scar pain 6 months after surgery

[Fiona]

Hi, I've just signed up for this account so will give a bit of background info- I'm 20 years old and had a pilonidal sinus around 6 months ago when I was 19. It started with a little bump one morning, I figured I'd just been lying on my coccyx in a strange position and went on with my day. The next day it was even bigger, I went off to uni where it was getting harder to sit down and googled something like "huge spot on my arse" and came across the words pilonidal sinus...

The next day (day 3) I could hardly sit up in bed because of the pain. My mum took one look at it and said we had to go see our gp who referred me to a private hospital and I was operated on that same day, they left the wound open and I had daily packing from my mum for around 3 weeks, then every second day for another 2 weeks or so. It healed up really well.

Fast forward to 2 days ago when I was going to sleep my scar was quite sore, and the next day there was a small ache, and today I can feel a twinge *just* below my scar, at the very bottom of it. If I'd not already had a sinus I'd no doubt be ignoring it but it feels like it could be the beginning of a new one. The only thing holding me back is that i was in so much more pain last year.

My parents are away for the next few days, I have a driving test next week, and generally can't afford (financially and emotionally) to go into hospital right now so tried the remedy of castor oil and vinegar and baking soda that quite a few users have had success with and it's starting to feel a little better, but there's still a little discomfort.

I've not been doing anything drastically different these last few weeks, except I have been getting more active by walking a lot more than I usually do, and I got a new pair of excercise leggings which always leave me with a sweaty arse (gross I know) so that could potentially be what is causing the pain but I really have no idea.

I am also considering the thought that this could be a stressed related flare up as I've got lots going on in my personal life at the moment, but I can't find any information to back that up.
I'd go to my local hospital to get it seen to, but as I type there's actually no kind of bump there, it's just sore. My mum thinks I should go and get it checked out if it gets any more painful but I know I'll just be waiting for hours to be seen, and i doubt a doctor would be able to do anything about it if there's no cyst to deal with.

And so I guess my question is, has anyone had similar scar pain so long after surgery? Have you had a reoccurrence so close to the original tract? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Fiona]

A little update more for myself than anyone else...

When my mum got back from her holiday a few days later there was a definite jump, so we went to the gp who put me on antibiotics. They seemed to be working and I had the weekend off work, went to a work party on the Saturday evening and had the tiniest amount of alcohol, despite being on antibiotics. The next morning I was in pain (Sunday) and on the Monday it was so bad I knew I'd need to go to the hospital.

I checked in with the receptionist, then a nurse saw me maybe 5 mins later and took a few more details. I was then waiting for hours! I went to the bathroom and there was the tiniest amount of fluid coming from the cyst, texted my mum who said I'd need to go back and update the receptionist, she basically said everyone has to wait their turn... yeah I know but there's a massive lump on my bum that's currently exploding...! At the time I didn't realize but looking back she wouldn't have updated anyone about this. Who knows if I could have been seen a little quicker. I was called through to triage after around 5 hours, then waited 30 mins to see a nurse, waited even longer for a doctor. I was in so much pain, and I understand why they say these things but to me he was just wasting time asking if I was comfortable with a male doctor (I don't care if you're from mars mate, have a look at my bum and refer me to a surgeon!) and he then had to go find me a female chaperone.

The last time I was in for surgery I passed out about a minute into cannulation, we thought I was allergic to endone and luckily my mum (who was at another hospital with my dad who had terminal cancer) came round to hold my hand, I passed out again this time! It made no sense because I hadn't had that medication ad I'm not afraid of needles...

Once I got out of the wheelchair the cyst had royally exploded everywhere, it was so bad.

I had surgery the next morning, and when I woke up the surgeon said she'd see me in a week to see how I was going.

I'll skip the bits inbetween, on day 8 I called the hospital to see if an appointment had been made for me as I was told I'd be seen in 7 days and hadn't heard anything. I spoke to someone who said there was nothing in his system for me, he put me through to someone who said "wait 2 or 3 weeks for a letter in the mail, is that ok?" And I replied "well I was told I needed to be seen in 7 days and it's now day 8 so..." Not really acceptable. I get that she's just doing her job but I felt so deflated aiming off the phone.

I had to see my original gp to get a medical certificate as I wouldn't be getting one from my surgeon, he called up again on my behalf and it turns out the registrar who discharged me wasn't o their database- the hospital had no idea who he was. (He thought that it might have been a graduate student who moved on to a new hospital but surely they'd have some record of him) They told my gp they'd follow up with me.... which they never did.

when I came out of hospital they gave me antibiotics, they caused a nightmare with my gut. I literally had diarrhea for 10 days, I was constantly running to the toilet and I even got some kind of hemorrhoid which luckily cleared up with some apple cider vinegar over the course of a week.

In the mean time my dad was getting worse, I was having dressings changed from his hospice ward.

And now 3 months later it's started to niggle a bit today. It's starting to raise up so I've got an apple cider vinegar soaked cotton pad on it and I'm going to sleep on it tonight and see how it feels in the morning.

I absolutely can not deal with another surgery.
I'm starting a new job this week, I've got uni to think about, my dad died 2 months ago, I've got so much going on and no time for this.

I'll try for antibiotics again. If I go in early maybe they'll work. I just can't deal with this right now.

And the worst thing is it's the same spot as before. Right on the scar, and I feel let down that I was never given my follow up appointment