Confessions of a Ferris Wheel Junkie

Pain

I've learned a lot about pain this week. The origin of my pain in particular? A Pilonidal Cyst. Friends, don't ever have this happen to you. Besides the discomfort of location, it's most definetly the most pain I've ever been in. Started out last Friday as enough pain that I couldn't bend over and wasn't sure why - then came the ER, then three days of narcotic pain killers, then came the Surgeon and the most screaming and crying I've ever done, then came this week of torture. I've been home, laying around, feeling uncomfortable, waiting and wondering how long this thing takes to heal over. Patience aint my virtue. I'm lazy - I like sitting on my bum. I work with the public - and I just spent ten days doing absolutely nothing. Dude.

Ok so the funny thing is what pain does to your psyche. I've been a royal mess this week. I'm a natural worrier, but this was a different kind of fear. Granted some of it stemmed from the fact that I'd never had a more horrific doctor visit than with the surgeon. Scary old Man as I referred to him mostly, the surgeon was not a gentle man, no. However, on the return visit when I was in significantly less pain.. hey who's the nice guy? where went the demon who couldn't take my screams?
Pain + Fear also affects your appetite. I'm not a girl used to the idea of not finishing what I wanted to eat. I like to eat. I like food. Much of this week consisted of water and not being able to finish what I wanted to eat a few minutes earlier. Oy is that frustrating.

So what happened in the end? Well I don't know yet, isn't that fun? The cyst has drained out and is in the process of healing. I can now once again sit on my big bum with only minor discomfort. I'll be going back to work in two days. But, the cliffhanger to this whole pain in my rump is that the recurrance rate of these is incredibly high. In the ER they told me something like 98%. Because of infection and the sheer size of it, I didnt have it all removed - and conceivably not until after the new year will I have time to be out of commission for another week solid. It's not a necessity to get it all removed either, but do I really want to do this again? I think not. I'm no fan of pain.