Hidradenitis Suppurativa Support Group
Hidradenitis suppurativa (hi-drad-uh-NIE-tis sup-yoo-ruh-TIE-vuh) is rare, long-term skin condition that features small, painful lumps under the skin. The disease manifests as clusters of chronic abscesses or boils, sometimes as large as baseballs, that are extremely painful to the touch and may persist for years with occasional to frequent periods of inflammation,...
Ok some of you know I had surgery last October in my left armpit. That went well..have not had a recurrence there since.
My right was done in Feb. with a different doctor from the same clinic as the first one left to start his own practice T.T
Instead of stitching EVERYTHING up, this doctor chose to stitch only the inside and closed up the outside with glue...not to mention the didn't really put me under with general, but chose to just keep me knocked out with gas an a little iv drugs..no intubation..which would have been ok..if I didn't snore like a freight train...soo...they shoved a tube down my nose..which would have been ok..if they hadn't left the damn thing in and I hadn't had to wake up feeling like my left side of my head was going to explode! And THEN they decide to take it out...which made me feel like my head was going to collapse..ugh.
I was in excruciating pain right from the get go. I think that was because of how they chose to put me out. General tends to give me a full body numb for several hours after surgery, so....no more surgery unless they are willing to put me under general...and yes I know the risks with repeated times of going under general.
It won't be with the same doc either.
When he told me (after I had shown him a couple of new hs spots and requested he remove them as well since I was going in for surgery anyways..denied of course) that hs don't show up anywhere but in armpits, groin, buttocks, breasts areas I should have snatched that IV out and canceled surgery right then and there...
I AM fortunate that my pain doc was willing to try to help with pain control after surgery. Since I have a contract with him I cannot accept any pain meds from other doctors, even if I have surgery. Which I am ok with since I keep him well informed of any surgeries I might have coming up.
I will be looking at another reconstructive surgeon from the same hospital/clinic group. Before this last surgery I had two appt. dates..one for the surgeon who did surgery and one for a surgeon that has a background in reconstructive surgery for burn patients...I will be making an appt. with the burn surgeon to see what he has to say about everything and see if he can fix what the last fucked up and to see what he thinks of my other areas.
If my right armpit looked like my left I would be tank topping right now. I've come to love my surgical scars, they show where I have been and how far I have come, so I have no qualms about showing them. But the HS spots just look like I have some sort of infectious disease, and quite frankly, I'm getting too old and cranky to keep having to answer that "infectious" question. It has almost cost me a friendship of 10 years because this friend had an abscess pop up twice in her groin/clitoris area (mind you this friend is morbidly obese AND diabetic AND has thyroid issues..hence the reason she is getting this I believe) and both times asked me if HS was contagious. Grrrr.
I will take pics of both armpits and post them when I can.
Much love to all our DS folks and hope you all are having as pain free a day as possible and are having a wonderful Easter!
My right was done in Feb. with a different doctor from the same clinic as the first one left to start his own practice T.T
Instead of stitching EVERYTHING up, this doctor chose to stitch only the inside and closed up the outside with glue...not to mention the didn't really put me under with general, but chose to just keep me knocked out with gas an a little iv drugs..no intubation..which would have been ok..if I didn't snore like a freight train...soo...they shoved a tube down my nose..which would have been ok..if they hadn't left the damn thing in and I hadn't had to wake up feeling like my left side of my head was going to explode! And THEN they decide to take it out...which made me feel like my head was going to collapse..ugh.
I was in excruciating pain right from the get go. I think that was because of how they chose to put me out. General tends to give me a full body numb for several hours after surgery, so....no more surgery unless they are willing to put me under general...and yes I know the risks with repeated times of going under general.
It won't be with the same doc either.
When he told me (after I had shown him a couple of new hs spots and requested he remove them as well since I was going in for surgery anyways..denied of course) that hs don't show up anywhere but in armpits, groin, buttocks, breasts areas I should have snatched that IV out and canceled surgery right then and there...
I AM fortunate that my pain doc was willing to try to help with pain control after surgery. Since I have a contract with him I cannot accept any pain meds from other doctors, even if I have surgery. Which I am ok with since I keep him well informed of any surgeries I might have coming up.
I will be looking at another reconstructive surgeon from the same hospital/clinic group. Before this last surgery I had two appt. dates..one for the surgeon who did surgery and one for a surgeon that has a background in reconstructive surgery for burn patients...I will be making an appt. with the burn surgeon to see what he has to say about everything and see if he can fix what the last fucked up and to see what he thinks of my other areas.
If my right armpit looked like my left I would be tank topping right now. I've come to love my surgical scars, they show where I have been and how far I have come, so I have no qualms about showing them. But the HS spots just look like I have some sort of infectious disease, and quite frankly, I'm getting too old and cranky to keep having to answer that "infectious" question. It has almost cost me a friendship of 10 years because this friend had an abscess pop up twice in her groin/clitoris area (mind you this friend is morbidly obese AND diabetic AND has thyroid issues..hence the reason she is getting this I believe) and both times asked me if HS was contagious. Grrrr.
I will take pics of both armpits and post them when I can.
Much love to all our DS folks and hope you all are having as pain free a day as possible and are having a wonderful Easter!
Thanks & I hope you had a great Easter too! Just seeing these post, so I apologize if I ask the same questions. Just curious, why not make an appointment with the same Dr. who did your left armpit?
I know what you mean about the friend thing--I get asked if this disease is contagious and it's frustrating. I added a few pics up a week or so ago of my armpits. I look forward to seeing your left armpit surgery pictures. Good luck on your appointment.
did the doctor who did your left armpit give you the option to do surgeries on both armpit? Or do they suggest doing one at a time? I'm curious bc I would like to do both at once. My consultation is on Tuesday so I'll ask him all of this but was curious. Thanks
I chose to do one at a time because I work and wanted to keep one side functional so I could continue to work.
I wish I had had both done at once by the first doc. If you have the support system in place to do both at once I would say go for it.