I suffered a debilitating throbbing in my rear for 48 hours before I made an appointment with my doctor. Upon glimpsing the source of my agony, she immediately called a surgeon with a monthslong waitlist who agreed to take me that afternoon on her lunch break.
“Does it feel like glass?” the surgeon asked, her face peering into my nether regions. The parchment paper underneath me crinkled as I shifted my weight on the table. I felt like one of the turkey meatballs I had made for dinner.
“Yes,” I groaned. “Like a giant piece of glass in my butt.”
Her diagnosis: a thrombosed hemorrhoid.
A hemorrhoid is a swollen blood vessel located on or near the rectum or anus. It can be brought on by experiencing pressure in that area from pregnancy, straining during a bowel movement, sitting too long on the toilet (as a mom of five kids, I’ll admit sometimes I linger in the quiet of my bathroom), lifting something heavy, obesity or a combination of factors.
