When I was in high school I had to live through all sorts of humiliation. I know so did everyone else in the world, but I am pretty sure I am one of few teenagers who had to carry a hemorrhoid pillow around high school. Even more embarrassing was why. I had to have surgery to remove a pilonidal cyst on my tailbone. The typical patient for this surgery is an overweight extremely hairy old man, not a 16 year old girl. But, in true Little fashion I faced it the only way I knew how. Head on and try and find some humor in it. The first surgery was really painful and I had to stay in the hospital for a couple of days. It was Thanksgiving. I really didn't have the stomach for the hospital turkey, but my family brought me corn fritters. I got released on Saturday. Grandma and Grandpa Little were in town so Mom and Grandma came to pick me up from the hospital. We didn't go home though. It was Thanksgiving weekend and there was shopping to be done. Walking wasn't really a problem, just sitting, so Mom and Grandma just had me lay down in the back seat. Nothing was going to keep Maddie Little from shopping. They just popped some lortabs in me and away we went. I got to rest a little on Sunday but Monday it was time for school. The worst thing about the pillow is it was covered in brown fabric. I didn't even want to think about why they would choose that color. But, I had to go to school and I couldn't stand up all day so the pillow had to come with me. My friends knew what was going on, but I had to keep explaining why I was carrying a brown pillow around school. Depending on my mood my response would be either "I had surgery on my back" or " I just had surgery to make me a perfect a*****e". I held my head high, put my pillow in its special bag and carried it like a badge of honor. Booties weren't the thing in the '80's. They didn't come into style until the '90's with Sir Mix A lot. Too bad. I could have told people my butt was so important it just had to be protected. J-lo stole my story. After everyone got used to the pillow it became a joke to steal it and hide it so I couldn't sit. Ha ha real funny. It was funny however when a friend, R*****, and I decided to photocopy our bottoms. Let's just say my scar would make it impossible to deny that I had been the one sitting on the copier. The worst moment came at our 25th Reunion when somebody came up and asked if I still had to carry my pillow around. Really!!! That is how I am remembered!!! Unfortunately the first surgery didn't work so I had to have another, and another , and another. I got to carry my pillow to UT as well. They finally got it under control and so long as I don't do sit ups I am ok. ( no problem there).
You may not be surprised that this post doesn't have a picture. All I can say I thank goodness I grew up before social media.
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