Well, this was bound to happen, surgery number 18. Before we get into it though, let’s take a trip back to months prior. It was summer and we were in the dog days of summer for football. And yes, you would be correct, I no longer play football, so why was I out on the field?
I finished what I wanted to achieve on the football field and now am the frosh/ assistant varsity offensive line coach for Laguna Beach High School and we were in the midst of getting ready for our 2024 season. It was a normal day in July when all of a sudden I started to swell up right below my tailbone. Along with the swelling, it was very painful and it was also dispersing this repulsive liquid. I had no clue as to what this was so I went to the dermatologist and later found out that this is called a pilonidal cyst.
Before we dive deeper into the story, what is a pilonidal cyst? It occurs to athletes, mainly hairy athletes and it forms when a hair follicle falls off of your body and the friction from your activities, rub it into your skin. Thus the body tries to protect it by forming a wall around it and that creates the cyst. Dermatologists do not remove these cysts as they are on the end of the spine, right by the nerve endings. After a round of antibiotics, prescribed to me by my dermatologist, my cyst unswelled and I was pain free. Flash-forward a few months and we were in the midst of league play and the cyst flared up again.
I had no thoughts about the cyst prior because it was not causing any harm except for when my parents would ask me if I had made an appointment with a surgeon. Since they asked me many times, I was “forced” to find a general surgeon to get it removed. I found a surgeon at the Surgery Group of LA and my surgeon was Dr. Yosef Y Nasseri, MD. From my understanding he does in house surgical procedures, but with my medical history, he chose to do it in the hospital in case of any complications.
Cat therapy
The date was December 17, 2024 and I traveled up to Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles. My surgery was scheduled for 1:00 PM but it was postponed to a later time due to my surgeon tending to another patient in emergency surgery. About an hour later and it was time to get wheeled back to the OR. All I remember is that I cracked a joke and then I woke up at around 4:30 PM in recovery. It took me around 30 minutes to wake up, but I did and instantly asked for some food. I ate the driest but best animal crackers in the world. It turns out anything is amazing after not eating or drinking for 12 hours. The key to not being groggy after surgery is no fentanyl and I am able to be my normal hungry self instantly. The surgery went well and it was time to travel back to Orange County. 
About a week after surgery and my incision was doing its thing, draining excess when one day, the drainage stopped and my incision started to swell up. Turns out I healed too quickly and the drainage stayed in the incision and it created an infection. One thing that I learned is, my body heals very quickly, too quickly in most cases. To combat that it meant more antibiotics and manually draining it, but soon after that it was smooth sailing from there.