It;s been awhile...

...since I've posted. I know. Not like I have a plethora of readers to please or anything. First, an update on me and my lovely pilonidal. A few of my sutures broke apart on their own. I honestly didn't even notice those. This past Sunday I had some really bad pain at the top of the incision, more pain than I had felt in the 11 days since I had the surgery. I went to my 4 year old cousin's birthday party on Saturday and I was pretty active there so I thought maybe I was just sore from it being the first time I was really up and moving around. I had my follow-up visit with my surgeon Monday morning. It was a damn good thing I did. He noticed that at the very top of the wound there was a large pocket of fluid that was ready to burst. He cut the top 2 sutures open and the next thing I feel is a rush of warm fluid running out of me. It was blood.

He had told me before the surgery that something like this could happen with all the blood rushing to heal the wound and having nowhere to go. He didn't tell me that he would be exploring it after he cut the sutures open. He was poking around searching for any sign of infection with a sharp metal thing, and I had no local anesthesia. He then packed it with dry gauze. Oh my god I don't know how I did it. He said I took the pain better than most grown men he's treated. I have visiting nurses coming out now to pack it everyday and I may be getting a wound vac. At least they pack it with WET gauze. He could've moistened the gauze for me!

Other than the craziness of having a nurse over everyday, things are pretty much the same. I was at least able to get an extension for the semester to turn in all my work. The bad part is my math instructor gave me no other options but to file a formal complaint. She claims I earned an "F" in her class and told me I had failed certain chapter tests. I looked at the online grade book and unless an 80 is failing then she's sadly mistaken. She also claimed I never turned things in and she "didn't get" my emails asking if she received the work that I sent. I hate instructors who think they are God. They always seem to be math instructors too, oddly enough. I calculated my grade based on the grade book online and I should have a high "C" or a low "B" in that class. I emailed her about it and of course she's not willing to look again or check her junk mail folder to see if the emails I sent ended up there. Good thing I have copies of all the emails I sent her and all the emails she sent me and the dates and times on all of them.

I lived!

I actually went through with the surgery. It wasn't near as horrible as I thought it would be. The surgeon actually had to cut all the way down to my tail bone because the cyst was more aggressive and larger than he had originally thought. What was supposed to take 45 minutes to an hour took 2 and half hours. The breathing tube also slipped out when they were turning me, so my throat is a little bit more sore then it normally would be. The incision, from looking at the bandage, seems to be about 8 inches long. It's throbbing a little bit, but I've been taking the percocet every 4 hours to prevent any extreme pain. I haven't slept since I've been home, I'm actually a little bit scared that I'll rip out the sutures in my sleep. They assured me this wouldn't happen, but you never know with me! I'm going to make an attempt to get some sleep now, since I think I've updated everyone I needed to update about my surgery. More to come later!

I have surgery at noon for my pilonidal. I'm quite nervous and scared right now. I really wasn't thinking about it until everyone started asking me if I was nervous. Of course I am now that you asked!

I really don't know what to expect with this. I've read so many horror stories from other pilonidal sufferers. The multiple surgeries, recurrence, infections, hematomas, etc. I know I won't be sitting for awhile. I got a tush cush but I sat on it today and I really don't think it's going to benefit me.

In other news, school is finally over. I'm not taking summer classes this year to give myself time to heal and hopefully get my lapband done. I spend way too much time visiting doctors and going to the hospital. Much more time than any 20 year old should. I'm also more exhausted than any 20 year old should be. I can only do so much during the day before I have to take a nap because I can't hold my eyes open anymore. I'm hoping that maybe I won't be so exhausted when I heal from this surgery, since my immune system won't be battling the constant infections. We'll see I guess.

On that note, I need to I guess get SOME sleep before I need to be at the hospital. Catch ya later! (To my one whole reader).

What Should I Do?

I've been in college since Fall 2005. I started at University of Maryland at College Park. I was a psychology major and also part of the prepharmacy program. I didn't make it at Maryland for a lot of stupid reasons, most of them being my anxiety to be around anyone, and also being too overweight to walk to class without having a full blown asthma attack. I came back home and I've been attending Cecil Community College since Summer 2006. I've done really well here, even getting into our school's chapter of Phi Theta Kappa. I started at Cecil as a prepharmacy student, now I'm in web development. This spring semester has been awful for me. I can't see how I'm going to pass anything. I have no job, no income, and I live with my parents. I want to move out on my own again, I was so much happier living alone. I just have no idea what to do with my life. It really drags me down that I really have no career path right now and I'm 20 years old. I don't want to be one of those kids who change their major 50 times and don't graduate until they're 30. Anyone have any advice for me?

What a Rush

Saturday morning I woke up to some stomach pain. I'm thinking oh great reflux whatever, so I take some Rolaids I had close by. Not two hours later I'm the exorcist, vomit everywhere. Now I thought OK good I ate something that didn't agree and now it's gone. HA! WRONG AGAIN! I threw up every 45 minutes from 6am until 8:30pm when I was in the ER having 2 liters of IV fluid pushed into me and getting Phenergan through the IV. It was so horrible I couldn't even hold down liquid. Acute gastroenteritis is an awful thing.