If you want to read my backstory, read on, if you just want today's details jump to the next paragraph.
I have a confession... I'm in my late 30's and it wasn't until two years ago I had ever looked at my butthole. Shocking I know. But I had felt something weird when wiping and thought I should check it out. And there it was, a weird little thing. I ignored it, I knew I had hemorrhoids for about 15 years, but those only bothered me a couple times a year, so I assumed this was now an external one. I kind of forgot about it until about a year ago. It started to get bigger and it had two little friends. I was very self conscious during sex and never wanted my husband to go down there... or see me from behind, and I was wiping a ton to get clean after bowel movements. It was probably about a centimeter long and the circumference of a pencil. And it looked really weird. It was time for action. I found a hemorrhoid specialist in my area. He does it with lasers and that was music to my ears. So I made an appointment and he did the inspection, and I got the news:"you have a small internal hemorrhoid and a healed fissure and another small fissure and 3 sentinel skin tags. I can fix the hemorrhoid, but that's all". Yeah, I didn't know what any of that meant, so after getting details and going to a couple other doctors and having a couple other fun inspections, I had an appointment for the surgery. They were going to do it in an operating room under twighlight anesthesia and I might need a couple of disintegrating stitches. I did the preop visit and then started reading online including this forum. And that's when I called to cancel the surgery. I had a trip to Arizona coming up 2 weeks after the surgery and was imagining my butt seeping and gaping holes. I appreciate the honesty on this site, but I was admittedly scared. I rescheduled, but I was so insecure about them, I thought it would be worth a long grueling recovery to remove them.
So long story not so short, today I went in for it. For preparation I did several liquid meals for a couple days, some solid meals and lots of powdered fiber. Last night I did a fleet enema at 9p and again this morning at 8:30a. I actually dreaded this more than the surgery. It wasn't bad at all though and I can see me doing it again if I'm ever constipated. My mother took me and her being a retired RN, it was nice to joke about it and have her explain stuff. The doctor was really nice, told me to stop reading the internet and I got the anesthesia. Sidebar: Why are all anesthesia doctors good looking dudes? I'm a total sexist with healthcare and prefer all women doctors and nurses... but then this dude sneaks in... ugh... so self conscious. Anyway, I came out of the surgery and told the nurse I was going to start crying and she said that was very normal. So I cried for a minute and my mom came in. I guess I was a little out of it for a couple minutes and was saying goofy things, but I felt fine. The doctor said all the medicine would wear off by 6p (surgery was at 11:30a) and prescribed me a lidocaine cream and Vicodin and colace. She said to be careful with the Vicodin, because it would constipate me, but it was going to hurt so prepare myself. I went home, had something to eat. I laid down on the couch and waited for the pain to set in. And waited. And I of course looked at it. It looks bruised, but then I looked at the before pictures I took and it already looks like a considerably more normal anus. I've had very little oozing, and honestly, it's a little uncomfortable like a sunburn, but not painful. I'll update again. And I know I'm only on day one, but so far, I'm thrilled.