that hurt!) and it was bleedign all over...he
sent me home and said i would need a home nurse to come twice a day
for a while to pack it. That was probably the worst part...it was
soo painful, the incision was atleast 4 inches deep! Anyways, it
healed up ok and i was able to go to school in the beginning of sept.
and was riding again then too. But i think it flared up again from
riding too much, so it opened back up, i kept going to my surgeon
and asking what was wrong, he finally said (in January of 2001!!!)
that he didnt know what to do!! GRRR so i just had an appointment
with a "colon and rectal surgeon" last week (April 3rd) and he knew
EXACTLY what was wrong just be me telling him everything, so he
checked it out (and by the way, we woman really DO have to get over
our fear of letting doctors look at our bums hehe, i am only 15 and
am totally used to it by now, which is a good thing). So he said my
surgeon should have just not stiched it up at all and let it heal
from the inside out, so i have to get another surgery april 26th and
start all over again, simply because from my last surgery, it hadnt
been packed correctly and it left out a pocket, so now it is getting
infected again and he has to dig all the crap out, he said it's sort
of like a cave now. Well i just thought i'd share my story....it
really gets me depressed when i think about it too much because
riding is literally my life, i dont know what i am going to do
without it! It just figures that i have to have THIS problem! But
sometimes i think about it and i am very lucky that i dont have
anything more serious like Cancer and such, i just hate not beign
able to ride...and when i DO start riding....im scared its going to
flare up again! But nothing's going to stop me lol, i cant stop
riding for too long!
- Date:
- Sunday, April 01, 2001
Story
Hi! I am 22 and am having my 3rd operation soon :( I first
experiencing discomfort 2 weeks after buying a new mountain bike and
riding some bumpy ground. I am quite hairy in that area so I guess a
hair was pushed backwards. My sinus formed at the top of the crease.
It did not extend further up the back or anything.
So, my first operation was the Bascom Procedure. Basically, they
cut a slot along the bum cheek parallel to the crease. Then they go
under the skin into the tract and hoover it out and clean it. They
then graft some skin and fill up the tract and close it with
sutures. Unfortunately one of my small openings in the crease
reopened and started sucking hairs in again and reoccurred.
I was in again and this time had the total excision. I had all
the stories too. Fist size holes, really painful. All untrue for me.
Well, the hole was big. 4 inches or so long and 2/3 inches deep. But
no pain. They dressed it by filling it with a foam (Cavicare).
Things were going well. It took 1.5 months to get to 1 inch left to
heal. I stopped using the foam and dressed with Aquacel topical
dressing. But the 1 inch never healed. After another month I stopped
using Aquacel and it started healing again (weird..was I pushing it
in too far?) but by this time it had reinfected despite efforts to
shave.
So, saw the surgeon last week. We are now trying the excision
with flap closure. Bit of a nightmare cos I can't plan for anything,
can't exercise or do anything like that. I hav learned to loom on
the bright side and am being positive. I think that helps a lot. I
have also successfully lost the 1 stone (14 pounds) of weight I
gained by not excercising and being depressed last year.
Good luck everyone!
- Date:
- Sunday, April 01, 2001
Story
I am an 18 year old female who has had surgery 3 times for a
polinidal sinus/cyst/abcess (it's been referred to as all 3 by
doctors). I first noticed the cyst December of 1996 when I was 14. I
came home from the hair dresser and noticed blood on the back of my
underwear. Upon examining it further, I could see and so could my
mother, that there was a tiny hole the size of a pinprick right
above my tailbone where the blood was coming out. I waited until the
next morning, and since it was still bleeding, I went to the
emergency room. The doctor diagnosed me with a polinidal sinus, gave
me antibiotics, told me I'd have to have surgery, and sent me home.
I took 3 different antibiotics and in April of 1997 I had surgery.
The doctor left it to heal from the bottom up. I didn't stay over in
the hospital at all, but I had nurses come to my house twice a day
to do the dressings. It closed July of that year, but opened again
after I rode a bike. The nurses came back to do dressings (they used
different kinds, even alcohol swabs at one point which was extremely
painful!), and it closed up in November. Then, summer of 1998, I
noticed drainage coming from the area again. I went to the doctor
and he got me to have surgery the next day. This time, he stitched
it up. Once again, I didn't have to stay over at all. However, it
only stayed closed for about 2 weeks. It opened and I had the nurses
again for about 2 months. After that, it would stay closed for about
a month, then open and bleed and/or drain for a week, then close. I
went through this opening and closing, not knowing what was going to
happen from day to day, until it became infected yet again. This
time, it burst which was extremely painful and scary. My doctor was
running out of ideas. He told me that the tissue was so scarred, it
was just not staying closed. He referred me to a reconstructive
surgeon. Together they did what I think is a skin graft (I think it
was the Z-plasty, but I'm not sure). It was pretty major surgery
(which the nurses repeatedly said). I was in the hospital for 3
weeks. I was on complete bed rest for a week, and for about a month,
I wasn't able to sit down at all. So far, it seems to have worked.
