Hello there. As the title of the post announces, I will have surgery tomorrow after exactly 1 year of doom.
You can read details about this rollercoaster journey at the diary section.

My current situation: Still using rectiv because if I don't, the thing starts to sting and burn.
My current pain is quite low. I can manage it with nitro and low doses of ibuprofen but that is not good for my body after one year.
Nitro has been great with me, I have a very persistent posterior typical fissure caused by constipation and bad habits like lack of water, excess caffeine and lack of excersise. I am a dianosed with GAD (General Anxiety Disorder) and I believe that is the number one reason for this.
I have no children, no intentions to have any after this experience.

I consulted 2 crs, a gastro and my gyno. They all believe the same. First crs tried to avoid surgery. Second one took a look and told me "this is chronic and won't heal further" which I already knew.
The scar tissue made a thick border and probably never healed as it should.
My surgeon will perform fissurectomy, a tiny lis (he told me that he will evaluate that, i hope he does it because i dont want to repeat fissures) and a skin tag removal (which has been both crs's obsession so it must be quite a thing)

So here I am on the verge of this lovely situation.
No food after 10 am, no water after 1 pm and surgery will be performed at 6 pm.

No special preparation was given, just that. I'm taking my half miralax for tomorrow and I hope they give me enough painkillers to knock me down at least two weeks.

Thank you for helping me in this weird journey. You made my life a lot easier with the info you share. I hope I can help you sharing too.

Day 0: Tadaaaa. I had a small lis (surgeon words), fissurectomy and skin tag removal as planned.

I was completely sedated so i just fell asleep and woke up. No idea of what happened in the middle. I laughed and cried when I woke up. Then I had tremors for like an hour and finally I was up and ready to go home.

It was a very quick experience. I was very VERY worried about everything but finally, I did it so I'm very proud of myself because I was scared as hell. I can't even describe it.

I had my surgery at 7 pm. I left home at 9.20 pm. I had no pain at all, totally beautiful, until 11 pm. Then I started to feel some soreness. My doc gave me ketorolac, omeprazole, some liquid vaseline and told me to do 3 sitz baths with warm water a day.

So far, my pain is kind of 1-2/10. I actually took sublingual ketorolac 10 mg because i had a blister and wanted something fast, but he gave me 20 mg so I hope this works ok.

I have like a gauze pack attached but I havent even dared to remove it yet. I have been very gassy too.

I ate some soup with brown bread and a tangerine. Doc just said to keep it healthy. I have an appointment in 15 days.

I don't really know if this pain will stay like this but I really hope so because lt's really nothing compared to fissure hell.

Btw, as expected, my fissure was already gone a looooong time ago. But the scar was so bulky and tight that caused the burning.
I was very worried about the fissurectomy without lis because of recurence, but thankfully it was done.
So if I healed once, I will totally heal again.
I'll keep you informed but so far, I can handle this.

Day 1: I have been very very very naive about the pain.
Currently taking omeprazole, 10/20 mg of ketorolac (trying just to never reach more than 60mg, although doc said the max is 90 but it is quite dangerous for kidneys so i have to drink plenty of fluids), each 6 h and paracetamol 1g each 6 hours because I can't even reach the time i have to take the doses.
I woke up at 5 am feeling a burning and throbbing sensation similar to the worst fissure time, just that pain never left at all. It went from 7/10 to 2/10, when medication hits it is all good.
I did 2 sitz already, ate soup, toasts and planning to have fish for dinner.
Btw I already had my first bm and surprise, it didnt hurt. Just a very tiny stinging but i am very surprised. Just a line of blood in stools where the fissure was (was, is? Damn). It was very thin but every part of my bum is swollen so i think it is normal.
Right now (6 pm) 23 h have passed from my surgery so I know this is normal.
I think the meds are making my tongue sore but it's a price i am willing to pay.
I have to keep with the ketorolac and try to switch with ibuprofen.
Doc offered tramadol when i sent him a message (i have the best doc in the world, he gave me his phone, he was very kind) but we agreed it was not the best for constipation
I'm taking my miralax and gonna stick with it probably forever hahaha.
Send good vibes to get better days from now on

Day 2: Still ongoing because it's noon but I have to say that the painkiller combo is amazing. Just ketorolac 10mg and paracetamol 1g, 3 hours apart from each other.
I have no pain! Just a slight pain like 1/10 before reaching the 6 h mark but I even missed my night doses because i was deeply asleep and woke up at 6 am with a "oh no" feeling a little bit sore. Took my med, and went to sleep again until 9 am. Had my 2nd bm, very soft, but a lot more than the day before and i just felt a stinging in the piles place.
I have to agree with everyone here: it is amazing how you can have 3 open wounds and still dont feel the fissure pain.
Then I had my sitz bath and took my other med and everything went smoothly. I think this will repeat day after day, I've read a lot that the 4th day is the worse but if i could handle yesterday, I don't think so. I already had my pain quota covered
I still have a watery bloody discharge as expected. I didn't check for blood on the bm but probably it was the same as yesterday. I think I bled a lot more from the fissure when I had it than now.
I hope everything stays the same today and keeps getting better.

