As I have been Twittering about, and mentioning in my last blog (and personally obsessing and worrying about), I had an infected pilonidal cyst lanced on Saturday. I am not going to link a site to pilonidal cyst, because you should Google it if you are truly that interested. Basically, it is a cyst on your tailbone that can become infected and can be recurrent.
On Friday, when I was told to go to the doctor by QoB, I was thinking that this would be a one-time, no-biggie type of deal. Well, I have been to the clinic five times in the last four days, therefore making it not a one-time or no-biggie type of deal. Do I have the tendency toward the dramatic? Yes. Of course I do. I do not think, however, that I am being dramatic when I state that this hole over my tailbone has really affected my life.
It is hard to sit, very painful, actually. It is also painful to walk around much or do any type of mildly strenuous activity. After lying down most of the weekend, I went to work yesterday and it was not pleasant. I sit all day, in a super-duper ergonomically-designed office chair with great lumbar support. So, there I was, sitting all day with strong pressure in my tailbone area. It is no wonder I vomited early afternoon from the pain I was in. Needless to say, I went home and laid down. My supervisor called later because she was worried about me. I thought that was nice.
Today, I had my first “real” shower since Saturday morning (sponge baths just do not give you that clean feeling!). I had QoB take the packing out, which was a huge mistake, but I really did think that is what the ARNP yesterday said to do. I took my clean self to the clinic and the wound was re-packed. It hurt worse than any other time before.
The ARNP says it is “healing” but still “very large.” There is still quite a bit of drainage, also. She asked me about my pain and I told her about work yesterday and throwing up and being in incredible pain. She wanted me to take the next seven days off, but I told her that was a no-go. I talked her into letting me work four hours each day for the next seven days, and headed into work with my note.
By the time I reached work, I was feeling really terrible. Shaky, sweaty, weak, nauseous. I made my way to my office and talked to my back-up supervisor because mine was in training. I gave him my note and we called my supervisor on speaker-phone. She was very understanding and told me to take all the time I need. She told me that I could work from home until the doctor clears me, and if I don’t have enough to do at home to stay busy, I could come in for a couple of hours and see people or I could just take extra leave. My supervisor told me that she didn’t want me to worry much about work while I was out, that everything would be taken care of, and that I needed to take care of myself so I don’t end up hospitalized (QoB emailed me the same thing this afternoon…hmph!).
So I went to QoB’s house, because she has wireless and my laptop will connect to my work network through VPN. I worked my little heart out until around 1:00 and then thought I might die from sitting up for so long. I laid down for a little bit but was unable to rest much because of barky-barky dogs. I sat up for a little while, laid back down for a little while, and now am upright again doing a last check of work email and thought — hey, I should blog! Get all of these obsessive thoughts about my bum out of the way. MUST PUT WARNING ON POST.
Truth is, I would rather be at work. I don’t like working from home. I don’t like lying down all day. I don’t like feeling unproductive. And I really don’t like using sick-time. So, I AM feeling rather bummed about the state of my bum and I would be willing to bet that at least one reader is terribly happy that I shared this, no matter how mundane it may be. 😀
RosieSmrtiePants 