wow..three days since my last blog.....why am I not surprised. Well, I have spent the last three days in this morbid obsession with my pilonidal cysts researchig the web for any information. I have to admit that that was a bad move because all I found were horror stories. People who kept having them come back and nothing was stopping them as if they were some sort of biblical plague. Needless to say, I was a wreck. Yesterday though I had somewhat of a breakthrough as the cyst decided to start draning itself (I am sure you all came here to read this) and it has not stopped since. But when I went to the doc today he said that was a good thing because they would have had to cut me open. The pilonidal condition is something of a bafflement for medical science and there is no sure cure. A lot of men and women sufer from this and therte really is no heavy research being done to figure out what causes it and how to permanently get rid of it. Right now it jhust dpeends on a person's physiology. It was first discovered in the army and was called Jeep Rider's disease because many of the drivers would get them from the poor cushioning and constant bumpiness of the terrain. It hospilatized over 80,000 U.S. army soldiers during WWII, accounting for 4.2 million sick days. They did a fascinating 17 year study on the condition. Not even a cystectomy gets rid of it completely. Thank god, I don;t need one. But if it does recurr, I may think about it. My problem was that I waited until it had gotten infected before checking it out, so I was in more pain that I needed to be; then again, how was I to know what it was? He said it should take about a week to fully heal and go away and that it looks ok. It will either never come back again or, worst case scenario, come back 2 or 3 times a year. It's a congential condition that forms while in the womb so there is nothing much I can do about it. I just have to be careful. I am just so thankful that I don't need surgery and it is all over. I may consider getting it around Christmas, but we'll see. I have to go back next Friday just to make sure it is all ok. I am just thrilled that it is not getting any more serious and will get better. I have just been in a really bad funk (as Sara will attest to) and have been so fatalistic about everything. I kep saying to myself "What if I am never able to dance again?" That would be death to me.

Speaking of which I found a new studio. The Florida Ballet School. They teach all disicplines, all levels, all ages. Inexpesive and quite good from what I hear. It is all the way in Palm Harbor but it may be worth it. I just need something.

Looking forward to starting work on the Performing Artist magazine and hoing it all goes well.

One more week to go and school starts....looking forward to it. Nervous as hell, but we'll see.....

This entry was posted on Friday, August 18, 2000 at 12:09 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.