I had a fascinating experience of revelation when meeting with the colorectal surgeon that I was referred to by the hospital for my perianal abscess (a large welt / infection) on the buttocks near the anus. What previously seemed like it could only be a miracle has now been potentially redefined to something a little more like good luck, depending on perspective. The surgeon, coming from a perspective of experience working with many people with this condition (and education), had one perspective. My family doctor who was more familiar with my own health background and symptoms from my own internal self-monitoring and memory, has another. It turns out if only one of them was right about this, then it's just good luck. But if they were both right, it's definitely a miracle.
My family doctor had already informed me that the MRI showed neither a cyst nor a fistula — which were the only two possible explanations for my abscess. (Note, I mentioned earlier about folliculitis as a third possibility, and it turns out that's the same thing as a cyst). A miracle can take many forms, but it's typically defined as something without any possible medical explanation aside for statistical chances so slim that it would be considered next to impossible. But it turns out that what I experienced potentially has 2 plausible medical explanations. According to my research, it seems my degree of luck was, in my GP's opinion, about 1 in 3 — and in the surgeon's opinion 1 in 5. However, if we were both right, it does qualify as a miracle because the chances are under 1%.
The Surgeon's Guess — It Was a Fistula Which Healed (1 in 5 chances good luck)
The surgeon mentioned that perianal abscesses are among the most common ailments that come to the ER. Sae mentioned that statistically, the chances of it being a fistula which caused it are about 80% or so. However, I continued to research that, and found some counter-argument to those statistics, with various studies indicating that it's 30-80% or so, making it centre around 1 in 2 chances. That said, it's a very well educated and experienced surgeon. I wondered if the surgeon's volume of exposure to fistulas (as opposed to cysts which could resolve by a family doctor) might have affected sae's perception of statistics. Regardless of that question, sae felt that it had been a fistula which had spontaneously healed on its own thanks to relief from the fact that the abscess finally burst and drained, which means I experienced good luck — and according to my research there's roughly a 1 in 5 chance of that.
My GP (Family Doctor)'s Guess — It Was a Cyst Which Healed (1 in 3 chances good luck)
I had mentioned that I had been having recurrences over the 8 month period of this abscess at the time of my period when there was lots of bacteria building up from blood around that zone. But I didn't mention in the health blog that also, one time when I was homeless and had no shower access for a long period of time, my minimal washing seemed not to be enough because I started getting a lot of welts on my buttocks and leg area near there, all around, not centred around the anus. What that looks like for sure is that because of aging skin, a skin predisposition, plus skin cells collecting without washing well enough, I became prone to cysts in that area with punctums (a very open hair follicle which is like a hole). It's like the hair follacle is loose and open and as skin cells collect more and more, they form an epidermoid cyst (a container for the extra skin cells) in order to hold them in place and prevent them from going inside the body. So then, because of the punctum, bacteria can travel into the cyst through the hole, thus infecting the cyst, causing it to swell more with infection, and then causing the cyst to burst on the sides and trigger immune response around it to form a welt.
Now, also, throughout this 8 month period with the recurring abscess, I definitely noticed a cyst in that area where the abscess was forming, several times. I've studied the difference between a cyst and an abscess, and it seemed obvious to me that there was a cyst. Combine that with my family doctor's guess that a cyst was likely causing the big welt, which seems from a different perspective with different views on statistics from a family doctor, and you think that's likely. Well, it's perhaps about 50/50 (although that's just my own research) but the cyst seemed to be there. But the thing is, now the cyst is gone. And I researched that and found that because the abscess grew to such an enormous size and went through such a revolution in the process, there's a 1 in 3 chance that the cyst was completely destroyed in the process. 2 times out of 3, some of the cyst wall remains enough for it to rebuild itself, but perhaps this cyst had been deteriorated a lot through this long process and this time it was completely destroyed.
