Thursday, July 15, 2010

Mama's Surgery

In May I started having tailbone pain.  I thought maybe Caitlyn had bruised it while we were playing on the floor or something.  Even though I couldn't remember doing anything that would cause this pain.  By the end of May the pain was getting worse and I was starting to bleed back there.  So then I was self diagnosing myself with hemorrhoids.  On Sunday May 23rd Jared finally started googling and was convinced that something much more serious was wrong with me.  So on Monday May 24th I made an appt with a Dr. who I had never met before.  I've never really needed a family Dr. I just have my OBGYN.  So a co-worker recommended a couple of Drs. to me.  Dr. A was able to get me in that morning.  I had made the appt under the assumption that I had horrible hemorrhoids.  Turns out that wasn't the case.  She diagnosed me with a Pilonidal cyst.  She prescribed an antibiotic to get rid of the infection and she referred me to a surgeon.  I had my first appt with Dr. O on May 25th.  He finally prescribed me pain meds.  He stated it looked like the cyst was draining on it's own at the time.  I had 2 more follow up visits with him to make sure that happened completely.  If it hadn't drained on it's own I would have had to have 2 surgery's.  One to drain the cyst and then another to have it removed.  Thankfully I only had to have the one to remove it!  

I scheduled the surgery for Friday June 25th (Jared and I's Anniversary).  When I scheduled the surgery I didn't even put two and two together that is was our anniversary.  Oh well.  I just wanted to get this done and over with!    The cyst was on my lower tailbone.   The Dr. warned me that depending on how much tissue and muscle he had to take out he may not be able to close the wound.  He may have to pack the wound and we'd have to let it heal from the inside out.  This was my biggest fear.   We went in Friday morning.  The nurse was wonderful!  The IV didn't hurt and wasn't sore afterwards.  I think that's the best IV I've ever had!  Dr. O came and talked with me.  Then they wheeled me back.  The first thing I asked the nurse when I woke up was if they were able to close the wound.  Of course she didn't know.  I had to wait and ask Jared when they let him back to see me.  I couldn't believe how quickly they had me get up and walk and try to sit / lay in a regular chair.  I was so nauseous.  The nausea medicine wasn't working real well for me.  We had to stay quite a bit longer than we would have had I not been so sick. 

The car ride home was horrible.  I slept the rest of the day while Jared went to pick up Caitlyn and took care of her. 

The first week I was miserable.  I was sick to my stomach all week.  I thought it was the pain meds.  The nurse thought it was constipation.  So I started taking different laxatives.  Going to the bathroom didn't really help.  When I finally saw Dr. O on July 1st he thought it was the pain meds.  So I switched to Ibuprofen.  Much better!  I was still feeling depressed.  I couldn't go anywhere.  I was cooped up in the house.  I couldn't sit in a chair.  I could only lay in bed or on the couch.  It sucked!

I went to Beth and Josh's on July 3rd for a bbq.  I was really uncomfortable.  I laid down after dinner in Beth's bed before we left. 

I finally started feeling good enough to sit with my blow up donut on July 8th.  Beth actually got me out of the house this day too and it was wonderful! 

July 9th I started bleeding a little again.  I thought something was wrong.  Turns out this is normal.  And can keep happening for sometime.  I saw Dr. O again on July 13th.  He basically said he's my cheerleader for the next few visits.  To let me know that I am getting better even though I'm still sore.  And it probably doesn't feel like it's getting any better.  Wonderful. 

I start back to work next Monday on the 19th.  I'll do half days next week and then go back full time the next week.  I'm nervous about sitting for that long a period of time.  But it has to be done.

No comments: