u/Low_Resident5002

I'm sure this varies person by person, but I'm curious what your post-op restrictions were. Please tell me what type of procedure you had and what your restrictions were. I'm just trying to get any kind of baseline since I have no idea what to expect!

I'm a single mom & live alone in a 3rd story condo (no elevator). I'm FINALLY going to get checked out later today, but I'm extremely anxious about what recovery will look like & would like to have an idea of how much help I'll need. I'm especially curious about stairs, driving, and basic tasks like laundry & cooking. I have a strong feeling that my case is fairly complex (multiple tracts & abscesses, possible "horseshoe" presentation, fistula likely). Any info is very appreciated to help my "planner" brain!!

I'm a 34 year old female in Branson for the first time. I'm only here for 5 days. My plans for tonight were suddenly cancelled. What should I do? I'll take any suggestions! I don't want to do nothing in the hotel tonight.

Thanks in advance for any ideas!!!

I can't believe I'm finally getting the courage to post after so much lurking. I know I need to get this handled and I'm so scared and embarrassed. 😭

TL;DR I think I have a network of abscesses/cysts (not sure the proper terminology). I've been pushing off the doctor due to a crazy busy life and fear. I don't have a primary care doc & am on Medicaid, so I think I need to go to the ER. I'm so scared and want to understand what to expect! (I have pretty bad anxiety disorder, so I'm completely stuck in my head.)

Backstory:

About 4-5 weeks ago, I had an infected pilonidal cyst. It was leaking yellowish/clearish liquid & hurt moderately bad. My boyfriend is in his residency for med school & I let him see it. He confirmed what it was and told me the pus leaking out was actually eating away at some of my skin. He tried to encourage me to go to the doctor, but it was my college finals week so I told him I'd go after my finals were done.

It started feeling better & the leakage stopped after finals, so I didn't go in. About a week-ish later (3-4 weeks ago I think), I noticed a bump near my asshole. It felt hard and maybe the size of a marble. It was leaking blood, some small blood clots, and also sticky yellowish liquid (kinda alternated between these & sometimes was a mix of both liquids).

Despite there being a lot of leakage from the asshole bump, it didn't hurt. Also, the drainage didn't smell bad or rotten. I figured it was probably fine. I mentioned it to my boyfriend, but wouldn't show him this time lol. He insisted I go to the doctor, but I pushed it off again since it didn't hurt & I figured it would go away. I dealt with a major flood in my kitchen, my child's graduation, and my child's birthday so I ignored the leaking and went along with life.

Around a week ago, it stopped leaking. It is slightly bigger than when it started, but genuinely doesn't hurt at all. I thought no leaking was probably a good sign.

Fast forward to today, I felt like something was poking me when I was sitting down. When I investigated, I realized a new ass bump has developed. This time it's on the other side of my butthole (at least that's how it feels - I can't see). This one is small, but when I gently squeezed it (to investigate what was going on lol), blood and some random debris came out. I can feel the "tunnel" under the skin.

I'm leaving for a road trip (8 hrs away) in the morning for my child's national-level sports tournament. I'm a single parent, so if I don't go, child doesn't go. Luckily I have a high pain tolerance so I'm not worried about toughing it out til I come home next week.

I'm just getting scared since I'm reading so many horror stories online about people getting sepsis & almost dying. The stories of surgery are also terrifying. Just the idea of walking into an ER & having to tell the receptionist about my ass bumps is sooo scary to me. Having everyone look at my ass is even worse. Having to tell family/loved ones about my infected ass just adds to the fear. My boyfriend said I'll almost certainly need at least 1 surgery at this point.

Sorry for rambling. Thanks for reading. I'll try to update as I can in case this post is helpful to anyone else as scared as I am.

I am American (white) & my boyfriend is Indian. I have very little knowledge of Indian culture & he's been in the U.S. for 2 years now but is originally from South India.

His Indian friend is getting married in the town over from us (in US) and we're both invited. My boyfriend would love for me to wear traditional Indian attire, but I need help figuring out what is appropriate.

The wedding will take place for only 1 day and is a Hindu wedding. What I understand is that the wedding will start at a temple. After that I believe there will be a reception, but not 100% sure. (My boyfriend received a verbal invite for the wedding & is terrible at communicating details with me, so I don't have specific details about the time or location of events yet).

I don't have anyone to ask in my life and my boyfriend tried to explain women's Indian attire to me, but I ended up even more confused.

What outfit is appropriate for this type of event? I don't want to be under dressed or overdressed, but don't understand Indian attire.

Any advice about what to wear, what to expect, or how I should behave is appreciated!

TL;DR - Is gel stain the way to go on these cabinets? Specific brands, colors, or any experience appreciated!

I've been tackling home improvement projects on my condo over the last 2 years. The place was filthy & in horrible shape cosmetically when I purchased (evicted tenant situation), but has very good bones. A renovated unit in this location was pretty far out of my price range, so I jumped at the opportunity to buy this shit hole with a vision of cleaning it up over time.

It's FINALLY time to give the kitchen some love! 💕 After months & months of overanalyzing and decision paralysis, I decided I'd like to stain the cabinets instead of painting. I literally can't look at the orange for another day! 😵‍💫

I'm about 98% sold on gel stain, but research/opinions on the topic have been completely contradictory. People seem to either love or hate gel stain. Some people insist that water-based is superior, while others say oil-based is the only way to go. Some people say this is a total beginner friendly project, while others say gel stain is crazy hard.

I'm a perfectionist, so prep will be done well (probably to the point of overkill tbh), and I'm willing to be patient if there's a small learning curve. I don't mind putting in the time to do extra sanding/blending/fixes along the way if needed. I'm an intermediate DIYer, and have no problem following instructions.

Am I crazy for choosing to gel stain? I'm so intimidated based on so much conflicting info/opinions!!