It's sometimes painful to sit down for long periods of time, but it
hasn't opened or drained for just over a year. I'm hoping that last
surgery was the answer. I wouldn't want to go through that again!
- Date:
- Friday, March 30, 2001
Story
I remember at the age of 17 years old and active athlete that I
felt a strange discomfort in the inside of the buttocks area. I
tried to ignore it but the pain kept getting worse and worse till my
mother who is a nurse to took me to the emergency room. I remember
the humiliation sitting in the waiting room and the cyst exploding
blood all over the back of my pants. The doctor on duty quietly
lanced and bandaged it and said it would be allright. After two
weeks I was still anything but allright. My mom contacted the best
doctor she knew who promptly diagnosed me with a pilonidal cyst.
With my high school athletics going on I did not have time to
research what it was just that I wanted it out and soon as possible.
Two weeks later after the surgery I had the packing, stitches, and
drain removed and a week later was competing in track meets. I
figured it was over boy was I wrong. Now almost 10 years later on
the exact time I had my last time it returned with a vengeance. This
time I had little warning and after trying to take care of it at
home I ended up going to see the same doctor that performed the last
cysterectomy. He diagnosed it as a pilonidal cyst and put me on
antibiotics and three weeks later I was back in surgery again. This
time with a little research I found out from the doctor the one I
had was caused my a ingrown hair that burrows under the skin forms a
sac which fills with pus and blood. This surgery never compared to
the first one because the doctor told me it was 10 times worse then
last one I had. I have spent the last month taking painkillers and
changing dressings and look forward to having my stitches out almost
5 weeks after the surgery. The removal of the drain a week prior
proved to be a immediate aid to my discomfort but due to the heavy
drainage and long drive to work I have been unable to work. Sitting
has been a chore and I just found out from the doctor due to how
large it was that it would drain for the next three months at least.
When the are removed that will leave a sizable hole and will heal
from the inside out which will take at least three months to heal.
This contrasts from the first one and has me thinking if I will ever
have to go through this again. There is no real prevention from the
cyst no matter how clean your habits are because by the time you
discover you have one it has grown considerably and the pressure of
the fluids pressing to get out of its confined space will eventually
show in some form of redness and or drainage. Its nothing to be
feared because of medical technology and with the inventions of
ingrown hair medecine they are able to start preventing them from
happening. It does not only happen from ingrown hairs but any type
of infection below the skin can cause a cyst. m.
- Date:
- Thursday, March 29, 2001
Story
Hello. I am 26 years old, and currently in my seventh day
following my surgery. To be quite honest, I am not entirely sure
whether my cyst was excised or simply incised and drained, but I
believe it may be the latter.
In any case, while I do give strong kudos to those who run this
site, I do caution anyone who has a pilonidal cyst to give stronger
credence to their doctor's advice than to information on the
Internet ... or, if you do look for information on the Internet, be
sure to judge for yourself the quality and the source of the
information you are reading [i.e. information for doctors (good)
versus personal ancedotes (bad)]. Remember that people's personal
ancedotes may differ from your own cyst's etiology in hundreds of
different ways.
For instance, I do not know about you, but I tend to become
panicked somewhat easily, so reading stories on this site where
someone is still packing their surgical site a year later make me
more than a little nervous. That is why I chose to abstain from
research on the cyst for the weeks prior to my surgery.
My surgeon advises me that he has been doing three of these a
year for the last 15 years, and he has never had an incidence of
recurrence, so I am banking my hope on that.
In any case, this is not a fun thing to deal with, although when
I see a neighbor with cerebral palsy or hear a friend has skin
cancer, I realize it is far more easier to deal with than many other
diseases and conditions out there. I nevertheless wish all of you
the calmness you need to deal with this situation, a future with no
recurrences, and very quick recovery from any surgical operations
you have had or may have.
- Date:
- Thursday, March 29, 2001
Story
Hi folks. First off I never knew that this was a topic that I'd
actually find info on on the internet, so I was really surprised
when I found this site. Thanks everyone for all your stories and
info, so far it's been really helpful. Anyway, I'm a 22 year old
college senior and I first was diagnosed with the cyst back in
August. I was playing hockey when I fell and landed on my tailbone.
