Hi. Been reading for about a month. First-time poster (male, ~40). I'll first say as many others have that this board is WONDERFUL. A million thanks to all whose wisdom has been shared here.
The skinny: After dealing with an awful internal fissure for several months, I went ahead with the fissurectomy and sphincterotomy. I'm six days out from the surgery. Like some lucky others who have posted here, I haven't had too much internal pain. There is some, but it's all relative, I guess. I'll take it compared to what I was dealing with before. I'm not counting my chickens just yet, though. I know the road is long.
However, the day after the surgery I noticed that a tiny bump started developing underneath the skin of the opening to my rectum. It got a bit bigger over the next few days and is now the size of a small pea. It's hard, not discolored (again, under the skin), and PAINFUL as hell. Painful to the touch, painful to walk, impossible to sit, and with BMs, well, on a scale of 1-10, it really sucks. Also, I don't know if it's related, but I'm having a constant trickle of a bloody discharge -- I'm wearing disposable "Depends" undergarments rather than regular underwear (not doctor/hospital recommended, but really should be, no?) and going through 2-3 of those each day. It's definitely blood, but there might be something else along with it...nothing green/yellow (and no fever for me)...but there is an odd smell to it.
OK, after writing all that I feel like either deleting or apologizing for TMI, but I've just spent a couple hours reading mustering up the courage to write/send and have just enough left, so here goes... anyone out there have thoughts on what this "little bump" might be and/or if I should be worried about this discharge?