I am a 21 year old male meeting most of the requirements for the formation of a pilonidal abscess, I am hairy (apparently kids could get lost in the hair between my cheeks), obese (BMI of 35) and sweat alot (when most people feel comfortable with the temperature I've got a damp brow). I also have a family history of pilonidal abscesses with an uncle and a cousin who have had the abscesses.
The first signs of infection showed up 10 months ago (around halfway through September 2006), at first I thought I had somehow managed to bump my coccyx without knowing it. Gradually it got more painful in the following 2 weeks but not much so, then I went away for a weekend when it got much worse, it was swollen (it seemed as if there was a very large grape deep under my skin) and painful to walk, sit or lie on my back. I would have gone to the doctor earlier had I not been away, by the time I got back it needed to be lanced. The injections of local anaesthetic were the most pain I have ever experienced in my life, I was loudly cursing while the injections were being done, I felt sorry for the the young child who had to go in after me, it's bad enough going to the doctor when you are young, hearing a large man cursing loudly while in the doctors rooms must have terrified the kid (his mom wasn't too pleased either, giving me the evil stare as I walked past). The lancing was instant relief from the painful swelling.
Forward 9 months and I got that same bruised coccyx feeling again, as soon as I was certain of the feeling I returned to the doctor. He gave me a course of antibiotics and referred me to a specialist surgeon. When the surgeon told me he would be doing an excision with open healing I was a bit shocked as this seemed a very drastic measure for something so seemingly small. After doing some reading on pilonidal abscess's this no longer seems so extreme, yes, there is a more conservative approach, being pit picking, but I have no wish to be a surgeons first trial with a new technique, especially when I'll be going off medical aid soon and a flare up after a few months would leave me in a dire situation, this is why I am going for the option that seems to have the lowest reoccurence rate.
I will be going in for an excision with open healing on Monday, the 9th of July. I should also be provided with a vacuum unit to aid in the healing process if it gets passed by the medical aid. The major upside of the vacuum unit for me is that a nurse will be coming in every second day to clean and reapply the vacuum, apparently she will also be sending periodic photo's to the surgeon. I will be doing daily updates (well updates on wednesdays and weekends due to dialup, but there will be entries for every day), hopefully with a photograph each time the vacuum unit is removed, which should be every second day if the camera is still working. I will also be keeping a record of the pain on a scale of 1 to 10, possibly past ten if needs be. 10 will be the pain of the anaesthetic injections for the lancing I had done, 8 is the pain of getting a heavy cartilage piercing, such as a snug or an industrial, 6 being the pain I was in before the abscess was lanced and 1 being an injection with a large needle in the behind.
I have to admit I am a bit nervous as the idea of having a roughly 7 cm diametre chunk of flesh removed from my body, it just sounds painful, actually I'm more dreading the healing time and the fact that I'm going to have a machine constantly sucking on me just seems barbaric.
1 comment:
The wound vac isn't so bad after you get used to it, you don't really notice the sucking. The worst part for me has been the changing of the sponges. Talk to your nurse and see if they can't use something called adaptic before they put the sponge in. It's a thin gauze that is soaked in vaseline, you can get it at any drug store really. This keeps the sponge from sticking to the wound. For me, the sponge sticks and is incredibly painful to pull out, then I bleed heavily for a few minutes afterward. With the adaptic it didn't happen at all like that. Good luck!
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