It just keeps getting better

Don't read this if you're easily super-grossed out or queasy. I don't know how to do a cut, so....sorry!




I mentioned earlier my sucky, gross open wound. I change the dressing as often as I can stand it, but apparently, the smell of the leakage (blood, and fluids related to the body forming nice healthy new cells in the wound) is bad enough to make my husband puke when he tries to hug me. FML.

Here's the gory details of the surgery, if youre interested: (run now, if you're not)




I had a pilonidal cyst that kept recurring, as they tend to do. These cysts develop around the buttcrack when hair or skin causes what's basically an abcess. I had it removed by the dermatologist in August, but he didn't know what it was and he closed it back up. This tends to cause them to recur, which it did shortly after getting the stitches out, and this time it didnt go away. So my family practitioner referred me to a surgeon, and before I knew it I was scheduled for surgery. There's only a 20% recurrence rate if you leave them open to heal from the inside out. Unfortunately, this is about a two month process, then another year or so for the scar to continue configuring itself. So I can't sit down normally because it hurts (my cyst is near the top of my buttcrack, luckily not directly over the tailbone; they can go as deep as the bone) and I have to sit on something so I don't leak. They're supposed to leak blood and exudate, which is secreted as the body heals the wound. I can already tell it's gotten smaller. I have to pack the wound myself twice a day (good thing I can do it myself, cause M wouldn't be able to), which is no fun, and now that I'm in a very bloody phase, I have to change the dressing over the wound as well as my pants multiple times a day. I can't wear jeans, only pants loose around the butt. Unfortunately, old blood stinks, as does the exudate. The more time I'm upright, the worse the leaking gets; walking around along time like during my shopping trip with M's mom last week is painful, and I end up with a big, noticeable wet spot on my butt. Very embarassing. I'm still paying the dermotologist that treated the cyst the wrong way; now, I'm getting the bill from the surgeon, 10K for the hospital and lab and pharamacy, and I'm sure a bill from the anesthesiologist and possibly for the nurses is forthcoming. This will all be worth it a year from now if the cyst, which leaks itself and becomes painful, hasn't recurred.

In the meantime, it's very embarassing, inconvenient, and uncomfortable.