Hi Hope,
yes, I've been resting the wholetime. Sleeping? Well, last night there were TWO huge spiders in my bed!!! OMG,OMG, OMG!!! I was up all the rest of the night, and wouldn't go back in the bedroom! I have a complete meltdown if I even see a spider! Don't know what the heck to do tonight now. It's never happened before!
How are you Hope? How did your appointment go?

val wrote:Hi Dawn,
no, there's never been any reason - I think I just have thin skin maybe! I bleed all over the place from a simple paper cut!
The pain isn't too bad today, but only after taking the tramadol. BMs are traumatising, but that's to be expected! The pain afterwards is that awful stinging ache, rather like fissure pain - well,it is fissure pain really, I suppose, seeing as they've cut a chunk out of my ass! LOL!
Thanks Dexter, it would be nice to have something stronger. Although we don't want to go along the route of having any morphine based drugs - very constipating!

Btw, I just read online that Tramadol contains some morphine?!

Spiders! In your bed??!! oh no!! Yikes! You have to get your hubby to check the bed before you get into it. I hope you get a better sleep tonight!
I'm doing ok - just a little anxious. I don't see the doc until 5pm, so for now I'm just waiting. The abscess has drained three times altogether (last Sunday, Thursday, Saturday), now it's barely a bump at all, but there's still some pain - a bit like a bruise. I'll just have to be really militant about getting properaly examined because I expect the doc to tell me he doesn't see anything and then send me away. What a life!
Do you think you'll need something stronger than Tramadol? Will stool softeners not help with meds containing morphine? I hope you find effect pain relief very soon!

Hey Val,
I imagine getting a chunk cut out of your arse is much worse than just LIS and a skin tag removed!!!
You sure have a really good attitude having gone through these butt problems for so long. Do you think you may possibly need another LIS to keep these re-tears from happening in the future? Were the re-tears as painful as they were before your LIS?
Hopefully by this time next week, you will see a huge improvement in those bm's!!!
Stay away from those spiders,Lol
My son is deathly afraid of spiders. He screams like a girl!

Oh, of course - I forgot about the time difference Hope! Duh! It's nearly 9pm here. Yes, you must be anxious. Don't let that doctor fob you off - you gotta get tough and tell him he's wrong - well, only if he is wrong of course! Hopefully you will have the perfect scenario - a perfect doctor with compassion and knowledge who can tell you instantly whats wrong and what to do about it. Jeez, isn't that what they are supposed to do! Why do they find it so difficult to do the job they are paid to do!
I hope you can try to stay calm!
Hi Dawn,
I think that maybe another LIS wouldn't be a good idea. I was told it was a high fistula, so if he laid it open, he must have cut some of the muscle anyway. I do feel that it feels a bit like spasms, but nothing like before the first LIS - I was rolling around screaming for 7 months then!
I suppose I have got a bit of a flippant attitude about it, but I'm a bit Calamity Jane - things always go wrong for me, so I've got used to it over the years!
The retears were probably not so painful each time, but then I didn't get the spasms with them, they were truly a living hell. And it retore so many times, it became just part of life!
My son is scared of spiders too! LOL!

Oh Val, I really hope the fistula surgery helps with the re-tearing too. Maybe that isn't too much to hope for. You are one heckuva trooper, I'll say! I admire your spunk, lady!
You are a good role model for me, since it turns out that I have a fistula! So I'm in good company and I will try to be as plucky as you are. The good news is that it is a very low one ... as in the surgical incision healed the wrong way and it has to be deroofed. At least that's what the surgeon thinks at this point, but I'll be getting a more thorough exam at the time of surgery. (I posted more details on another thread)
I hope you are doing well and not in too much pain.
(I always forget the time difference too!)

Hi Val-
I was reading your other threads and noticed you have been battling with fissures and have had fistula's. Have you been checked for any underlying disease process?
I have been dealing with Peri-anal issues for 6 years now. I finally got a diagnosis of Crohn's last fall. If I had to do over I would have insisted on a colonoscopy a lot earlier - potentially would have saved me a lot of pain and suffering. I didn't have the classic GI symptoms - mostly peri-anal disease. I am now on fistula number two myself but have a draining seton since it involves half my muscle. Still trying to get a medication cocktail that will heal everything.......hopefully.
Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Oh no, Hope, that's not good news. It's good it's a low one though, mine was a low one the first time I had one. I know how much you must be freaking out - a fistula seems like the ultimate horrible thing that can happen! But it's not that scary once you get used to the idea. I don't think they are as painful as a fissure to be honest. They just sound terrifying!
Sending you calming, happy vibes!
Hi Paul,
yes, I wondered about Crohns too, but I had the sigmoidoscopy and wasn't told there was anything underlying. My surgeon said it was just very bad luck! I tend to think that lightening doesn't strike in the same place twice, but I suppose he knows what he's talking about!
I thought I would have to have a seton. Have you got to have it in long? Will you have to have another op once it gets lower?
I hope they get your meds right and find something very soon that clears it all up for you. It's dreadfully depressing dealing with butt issues. Wishing you all the best!

hey Val - I asked you this on my thread, but I thought I'd check in on yours - how are you doing today?

val wrote:Hi Paul,
yes, I wondered about Crohns too, but I had the sigmoidoscopy and wasn't told there was anything underlying. My surgeon said it was just very bad luck! I tend to think that lightening doesn't strike in the same place twice, but I suppose he knows what he's talking about!
I thought I would have to have a seton. Have you got to have it in long? Will you have to have another op once it gets lower?
I hope they get your meds right and find something very soon that clears it all up for you. It's dreadfully depressing dealing with butt issues. Wishing you all the best!

Hi Val-
I have had the Seton since Sept 2010 after having an abscess drained. Mine is purely a draining seton – so it keep the tract open to drain. It is possible that if meds don’t heal it I could have it the rest of my life. Surgery is risky when you have IBD since the wounds created in surgery may not heal. So my CRS said he wouldn’t attempt to repair it since the odds of it working are so low. Last week I agreed to start Remicade which is a medication that is meant to treat fistula’s caused by Crohn’s. I am scared to death since I have to have it infused, cancer risks, and the laundry list of side effects. Plus the fact I am now “immune compromised” since my immune system is being suppressed. I also get to stay on the Azathioprine along with it that I first tried to see if it would work.

One thing I find interesting is that it seems a lot of doctor’s only do a sigmoidscopy to check for IBD. Crohn’s can impact any part of the digestive system – mouth to anus. While ulcerative colitis is confined to the colon/rectum. Both my GI and CRS told me that if you have peri-anal involvement it is also is usually found at the end of small intestines. Sure enough that was the case for me. My GI found chronic inflammation on my ileocecal valve (interface between the large and small intestine). So my GI used an extra long scope to reach during my colonoscopy. So my Crohn’s is considered mild since it is so localized but the fistula’s require me to take the “big gun” medications.
So for me I had the more rare presentation of Crohn’s(mainly just peri-anal disease) which I think is why it took so long to get diagnosed - 5 years. I would bring up IBD to the several CRS’s I saw through the years and they would tell me no since I wasn’t having diarrhea basically. I now have a very experienced CRS that once he saw the fissures at my LIS he became concerned about Crohn’s. Then I got the abscess and another fistula which sealed the deal for him and he referred me to the GI for a colonoscopy. So for me it was a long and frustrating road since I never could get things to heal completely and they are still not healed. I have learned to live with it but it would be nice if the meds work.