I have been chasing the doctors in circles about my chronic tailbone pain, trying to get answers. Multiple times I've posted on this blog about it. Literally, a pain in the butt. Finally, we saw an amazing orthopedic specialist through Dartmouth in Lebanon, NH called Dr. Bernini who has told me I am a good candidate for a Coccygectomy or tail bone removal. He said that a normal person has a sacrum of fused bones and at the bottom a flexible coccyx of 3-5 bones, but mine is only two stiff bones very near the skin causing coccydenia (coccyx pain or tailbone pain). We asked if it was a degenerative feature because my mother ad her mother also had coccygectomys for coccydenia. He replied that only the Maharaj's in India were known to have long coccyx as a sign of royalty.
So, on October 18th I will go in for my surgery and get my tailbone cut open for the second time and go under anesthesia for the millionth time in hopes to be part of the 90% whose pain was eliminated with such surgeries. It should be a couple weeks of recovery and hopefully not a rough first few days. Deep breath, maybe I'll finally be able to horseback ride comfortably.
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Quick Update: Disulfiram
5 years ago
My doctors want me to have my coccyx removed- how did yours go? I have fibromyalgia and have trouble standing for long periods, and have arthritis and bursitis in my hips so can't lie on my sides very well, so I'm pretty nervous about it!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=440052864249712392#editor/target=post;postID=908095826124643527
DeleteThis is the post about my recovery. It was more painful than I expected, but once I got over the hill of recovery and remembered to take it slow! I was fine. It still gives me problems though.
I had my coccyx removed 6 weeks ago. My wound is almost completely closed, which means I'm hopeful the risk of infection is almost zero! That's one of the biggest complications of this surgery.
ReplyDeleteThe pain is still pretty intense at times, but luckily the pain that was caused by the coccyx itself is gone.
Now that it's been over a year since your surgery, how are you feeling? I've been blogging about my recovery at robertsnotes.com so I'd be much obliged if you'd take a look and let me know if my recovery is normaly, or at least typical of what you experienced during yours.