by brokenbottom » 21 Apr 2016, 07:24
So here I am, a week and half after taking the plunge and going for the surgery. It wasn't a hard decision to make in the end - months of increasing pain every single day for up to 10 hours after a BM meant it seemed like my only chance of getting back to some sort of normal life.
Generally, I'd say I'm very glad I went for it (I'm so superstitious though that I worry just typing that has cursed me to have the pain come back!). But it's no picnic that's for sure. I can't imagine going through with it if I was just occasionally having the pain or if I'd been able to carry on going to work and stuff. But basically my life had stopped and some days I really felt like I wanted to die.
Anyhoo, there are plenty of descriptions on here of the nitty gritty of the op so I won't dwell on that. Three big fears I had (apart from of course the big incontinence/it not working ones) were having to have an enema before the op (they didn't even mention it - phew!), what would happen with the dressing they stick up there (I left it be and it just worked its way out on the day after the op) and of course the dreaded first post-op BM. That last one certainly wasn't fun and deserves its own heading...
First post-op BM
It came on day two after the op and, because the one after I had botox was so hideous, I went into total panic mode, something I excel at. The pain was bad, but no worse than what we're all accustomed to on here, I just went into total shock mode, feeling so faint that cleaning up was quite a struggle and it took me quite a few hours to calm down. The pain lasted a while but 'only' about four hours. But now, a week on from that, it's better each day. Now I felt relatively calm afterwards and the discomfort had passed in about half an hour.
Pain
There has been pain post-op, but different to before and less each day. The fissure pain felt like some sort of medieval torture; this feels like what it is - a wound healing. My surgeon wrote on my discharge notes that I'd be very sore for two weeks and full recovery would take up to 8 weeks so that's managed my expectations. Measuring my pain by the drugs I've taken, I needed 8 x 500mg paracetamol and 3 x 400mg ibuprofen to get me through the first few days, plus codeine after that first BM. Now on day 9 I've had 2 x paracetamols and 1 x 200mg ibuprofen. I might have some more paracetamols later, but I might not.
Leakage
This is not pleasant, but was better than I expected. Once I took the big outer dressing off the day after the operation (and goodness that thing was stuck firmly in place!), I wore period pads all the time for the first five days or so. I also had a big mat thing they gave me in hospital on the bed for good measure, but didn't need it. There was a bit of blood there most of the time for about a week but it sort of lurked and didn't generally even make it to the pad. I'm still finding a bit of something if I wipe with tissue but it seems to be getting less.
As for the other kind of leakage, I am still passing wind without warning or control. Not too often - maybe once or twice a day - but enough to be concerned about mingling back in with general society. Hopefully this'll improve!
Bathing/showering/cleaning
I couldn't manage to get in the bath for the first three days - getting in there without sitting down is impossible. So I only showered initially and couldn't even face that till day two after the operation. My surgeon said the area is designed to be dirty so not to worry too much about obsessively cleaning it, so I chose to go with a low interference policy. Wet toilet wipes have been an essential and pouring water from a plastic bottle down over my bottom into the loo after a BM has helped make cleaning up easier. My new technique for getting out of the bath is to spin round onto all fours and out from there.
Sitting, or rather not
Part of the reason I haven't written on here during the past week is that it's been so hard to get in a comfortable position to type. Lying in bed sounds great until you have no choice! I didn't sit at all until day 5 and I'm still finding sitting tricky. More than 15 minutes and I feel sore when I get up. So mainly I'm on my side in bed (our sofa is too small unfortunately!) or standing. My surgeon said that sitting cuts off the blood supply to your bottom so stops it healing, so I'm not in a hurry to do too much of it yet.
That's all for now. Thanks again to all the lovely boardies who have been so kind and supportive along the way!
Suffered acute AFs since about 2010
2015 Chronic AF diagnosed
18/2/16 Botox (unsuccessful)
12/4/16 Lateral anal sphincterotomy and removal of polyp and two tags