Day 3 (so far): Yesterday I had a good day, no pain. Mostly 1/10 and I was quite relaxed. I ate soup, avocado, and fish during the meals. But I made a terrible mistake and forgot to take my half miralax dose.
It was hard for me to fall asleep because I felt sad. My period is coming and that makes me quite sensitive and worried. At 3 am while taking paracetamol I felt some itchiness. I always had really dreadful thoughts when I'm not fully awake so I started to worry about pruritus but luckily then I realized that it's really a good sign of healing as the wound are closing. It felt familiar, I had that feeling before
I woke up absolutely painless (i took my meds during the night) but with a big urge to go to the bathroom. I can confirm no leaking at all. But straining makes the piles wound a bit angry.
As I forgot to take miralax, things went a bit harder. I mean it was totally normal but I need that extra softness the miralax brings (I don't use a full dose as I don't really need it, if I take more I have to go twice and that is terrible for me).
So I used the bidet (great thing about my country: bidet is mandatory in every house lol) but turned on the shower fast because I felt sore. It is not fissure pain at all, it is wound pain. I can't describe the difference but it is something a lot better, really.
I showered and filled the bath tub and it was really good. I also had to took my paracetamol at that time so it kinda helped.
I have to say I'm kind of scared of infection because I see that everyone took antibiotics but my doc didn't gave me one. Besides my anxiety, I use gauzes and pads and change them 2/3 times a day because thing still is a little bleedy. Not regular blood, just this watery pink discharge.
I haven't seen much blood on the toilet so I think everything goes smoothly.
I'm also using heating pad / hot bottle when needed and really helps. I don't want to abuse from heat because I don't really know if it worse for wounds but it is so good for pain.
I think today will be like yesterday, still taking the meds as doc said. I'm feeling very emotional to pain so I just don't want to feel it ever again.
So far, so good, as Conifer said very wisely, progress is slow and daily!

Congratulations! Thank you for sharing your journey. You’re helping me so much, as I’ve had my fissure for 2.5 yrs and I’m scared to do the surgery. I hope you continue to heal!!

Sounds like you are your way to recovery - congrats! LIS was a lifesaver for me. I wasn't offered any antibiotics either. In fact all I had was regular ibuprofen for any pain (which was minor anyway). After 10 days things were pretty much back to normal.

Mich21 ohh don"t be scared! I know there's a lot horror stories and everyone has struggles but if you get a good doctor and feel safe, you will be fine! I hope I can give more feedback in a couple of months.

Rich44 thank you! It is great to see that you did it weel without antibiotics and just ibuprofen, it is my next step on monday. I hope to recover as fast as you did!!!!

Day 4: Quite similar to yesterday. I missed one dose of the meds but I woke up fine. I think pain has reduced a bit.
I had a rough hard bm, miralax did not work, probably will tomorrow. Wounds feel tight. It is a manageable pain, like a scratch. I felt better as soon as I bathed and did the sitz.
I have my period now so I feel more tired and bloated. I wont be able to understand if i bleed or not for some days but I think that's better. I am so tired to check everything, I just need to relax.
Btw, I just have 2 or 3/10 pain when I go to the bathroom. It goes down quite fast with sitz. No spasms at all. The pain I have is like scratching / needles and it happens if i move too harsh or change position or something like that. Nothing weird or terrible.
I'll probably watch some shows or videos and do nothing the rest of the day. I'm planning to go out tomorrow afternoon and take a walk and a small car ride to test how this goes in the wild.

Day 5: So far, similar to yesterday. Bm is rough, miralax ain't working. Thing is formed and I think my sphincter is tight because it wasn't very big but it felt like if it was.
I had 9 h period without meds and I was ok. The pain I have is after bm in the morning. It goes away with the meds and sitz.
I feel really anxious today. I slept well but had lots lf nightmares and I started to feel my heart a lot and getting nervous so I think I should take my anxiety meds for a couple of days.
Going to the bathroom makes me really nervous and scared. I emotionaly feel like when the fissure journey started. I can't handle pain well at a psychological level, I think this traumatized me a lot and made me believe I couldn't have a normal life anymore so now my brain is not working very well on the subconcious side and doesn't get this is a surgery.
Sorry for the mental health rant but I hate I have to deal with so much struggling in my head and not be able to be patient and optimistic. That makes me sad because I know my head is the one responsible for half of the problem and half of the solution.
I hope to figure out how to handle diet better, I just feel discouraged.
On the reality plane: I'm fine. Pain is really not that much and comes from the surgery incisions. The piles one is the worst, probably it is the bigger one. Just 3/10 while bm, then 2/10 afterwards and gone with meds. No spasms at all.
As I am feeling very "delicate" these days, I can't even touch the place and I think I wont be able to look until this is over, probably next year lol.
Thanks again for beeing supportive and sorry for the rants. I know I will be ok, it is just day 5.

Did you CRS tell you it was ok to still be taking Miralax? Fiber is fine, laxatives not so much.

I'm not going to lie; I was very optimistic after my LIS. Once I had my first BM post surgery I had no fear after that. Even if there was some pain or even blood I was super confident it would subside after a week or two and it did. I'm sorry you are stressed out about this.