Cyst removal
I took this past Thursday & Friday off from work to get a cyst removed from my lower back. I've had the cyst for quite a while. I can't remember not having it, although I'm sure there was probably a time when it wasn't there. Anyway, it had gotten rather large (about 1.5" x .5"), and would ache at the end of a particularly long day. I decided back in June/July to have it removed. I scheduled it for October 20 because, 1) I'd have sick time available to use then, and 2) that's the slow time at work, so I wouldn't be missed much.
Cynthia and I got up Thursday morning and drove to the doctor. The nurse took my vitals and had me take off my shirt and lay down on the table. The doctor came in and checked it out. He told us that he wasn't sure if he could get it, that it seemed rather deep. He left it up to me. I told him to go for it. He gave me at least 5 shots of lidocaine to numb the area. I went into some sort of shock from the pain of the injection: my blood pressure dropped, I started sweating profusely, I got nauseated, and I felt light-headed. If I hadn't been lying down, I'd have passed out. I'd have almost rather passed out.
After a minute or so, the doctor checked the cyst, and was pleased to discover that it had hardened up from the injections. He then went to work. My description of what happened is all from what I heard Cynthia and the doctor talking about during the procedure.
When he made the cut, it spurted out (we later found a few drops of effluvia on Cynthia's sleeve). He then started squeezing the gunk out. Cynthia said it looked like the Mother Of All Zits (look here for her description). After he squeezed out all the crap, he started digging for the sac it had been stored in. He pulled and tugged and dug around for quite a while. He even found a smaller part that was below the main sac. Throughout the process, he sounded like he was really enjoying himself.
He finished up by rinsing out the divot, then he closed the incision with 4 stitches:
(click image to see full size)
He had the nurse come in to dress the wound.
On the way home we stopped and got bandages and Advil LiquiGels.
We ended up napping most of the day once we got home and ate.
I'm not doing too bad. It aches a bit, like I've been standing on my feet working for 10 hours straight. And it's tender to the touch. I should know more in a couple of weeks.
Oh, and sorry we didn't think about taking more pics with the camera phone. We'd forgot all about it until he was stitching me up.
Cynthia and I got up Thursday morning and drove to the doctor. The nurse took my vitals and had me take off my shirt and lay down on the table. The doctor came in and checked it out. He told us that he wasn't sure if he could get it, that it seemed rather deep. He left it up to me. I told him to go for it. He gave me at least 5 shots of lidocaine to numb the area. I went into some sort of shock from the pain of the injection: my blood pressure dropped, I started sweating profusely, I got nauseated, and I felt light-headed. If I hadn't been lying down, I'd have passed out. I'd have almost rather passed out.
After a minute or so, the doctor checked the cyst, and was pleased to discover that it had hardened up from the injections. He then went to work. My description of what happened is all from what I heard Cynthia and the doctor talking about during the procedure.
When he made the cut, it spurted out (we later found a few drops of effluvia on Cynthia's sleeve). He then started squeezing the gunk out. Cynthia said it looked like the Mother Of All Zits (look here for her description). After he squeezed out all the crap, he started digging for the sac it had been stored in. He pulled and tugged and dug around for quite a while. He even found a smaller part that was below the main sac. Throughout the process, he sounded like he was really enjoying himself.
He finished up by rinsing out the divot, then he closed the incision with 4 stitches:
(click image to see full size)
He had the nurse come in to dress the wound.
On the way home we stopped and got bandages and Advil LiquiGels.
We ended up napping most of the day once we got home and ate.
I'm not doing too bad. It aches a bit, like I've been standing on my feet working for 10 hours straight. And it's tender to the touch. I should know more in a couple of weeks.
Oh, and sorry we didn't think about taking more pics with the camera phone. We'd forgot all about it until he was stitching me up.
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