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I had a 3 stage procedure in 2010 and after stage two I started to experience tailbone pain.  It quickly became so painful that I was unable to sit down so I made an appointment with my surgeon and they quickly found that I had a presacral pelvic abscess in the ileal pouch. At first they tried to drain it through a pigtail catheter in my left buttock, but unfortunately the infection spread and basically followed the catheter line and resulted in my left buttock getting infected and turning hard as a rock. They immediately removed the catheter (not a pleasant experience) and put me on high dose antibiotics which fortunately cured the infection relatively quickly. A few months later I went in for an outpatient procedure where my surgeon cut a larger opening that leads to the sinus cavity in hopes that it would allow for the fluid and waste that was getting trapped inside to flow out more easily. This sinus cavity was located just below my j-pouch where they connected it to my cuff.  I was not able to feel the sinus cavity with my hand and over the past couple of years follow up CT's have shown that the sinus appears to have filled in with granular tissue as they had hoped.  I had an MRI and CT scan as recent as last month that showed the same result. 

 

With all all of that said, I will now get to what my question is. Over the past fees months I have not been feeling well (excess gas, fowl odor, cramping after eating food, and difficulty going to the bathroom). The only relief I get is if I drink prune juice or something similar that basically forces everything out. I have not had much discomfort while going to the bathroom, most of my discomfort is due to not going and feeling like a hot air balloon that is about to explode. Then on Thursday while taking a shower I felt a hard lump inside my right buttock close to my rectum. You cannot feel it close to the skin and it requires soapy hands and pressing down a little bit in order to feel it. It feel like it is located in between my rectum and scrotum when I am standing in the shower and press down on it. At first it was not causing discomfort, but as each day has passed it is more sensitive when I press on it and it is starting to hurt when I sit down on anything other than my bed or couch. Could this be my old sinus cavity and the granulation tissue that I am feeling or is this something else?  I never felt the old abscess with my hand back in 2010 and it caused tailbone pain, whereas there is no tailbone pain this time but rather a hard lump on the right side of my rectum that only hurts when I sit down or press on it. Still no pain when I go to the bathroom, but only going a couple of times late at night with the help of prune juice is definitely not the norm for me. I have had chronic Pouchitis since takedown, so I have been trying to find ways to slow my output for the past 4 years as opposed to trying to increase it. 

 

I am am trying to get an appt with my GI doc as soon as possible because I want him to feel the lump and find out if this could be the old abscess that I am feeling. It might take me a few days to get in to see him and I am supposed to take my kids on Spring Break next Saturday so I am panicking a little bit. Any thoughts or advice on what I can do while I wait to hear back from him? Of course this all happens late last week so the weekend hits before I could call his office, so now I have to start that process in the morning with little time to spare before next Saturday when I am boarding a plane to the West Coast. I am taking Cipro and Flagyl at the present time for my pouchitis, but this new lump has completely confused the hell out of me. Sorry for the long post but I wanted to give as much info as possible so Jan or anyone else who reads this might be able to offer some thoughts. Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

 

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Boy, this does sure sound like a return of an abscess. Maybe not presacral, because as you know, that is a deep cavity area and not palpable from the outside. But, the perirectal tissues are definitely prone to reinfection if you had infection nearby in the past. Also concerning is the fact that you are on not one, but two antibiotics and this is getting worse instead of better. Do you have a fever? Not sure if it really matters though. 

 

If you cannot see your GI tomorrow, get an appointment with your primary doctor, or whoever is on call. I am thinking you need a CT scan ASAP. Maybe they can send you for the CT after a quick looky-loo.

 

Good luck!

 

Jan

Jan Dollar

Thanks Jan, no fever but that is about the only symptom I have not experienced lately. I had a CT scan last month and I cut and pasted the Radiologist's comment below....

 

"A focal area of mural thickening and enhancement is demonstrated in the right lower quadrant, proximal to the remaining colon/tortuous pouch. Extensive postoperative change is seen. Findings are suggestive of a focal region of inflammation" .

 

Does this make sense to you? If so, is this "inflammation" he refers to what I could be feeling with my hand?

J

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