"Feeling fobbed off by surgeon because of my size"

I must start by saying I am livid about how I have been treated. I have been on a waiting list for a surgery to get a pilonidal cyst removed for 1.5 years. This cyst is very painful and causes me grief constantly, fills up infected then explodes releasing lots of gunk and blood. It is not just the pain that is terrible it is also the stress of not knowing when it will burst and stain all my clothes, causing embarrassment, especially in social situations. It impacts my life in many ways not just because of the pain.

In March 21 I saw the surgeon at the RAH in Paisley and after confirming that this was not going to get better on its own (no surprise there as it had only gotten worse in the several years I had it) they advised me that there was a lengthy waiting list and that I needed to try to lose weight to make the risk of an open wound decrease. I spent all the months that followed living an even more miserable existence, as I tried to not eat anything bad, to see if I could lose the weight they asked. Fast forward to this month. I had a pre-op appointment, that showed everything was good, and a return to the same surgeon, this time at the IRH. I have lost 10 Kg as requested but this time the bar was changed and I was told that they would still not be prepared to perform the surgery, because I still have too much fat. They were able to come to this conclusion about the amount of fat I have, just by looking/examining me, with no actual fat measuring or exams. Now they want to delay this again and want me to lose more weight (even though they are not telling me how much) in the hopes I will lose more in the area where the cyst is (as if anyone could control that) and in 2 months, god knows if whatever I do lose, will be enough. I also should add that the cyst is actually one of the main reasons why I don't exercise because as I said, it is so painful and in an awkward place. All they kept saying was that they were sorry but they didn't want me to miss work. I am also very surprised to find out the NHS in Scotland now has such rules where they only operate on thinner people, I feel utterly livid and discriminated against. I must add also that I have never drank nor smoked so surely that should count for something but no, the only thing to consider seems to be if you are thin or not. So now we have this situation where this horrible painful cyst is holding me back, preventing me from exercising and living my life as I should (including losing more weight) but they won't help me because I am too heavy. I am writing this here so people know how these unwritten rules may deprive us from treatment we need. Meanwhile, I will live in pain, most days and nothing is done. It feels like no one cares as it is not happening to them.

After I became upset the surgeon said I should maybe see my GP to deal with my moods. I would challenge anyone to live with pain almost all the time and be happy to hear you won't be helped.

Explanations

Involved in decisions

Being listened to

Doctor

Treatment

Seeing the whole me