Hi all. A bit about my AF history:

In 2014 I started experiencing horrific pain during BM’s. I was newly pregnant and the prenatals constipated me. I assumed that it was hemorrhoids.

Although I told several doctors what I was experiencing, no one bothered to look.

The beginning of May the pain became debilitating. I could no longer function day to day. I thought maybe I had a thrombosis of a hemorrhoid so I went back to the doctors. My GP did do an examination but it was not thorough. He referred me to a specialist. Went to the specialist and was in so much pain I was crying during the examination. They gave me an urgent referral to the surgeon. He said I had an ulcerated hemorrhoid????

Within a half hour at was at the surgeons office. His first question during the examination was, “have any doctors actually examined you?”....

I had a very large AF that was at this point a hole. Went the nitro paste route for 5 weeks and it was discovered at my follow up that it was not helping. I was given the options of LIS or Botox.

Botox wasn’t going to work for me. I knew that.

On July 6th I had LIS, some sentinel skin tags removed and a fissurectomy was performed.

I was in awe after the surgery. I could not believe the pain was finally gone... and then I had a bm. It was pure hell ( even with taking the norco).

I am on day 8 now and I am really needing some good news. I am convinced the pain is coming from the fissurectomy. For those that have experienced this surgery, how long did it take for you to have a bm that didn’t want to make you throw up or cry?

Well, my question wasn’t answered but I thought I would keep updating this thread in case someone else was in my spot sometime in the future. I feel like everyone who is suffering should be paired up with an AF mentor or buddy lol

Day 9 was a little better than day 8 and day 10 better than 9.

Day 11: just finished my morning bm and am currently sitting on a sitz bath. What works best for me is poo, jump in the shower to gently hose off, then sit on the sitz bath for 10 minutes. Sometimes I will add epsom salt. I would try just plain old epsom salt and stay away from ones that say eucalyptus or menthol. I tried that one on day 3. I honestly don’t know if it made things worse but I didn’t really want to test it further.

I use gauze dressing 24/7. The only thing really draining still is the fissurectomy wound. Make sure you are using regular cloth sterile dressing. Avoid words like sponge. Even the nonstick may stick and let’s just say ouch! I learned the hard way.

My doctor advised not to put anything between the gauze pad and skin (Vaseline, neosporin, coconut oil, etc). The goal is to keep the wound dry. They also said to be careful in the shower. No soap and try not to disturb the wound. That sitz baths (calm water) was ideal. The only reason I shower first is because I cannot wait due to the pain.

I go back for my post op follow up in 2 days and will update then.