Ladies: HELP! Saddle injury question!

[Bike Mama]

I agree w/Beth-Ro. This is an amazing space. It's so hard to find women on bikes, much less folks w/whom one can ask personal questions. This has been hugely helpful.

I went to the OB/GYN yesterday who said "I've seen a lot of things, but nothing like this" (always reassuring). At any rate, it's *not* an infected hair follicle; it's *not* a Bartholin's gland (that's inside the vagina). He said it looks like a varicose vein, and feels "ropey" like a varicose vein. He wants me to see a dermatologist or cosmetic surgeon to see if they agree that it is indeed a varicose vein and (if so) for scelerotherapy or another intervention to block it. He though it made sense as a diagnosis considering the biking.

It's been helpful to have others chiming in. Thank you again. I'll send another post when the dermatologist has her/his say.

[doc]

My 2 cents: If it's most likely a varicose vein, why not see a vascular surgeon rather than a dermatologist? They do sclerotherapy of veins all the time. Seems more appropriate to me.

[Bike Mama]

That sounds like a great idea. I'll talk w/my family doc & see what she wants me to do. Thanks for the heads-up!

[Rudie]

Wow, thanks again everyone. I will definately be going to the free clinic this week to have this checked out again.

[Bike Mama]

Wow ... well here's where things came out. I saw both a vascular surgeon, who diagnosed it as a "vascular malformation" -- a vascular anomaly one is born with that can get blown out (it was diagnosed using an MRI and an ultrasound). She recommended sclerosing it (kind of like what's done to spider veins). They inject a solution (in this case, pure alcohol) into the vein which apparently burns & kills the tissue, then the area hardens and it's reabsorbed slowly (like an injury) into the body. She said it was going to be extremely painful (overnight-in-the-hospital-on-a-morphine-drip painful). My other option was plastic surgery, but they would've taken out a huge chunk of flesh & possibly mutilated (for lack of a better term) my labia. NO THANKS!

So the sclerosing went GREAT. I didn't need the morphine at all. Now, 5 days after the surgery, I have absolutely no pain for the first time in ... oh, 6 months?! How 'bout that! I'm going to get back on my bike this weekend (yes, the doc said that was okay "activity as I see fit") and see how it goes.

YIPPEE! Thank you to everyone who answered & for the advice/discussion. It really helped me out, and I hope it helps other women who might be suffering w/the same problem. THANK YOU!!!

[Blueberry]

OUCH!!!! That hurts just to read...

Glad you're back on the bike, though and that everything is resolved

Carrie Anne

[Nanci]

Glad to hear it went ok! Thanks for letting us know the outcome!

Nanci