A literal pain in the rear end

This post might fall under the heading of TMI, or it might just gross you out. You have been warned.

Thursday I noticed this painful bump in, shall we say, a sensitive posterior region. Now, I think most people get things like that from time to time, at least that's what I'd like to think, and I figured it would eventually go away on its own. Friday, it was so bad I couldn't sit comfortably, couldn't bend over, and couldn't lay flat on my back. So I had Hubby look at it, and he called my mom in, who is a nurse. She immediately told me to get to the doctor.

Saturday morning, the doctor confirmed my mom's diagnosis of a pilonidal cyst. It's extremely painful, it won't go away on its own, and in all likelihood I will eventually need to have it surgically removed. Oh, joy. I expect to hear from the surgeon today about scheduling an appointment for him to look at it. I'm hoping it can wait until after the cruise, though I don't really want to get surgery right before Christmas either.

At this point, it's ruptured and oozing (see, TMI). So the severe pain is gone. But (no pun intended) it's still somewhat painful. I'm trying to imagine riding in the minivan all the way to Florida like this when I couldn't even make it through the church service yesterday. I'd certainly appreciate any prayers and positive thoughts you could send my way.