I first heard the term Hidradenitis Suppurativa in October 2010 - when I had my first emergency surgery to remove 2 excruciatingly painful lumps from my left arm pit. I had had isolated lumps/boils/abscesses call them what you will for years but never thought anything was "wrong" until these two bastards appeared and it was apparent that this wasn't "normal" - less than 4 weeks later I was back in hospital having another one dealt with and my axilla (armpit in laymen's terms) has gone from bad to worse to total war zone since then.
I'm not going to go into the mechanics of the disease because this is not what this blog is for. I will just say that is evil, painful, disgusting and relentless. I'm also not going to go into the period between October 2010 and June 2011 because it would simply be a long list of doctors who didn't know what they were talking about and treatments that didn't work punctuated with hospital visits for emergency surgeries.
In many ways I'm lucky - I got a diagnosis relatively quickly compared to many I have spoken to (some people wait decades to find a doctor who knows what it is) so to go from undiagnosed to under the knife in 9 months is actually pretty impressive in HS terms. I'm also lucky that my only advanced (or Stage 3) area is my left axilla - I have occasional flares on my inner thighs and in my right axilla but nothing like the devastation that has occured in my left.
Wide excision is a dramatic step - but I simply cannot go on living my life at the mercy of my own skin. It is impossible to describe how it makes you feel. Quite apart from the pain there is the drainage (which smells) and the fact I cannot wear a bra when it's flaring, or wear deodorant - so not only does HS bring with it terrible pain but it lowers your confidence and self esteem to the gutter. In short - it's got to go!!!