The next day it was sore and swollen, I figured it was just a bruise
or whatever. Then the next day in class I couldn't even sit down and
I had to leave. That night was the worst and most painful night of
my life. I couldn't sit or sleep and it seemed like even moving a
finger would hurt that area. I had to have someone drive me to the
emergency room to get it lanced and drained. Then I saw a surgeon
and was put on an antibiotic and after a couple weeks it seemed to
get better. Now it's the end of March and it just recently started
giving me problems again. I've noticed that there's a hole at the
base of my tailbone that hasn't stopped bleeding for a week. Does
this normally happen and will I definitely need surgery to stop this
from happening? The area has been really sore again and I'm starting
to go crazy from the discomfort. I did set up an appointment with
the same surgeon for a couple of days from now. Also, and I don't
know if this is common, I've been getting bumps or cysts in other
places as well, like under my arms and on my chest. I've really
active and I thought it might be something like my sweat glands
blocking or something but now I'm thinking it may have something to
do with this cyst. Anyway, I'm sorry this has gone so long but I
have a million questions and it seems like there are a lot of people
who have gone through this and are willing to give advice.
Phil G.
- Date:
- Monday, March 26, 2001
Story
First off THANK YOU for this information. My surgeon was really
nice and handled this embarassing situation very nicely, but He
really left out what a long process this is. It wasn't until I found
this page that I fully understood what I was getting into. I am 30
years old and I have had pain in my tailbone for about 15 years. It
wasn't until Jan. of this year that I had my first flare up. Since
then I only had one more, but it was enough for me to finally go to
the dr. He immediately sent me to a surgeon. My surgery was
scheduled shortly after. I am in my third week of recovery and doing
well. My encouraging news for anyone planning the surgery... I have
had very little PAIN since I came home. I have only taken pain
killers to sleep. I did have a hard time taking care of my 11 month
old the first week, but my husband and family were great. My advise
is make sure you have support around you before you go in for
surgery and you will be fine. BEST OF LUCK TO ALL!!!!!!!!!
- Date:
- Monday, March 26, 2001
Story
I am a 28 year old female and have had two flare ups with my
cyst. I have not had surgery or been to a Dr. for it as I knew what
it was. This cyst runs in my family and both my father and aunt have
them and my aunt actually had hers surgically removed (twice). I
always noted that I had some sort of zit at the top of the crack of
my butt (pleasant huh?) but it never really did anything. After an 8
hour car ride when I was about 20 I had my first flare up. Oh my god
did this hurt and it was HUGE! I could not even sit down. I can
remember going to my cousin's house and having to lie on the floor
because I could not sit down! At this point I was just thinking it
was a boil, so I treated it with hot compresses. When this thing
burst it was the most disgusting thing I had ever seen or SMELLED!
There was just so much puss and such. I now have 3 or 4 small holes
where the cyst is and have had only one other flare up last year
which was no where near as bad and I just took a lot of hot baths to
get it to drain. I really don't want to have to have surgery if I
can keep the number of flare ups down. Two in 8 years really isn't
so bad, but I wanted to let you all know that I know exactly how you
feel!
- Date:
- Friday, March 23, 2001
Story
It's great to see this site. Thanks for setting it up.
I had my first pilonidal cyst when I was 16. I had no pain
symptoms, just a lot of discharge. My dad had this also when he was
in the military, and he said he never had discharge but did have a
lot of pain. It seems symptoms can vary.
I had outpatient surgery at that time. The doctor stitched up the
incision and I was back at school in a few days. I didn't think
about it again.
Then, a couple of years ago when I was 26 I noticed the discharge
again (but no pain). I went right to a general surgeon since I had
an idea what it was. My cyst was back!
I again had outpatient surgery. This time, however, was more
difficult. I was very sore afterwards for at least a week. I had
very little energy and missed a week of work. I brought a pillow to
work to sit on since it continued to be sore. I think my inicision
this time was deeper to get beyond the original surgery.
The treatment this time was to pack the incision so it could heal
from the inside out. I took multiple baths a day and my husband
changed the bandages. I don't know how someone could do it
themselves! My doctor (who was a woman, and was great-I was lucky)
said that it had recurred probably because of the stitching of the
incision. She said the packing would reduce the chance of recurring
by a lot.
It took me a VERY LONG TIME to heal. I was still packing my
incision a year later. My doctor was surprised, but if the longer
healing means I won't get it again I'm okay with that.
I periodically check to make sure it hasn't opened again.
Hopefully I won't have to do it again.