The Miracle — Both Healed (less than 1% chance good luck, thus defining a miracle)
So in conclusion, one might like to imagine that both the surgeon and my GP were right and it was actually both a cyst and a fistula, which both healed without any surgical intervention. Unfortunately, considering the curse I've been going through, I must conclude that my official best guess is that it was a miracle, which is only unfortunate because my bad luck aka curse or dark sorcery against me was so severe at the time that this appears logical to think I had 2 conditions. At the time I had many conditions coming up for me all at the same time. The chances of all these things happening at once are definitely statistically slim to none, but that was my luck. So ironic as it may sound, it seems that I likely had both conditions, meaning this was a miracle.
According to the Surgeon, Luck and Miracles are Siblings
The fascinating thing about this encounter was that the doctor seems Asian (guessed based on physical characteristics) and clearly expressed that sae views my series of conditions — such as even just the appendicitis and the abscess at the same time — as clearly defined bad luck. But this was conveyed in such a way as to educate me about Asian views on luck, which are different from Western as I've now learned. There are various traditions throughout Asia, but it's generally agreed that luck is not random at all — it's very complex, and based on how you align with forces, conditions, influences of the world. In fact this led me to research these spiritual beliefs and I resonate strongly with them. But simply, the surgeon actually concluded from a spiritual standpoint that my health conditions were caused by "bad luck" as a larger situation of misalignment with certain powerful forces (of human society, nature, the universe or spiritual forces al combined). Because again, the chances of all these terrible misfortunes happening all at the same time is slim to none.
Doctors All Agree This Was "Bad Luck" — Which May Indicate a Miracle In This Case
In fact, every single doctor I spoke to (along with medical staff) were all FLABERGHASTED that I had appendicitis AND this perianal abscess at the same time since these two conditions are definitely not related (as the surgeon agreed). So many times they mentioned the expression "bad luck". But that's certainly not all — and they hadn't heard of all these other sudden conditions I'd had as well. In medical conditions alone, I also had fibroids (caused by hormones), a severe fall (heavy accident), another painful cyst on my cervix, symptoms of post-surgical complications, a hernia, and a whole bunch of various other infections.
I am perimenopausal and imbalanced hormones can weaken the immune a bit, but not nearly this much. And it's been ruled out that I have a thyroid condition causing immune disorder. From what doctors can tell, these issues are not interactive, and also I've had much more other kinds of bad fortune / luck types of issues outside of physical health issues. It wasn't just stress and intrusive thoughts that made it look like a curse (aka bad luck) — I was also being attacked by a technological harassment campaign to my business, while also finding that even positive forces of intense power in my life were not harmonizing with me and ironically causing big problems, yet were practically inescapable.
The Expanded Definition of a Miracle — From Likelihood to Personal & Collective Nature
As I mentioned earlier, this being all caused by bad luck seems to make the chances high that I had both a cyst and a fistula, making this a definite slim-to-none chances miracle. And I'm going to have to say that's my official opinion, considering all the other amazing miracles I'm going through right now. Since some of the miracles I've witnessed lately have included dematerialization and materialization of household objects out of and into thin air, I had assumed that both the fistula and cyst disappeared by these types of miracle occurrances — materializing healing cells to close up a fistula, and removing the cyst. But I now slightly distinguish the complex healing processes of the human body and its organic cellular activities from events such as as these which merely involve outside objects coming in and out of existence. It can be the same thing on a micro level, as a cell is an object too — but appear to be a very organic and natural healing body process.
From that perspective, it's well worth noting that many cases of good luck, even when the chances are pretty good, could be miracles too, but simply not fall under that technical term (as defined by likelihoods). In fact, it's been said that even the fact that DNA exists at all is a miracle unto itself really, or any existence of conscious awareness. So you might say, the natural healing processes of the human body are a miraculous thing unto their own, as well. It's just that by looking today at the surgeon's medical perspective on good and bad luck as a larger more dynamic topic, it's worth mentioning that it seems the body does not heal and function as purely separate from the larger world or any spiritual forces. And the Asian perspective on these forces that dictate good or bad luck (through our degree of alignment with them) as including those in larger society or spiritual forces, seems fair to add to that view.
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