My ass is a pain in my...ass...

I'm sure I've mentioned my tailbone issues somewhere along the line. As a quick recap, I started having some pain when I was pregnant with W that went away. It came back early, early on when I was pregnant with R (I remember noticing that my tailbone hurt about a week before I found out I was pregnant) and hasn't really gone away since. I've been seeing an orthopedist and getting cortisone shots for the past year or so. I was ok from the time of my cortisone shot in February until about June. I finally got an appointment a month ago, got another shot, and got sent for an MRI. Today was my follow up.

So. While reviewing my MRI with my, my doc repeatedly mentioned how "weird" my tailbone situation is. Apparently, a normal tailbone looks like this:

And mine looks more like this:

(pics from the Kemper Tailbone Injury Foundation)

A little swelling and fluid, but no fractures and my other internal organs apparently look lovely. Notice the almost-90-degree angle of the bottom two vertebra. That's where it got "weird." We have no idea why my tailbone looks like that, though working theories are congenital malformation or some sort of significant ass trauma. We do know that when your butt bone looks like that, it causes pain while sitting. And there's basically nothing to do about it except cortisone shots or surgically removing the offending vertebra (which comes with a risk of a punctured colon. Fun!). I don't really feel like having my bum hacked into right now (not to mention that I would probably get fired for taking time off for recovery), so shots it is. *Shudder*

If you've ever had a cortisone shot, you know they're not fun. If you haven't, they shove a ginormous needle right down to your bone and shoot an almost-gelatinous medication into the trouble zone. It hurts. A lot. They make sitting hurt for like a week afterward. Ripping a band-aid out of you crack is no fun, either, FYI.

I'm typing this while lying on my side on the floor because even lying flat on my back puts too much pressure on the tailbone and hurts. I didn't expect a shot today, so I didn't prepare by taking pain killers before hand and arrange for my mom to help with the boys so I could spend the evening laying down. As I didn't have those luxuries, I had to attend gymnastics class, do baths, and play jungle gym for two rambunctious boys, and sit for the normal bedtime stuff.

The take-home lesson for today is this:  don't do anything that would require you to need cortisone shots, particularly in the bumular region. And if you do, make sure you have a good donut and someone who will enable you to laze on the couch for the evening.

And that, my friends, is why my ass is a pain in my ass.