One thing...the gauze used for packing. My doctor gave me some
that worked really well and came out easily. I am not sure what kind
it was. One time I bought gauze from the store. That particular
gauze somehow "stuck" more when packed and was VERY painful coming
out. My doctor's gauze hurt very little when coming out.
Good luck to anyone dealing with this.
- Date:
- Friday, March 23, 2001
Story
I'm a 21 year old female and finishing up my 2nd of 3 years of
nursing school. I first discovered what I would later find out was a
pilonidal cyst after a six hour drive home from college when I was
20. It was a movable bump about the size of a peanut on my tailbone.
I went to the doctor and he diagnosed me with a pilonidal cyst and
put me on 10 days of Keflex. The inflammation went away but the bump
didn't. 6 months later it abcessed and was the size of a walnut. I
could hardly sit. Once again I got put on antibiotics (this time
amoxicillin) and after 5 days I couldn't stand the pain. It didn't
even touch it, in fact it got worse and bigger! Not to be crude but
the top portion of my crack was flat and bulging towards my tail
bone. I was then refered to a surgeon. She almost had to drain it
but at the last minute decided to try to knock it down with a broad
spectrum antibiotic- Cipro. Ode to Cipro (a haiku) Cipro for my cyst
Intestinal distress reigns Is all this worth it?
Yea, so cipro tore me up bad. I highly suggest eating lots of
yogurt or investing in some acidophilus to replenish some of that
good bacteria that cipro is killing. I ended up being on antibiotics
for 18 days. (TOO LONG!) Once the abcess healed, my doctor said that
I should have it surgically removed. I had that done a month and a
half ago. First of all I chose to be awake for the surgery because
there's always less risk to your health if you do not use a general
anesthetic. I had a wonderful drug called Versed which has an
amnesia affect and a spinal. I was really tired and loopy (but never
nauseated) during the surgery and I took naps through most of it.
Never did I feel nervous or distressed while on Versed. Start to
finish the surgery took about an hour. The doctor was able to suture
my butt cheeks closed because the cyst was relatively small. I was
sent home with a bottle of vicodin, a huge padded pressure dressing,
a drain that was inserted about half a cm from the wound, and a 3 in
long wound. I took the vicodin every 4 hours for the first night
because I was in a lot of pain. From the 3rd dose on I got so
nauseated ( I barfed and I HATE barf) that I stopped using it all
together. I was able to control my pain pretty well from that point
on with ibuprofen. (eat something with it though.) Bottom line, I
was in a lot of pain for about a week and a half but I went to
school on monday (4 days after surgery with no vicodin). That was
probably a bit too much and I bearly made it through the end of my
classes. Stitches and drain were taken out after 5 days. I couldn't
drive (or sit straight) for 10 days. I wasn't pain free for about 2
and a half weeks. I was pretty impressed with how fast I healed
really and the surgery was definately worth it in my case. As you
can see, in my case the pain was managable enough for me to resume
with my college and nursing duties. I was back in action with
minimal pain in a week to a week and a half. My advice, if they can
stitch it closed, definately worth it. Your butt crack might be
quite a bit shallower but, come on, who really cares about the butt
crack's appearance?
Ode to pilonidalcystectomies (a haiku) Hot throbbing butt pain
Sweet cystectomy cures me Shallow crack remains
- Date:
- Thursday, March 22, 2001
Story
I am 25 years old and have had 5 surgerys since april 2000. And i
will probably have to have another one soon. My doctor told me that
he thought it would not come back.Well it did my last surgery was in
jan 2001 here it is march 29 and it is back already.I realy wish
that there was something that could be done so it would stop coming
back time after time.Iknow one thing my wife must realy love me to
change the nasty bandges all the time.This thing is so nasty and
painful i would not wish it on anyone.They say it happens with guys
with hairy butts but the thing is mine is not hairy. So i don't know
what is going on here but i wish it could be corrected.I hope anyone
else who has surgury that it is successfull.Good luck to anyone
else.
- Date:
- Tuesday, March 20, 2001
Story
Hi, my name’s Steve & I live in Great Britain. I am a 40 year old
male & I first noticed that it was uncomfortable sitting down
towards the end of December 2000.
When I pressed the skin in the sore area at the bottom of my
spine, I could feel a small hard lump which hurt.
I left it for about 2 weeks over Christmas but it didn’t get any
better although the lump didn’t get any bigger.
On the 20th January 2001, I visited my local doctor who told me
that I had a Pilonidal Cyst. The doctor said that sometimes, they
heal with no treatment needed so I made another appointment for 2
weeks later.
