thanks for the thoughts :)
i saw the surgeon yesterday. He examined me and said he definitely still sees the fissure, although it doesn't look worse at all. He even seemed a bit puzzled as to why i haven't healed yet, but not worried. He assured me that we'll get rid of this thing one way or another.
He did say that some people just take much longer than others. Although the majority are fully healed by 6 weeks, he has had a few cases that took up to 8 weeks for the fissure to heal after surgery. I guess I just have a particularly stubborn fissure, because I am doing EVERYTHING right.
He said there's really nothing else I can do to help it heal, aside from keeping the stools soft. He said baths won't necessarily even help. He also told me to start working out again and living as normal a life as possible, because nothing i do will make it worse - aside from being constipated.
All in all, I'm going to give it 4 more weeks (until I get back from my Hawaii vacation). If it's not healed by then, we're going to consider another LIS on the other side.
At this point, if it's not healed by then, I will definitely have the 2nd surgery. He said the risks of incontinence at my age (24) are very small, even with a second surgery. It would be worth it to me to try anyway! I still haven't given up hope though!

juney, my CRS said a good 8-10 weeks to heal but a good 4-6 months to feel back to normal.
:-)
here's to more healing for you.

Juney,
I'm curious about an update. How are you doing? Are you still thinking about another surgery? Based on your opting for a second surgery, can I assume the first one wasn't that painful?
Thanks and I hope you are doing better!

things are still about the same. I feel at about 60 or 70% now. There's definitely still pain after BMs, but I've been masking it with ibuprofen every day. It doesn't seem to last as long. Instead of hurting for 8 hours or more, it's only painful for about 4 hours.
It's been 7 1/2 weeks now, so i'm really discouraged. I've tried to change my attitude though and keep telling myself things will get better - although verrry slowly. It helps to deal with the day to day at least.
I'll call my doctor when I get back from vacation at the end of july, like he suggested. If things aren't much better by then I will definitely consider the 2nd LIS. The first one put me out of work for 2 weeks, but I think it was because I had a skin tag removed also so there was that open wound. Otherwise, the actual surgery wasn't bad. I don't even care anymore, i'll do ANYTHING to get rid of this pain.
It's been the "recovery" that's been hell...but only b/c it's taking so long! I think I will request a different surgeon if i have to have a 2nd surgery; just because i don't want the same one who didn't fix this in the first place!

I'm sorry to hear things haven't really progressed much, Juney!
I think nefedipine or diltiazem would be a great thing for you to try at this juncture, if you aren't already on one of them.
Do you feel like you are still too tight down there...that may be why you are not healing properly. If the initial LIS didn't "take" well, you would still be tight and have restricted blood flow to the fissure site, and it wouldn't be healing properly. I think the BP creams would assist that a lot.
LOTS of hot baths, too, although I'm sure you're doing that..
Good luck, anyway, and we'll keep you in our thoughts...

i'm not using any creams now. i used nitroglycerine for 6 weeks before the surgery and that didn't help. i'm hesitant to be putting anything else up there now that i've had so much trauma to the area what with the surgery and the skin tag removal.
i don't feel the "tightness" that other people have mentioned. i'm not sure what that's supposed to feel like. although the dr did say he might not have cut it deep enough, so maybe it is still too tight. that would explain why it isn't healing i guess. i just feel the pain after BMs. i don't think it's spasms though, at least. it's more of a sharp pain when i stand up after sitting for awhile, like taking the pressure off the fissure.
i've ceased the hot baths, b/c my surgeon assured me that they will not make a difference at this point. he said they won't hurt of course, but they won't help either. i was doing 3 hot baths a day for 2 weeks and didn't notice a difference. i think that's more for before you've had the surgery, if you're trying to heal it naturally.
i haven't lost all hope yet, i'm still hanging on and "giving it time" as the doctors say.

Juney,
I have heard that sometimes the doctor has to go in and make a deeper cut if things don't work the first time. I know that would not be ideal but is that something your surgeon has talked about?
Do you feel any improvement over time at all? Sometimes it is so slow it is hard to tell. I always told myself to give it 3 weeks between assessing how I was doing otherwise I would get discouraged comparing one day to the next.

That is the truth, Lecia. Comparing one day to the next can be so discouraging because progress can be so slow--for me its always the three steps forward two steps back routine. I actually find a month by month comparison easier. When I got the surgery in Feb. (abscess drainage from the inside), I began keeping a journal, which I call my a$$ log. It helped me to track what I was feeling, my symptoms, and kept me from complaining to my significant other too much, though I still complained a lot. At any rate, when I looked back over the month in March, I could see that a good deal of healing took place, even though I was still in some pretty heavy pain. At the end of April, I was still in pain, but could tell that I was more healed than in March. I am at a point now where it is hard to tell what healing has taken place since the end of May, but I am still encouraged that I am better than at the beginning of May, and far better than in February. I couldn't take big steps without hurting back then.

Have you considered creating an a$$ log of your own?

yah, i kind of keep track of it in week-blocks, because day to day comparisons are too discouraging. I do think i'm better now than i was before the surgery, but i'm also taking a lot more pain medication to just get it off my mind.
I keep telling myself that the surgery must've accomplished something and that it's just taking a long time for my body to completely heal this. As long as I try to stay optimistic it's easier to deal with the frustration. It's definitely a 3 steps forward 2 steps back process. Some days I'll feel really good, with very little pain, and then the next it'll feel like it did before surgery.
Lecia, I will definitely have the 2nd surgery. It's not even a matter of considering it or not anymore. I will do anything the surgeon suggests at this point. If i'm not better by the end of July, I will let them make a deeper cut. But i'm still holding out hope that I'll make more progress in the next couple weeks than I have in the last 2 months. (fingers crossed!)

Have you tried Milk of Magnesia? It seems to help me when nothing else will. I'm not sure why that is. It does keep my bm really soft. Then again, i have had soft but still painful non-MOM bms. Maybe since MOM is an antacid too, it cuts the acidy burny qualities of the poo.

I weigh 140 lbs and have 2 1/2 normal sized meals per day . slightly before bedtime, I drink a large glass (20 oz) of water and I take 2T of MOM, usually. On days where I have eaten less, though, 1T will usually suffice. Maybe MOM might help you over these next two weeks?? If nothing else, you'll be peeing in the middle of the night.