Well, had the CRS appt yeterday. The infection that I had at the beginning of the year is gone, but the fissure is still there. it was very well behjaved yesterday, to the pointwhere I hardly felt it, but I know it's not gone, as I am a sore again this morning. The CRS says with all that I have tried so far the only thing left is LIS. He says that it has about at 95% success rate and that in his experience things improve rapidly after the 1st poo. So I'll join the ranks of the LISers soon.
The only problem is that my new place is soooo slow. The appt for the srugery will likely be at the end of April. I don't want to change plaes becasue I finally foudn drs I like, so I will just have to wait. On the bright saide, the scheduler said that this will be a quick surgery so she might be able to queeze me in in March. I'mm keeping ym fingers, and legs, and toes and everything crossed so that this will be the case. Now that I've decided to do this, I just want it done!!
I keep wondering, what if it's healed by the end of April??? I am slowly, slowly getting better. Should I still get the surgery if I am healed or close to it? After these past two years, I'm so afraid of a recurrence, and LIS is the only thing that has been show to decrease recurrences and duration of healing, etc... Your thoughts?????

i think even if you feel better by april it might be a good idea to still get it done. with your history, i don't think feeling good for 2 months is a good enough indication that you're completely healed. plus, it's so likely to come back!

but then again, surgery might not help either - like in my case. i was never having spasms, just overall pain and soreness everyday, and surgery did nothing to help that.
in fact, i've sometimes wondered if i was so man-handled during surgery (from stretching the anus open to get their tools in, etc...i was asleep so i don't even know what they did but i imagine it was horrendous...) that that may have made it more difficult to heal. so i guess overall i can't really give good advice about LIS. i don't know why it didn't work for me, odds are it will help you.

Oh, dear Chris - what a wonderful news !!!! Your infection is gone and fissure is behaving ! : )
If I were you and my fissure heals I would postpone LIS. If it opens again - than I would run for the knife !!! The only problem is that there is such a long waiting time for getting in ; (. I had that luxury of trying and waiting because both of my CRSs promised to squeeze me in within 2 week period since it is 30 min procedure from beginning to the end. LIS itself is about 5-10 min.
Good luck Chris !!! Keep us posted !!!!

I'd get the surgery done even if you feel better. These babies come back and you need to try to nip it in the butt once and for all and hopefully be done with it.......pep talk for myself as well hehe

I understand you Erin - I had it healed and it returned after 3 weeks only once and I was fed up !!! Mine was so painful that I was not able to function at all . I had 5 BMs a day that were hurting like hell PLUS spasms that were there 24/7. My biggest fear was to heal and than travel to Europe only to have it open again there - well, that would be utter disaster !!!
Good luck tomorrow !!!

Chris,

I am glad you are going for the LIS. I want you to feel better. Keep us posted. I am also glad the infection is gone. Are you having any pain now or bleeding? How close is you fissure to being healed? Well good luck and I will be thinking of you.

Patty

What a decision. It always seems to happen when you make a move in a direction, doesn't it? I am so glad you are healing but I know that makes it harder to know what to do and we're looking at April for surgery. (or March if you are lucky). I am like you, when I finally decide on something I just want to get it done. I think I would be tempted to get it done since it would probably reduce your risk of getting a fissure or a non-healing type wound but your bottom has been through so much.

No harm in scheduling and then cancelling if you need to.

Chris, I was facing the same thoughts. Hey, maybe I am healing I better not do it! I tried so hard to just plain chicken out, too. But I only had the past to be my guide, I really had not had any long runs of good days for seven months, what was really about to change?
So in the end I battled my surgery fears and won. Yes, he was right; after that first poo, (first two or three for me) for most people, it is all downhill. What is the longest good streak you've had? Would that qualify as healing?

Chris
I also felt like things were getting better about 1 week prior to my LIS. But I had a 2 year history of fissure & hemmies coming & going, so I figured things weren't going to change in a hurry, so I went through with the surgery. So far, 5 weeks later, it's all fine. No regrets. Happy I had it all done - skin tags, hemmies & polyps & the LIS.
Hope it all goes really well for you.

Thanks everyone for your replies. I am going through with it no matter what. Kim, you're right, though I was having a good day Weds and also yesterday, today I'm quite sore. So that makes a run of 2 good days and that's definitely not enough for me.
i wish April would hurry up and get here.