As the lump was still there 2 weeks later, the doctor referred me
to a surgeon who I visited on 19th February 2001.
The surgeon confirmed that it was a Pilonidal Cyst but that it
didn’t appear to be infected yet.
The surgeon said that he recommended surgery which he said was
called an excision.
He explained that there were basically 2 types of surgery. One
involved leaving the wound open to heal from the bottom up which may
take about 8 weeks. The second which he normally does if the lump is
not infected & if you spot it early is to stitch the wound back up.
This usually takes less time to heal.
In my case, the surgeon recommended stitching the wound back up.
He made an appointment for me to have the surgery done as an
outpatient on 5th March 2001.
The surgeon explained that I would need to visit the hospital at
about lunch time & the operation would be done in the afternoon. He
thought I would be able to leave on the same evening.
The surgeon told me that I would have a general anaesthetic and
that the operation would take about half an hour during which the
lump would be removed.
The surgeon also told me that there was a 75% chance that the
surgery would be successful on the first time but that the problem
sometimes recurs.
I asked what would happen if I didn’t have the surgery as I was
worried about having an operation. The surgeon said that it might
not get any worse for several years but the risk was that the lump
would become infected so he advised me to have the operation and I
agreed.
On the day of the operation (Monday 5th March 2001), I was only
allowed to eat a light breakfast before 8am and could only drink
water before 10.30am. My wife took me to the hospital at 11.30am.
The operation was scheduled for about 1pm and the nurses were very
good about explaining what would happen. They also gave me leaflets
about pain relief following the surgery!
The anaesthetist also explained what would happen and said I
would be out for a couple of hours. He explained that after the
surgery, some sort of drug would be used to bring me round.
At about 1pm, I was wheeled down to the recovery room next to the
operating theatre where I was connected up to some monitoring
equipment. The anaesthetic was administered using a tube which went
into a vein on my left hand.
I think it took only a few minutes to go to sleep and the last
thing I remember was the surgeon eating a sandwich as he was getting
ready!. The next thing I remember was coming round in the recovery
room at about 2.30pm. At first I panicked because I thought that I
hadn’t been into surgery yet & that the anaesthetic wasn’t working.
It took about 10 minutes until I realised that the operation had
been done & I started to feel some pain if I tried to move. If I
kept still, it was more like a dull ache.
Whilst you are coming round, they kept me in the recovery room
near the operating theatre on the monitors until they were happy
that I have come round properly.
I was then wheeled back to the ward where the nurses kept
checking me about every half hour.
I was allowed to eat at about 4.30pm as I didn’t have any
sickness after the operation.
I was given pain killing tablets at the hospital & they gave me
some to take at home for about 4 days after the operation.
My wife collected me at about 7pm on the same evening. It was
quite painful sitting in the car so I lay on the back seat.
For the first 4 days, I took the pain killers & these helped. It
was easiest to lie on my side & if I didn’t move too much, the pain
wasn’t too bad.
My wife changed the dressing each evening and I visited the nurse
at my local doctors each morning for the dressing to be changed. The
nurse explained that the most common problem was the wound getting
infected so you need to keep it clean.
On the Saturday, I went to the bathroom & noticed quiet a lot of
bleeding for the first time. I changed the dressing but waited until
the Monday morning before going back to see the nurse as I didn’t
think it was too serious.
The nurse explained that some bleeding was normal but I should go
back to see her each morning just in case. The nurse spoke to my
doctor who advised me to be off work until 23rd March 2001 which
meant 3 weeks off work. Originally, the surgeon had guessed at 2
weeks off work.
On the Thursday morning (10 days after the operation), I went
back to the nurse who said she thought that the stitches were
starting to react with my skin. I told the nurse that my wife had
noticed that the wound had started to smell so the nurse took a swab
to send off for testing to see if the wound was infected.
On the Thursday evening (15th March 2001), I visited the surgeon
who removed the stitches as he confirmed that the stitches were
starting to react with the skin.
The wound had not completely sealed up at this time as there was
still a small hole at the top of the wound.
After the stitches were removed, the pain became a lot less and I
could sit down on a normal chair.
The surgeon explained that he had removed one lump which
contained a small ball of hair. This is what can cause the
infection. There were no other lumps & he didn’t think that the
condition would recur.
I continued to visit the nurse each morning & my wife changed the
dressing each evening.
Even though the condition is embarrassing, I would advise anyone
to visit the doctor as soon as you notice any soreness around the
base of your spine.
If it is diagnosed & treated early enough, it is less painful &
takes less time to heal than leaving it until it gets infected.
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