by NickF » 05 Dec 2017, 11:43
Well best of luck to you Katie. It sounds like you are in a similar position to some of us that decided that this was the only option left.
I don’t know if this will help ease your mind, but’s it’s way I see it. When you have no other choice but to try something in an attempt to be free of extreme pain, as long as that attempt won’t kill you, it has to be worth a try. I don’t know what your background is so I can’t comment on why your surgeon was so reluctant to do a LIS. But all the surgeons I met were reluctant for these reasons:
1) it could make me incontinent due to underlying inflammatory bowel disease. I’d rather be incontinent than in pain
2) the level of inflammation in my rectum could mean that I have an unhealed wound with infections, abscesses etc. I’d rather they try and they can deal with that later than stay in pain.
3) a high level of inflammation in my rectum could result in uncontrollable bleeding like this surgeon experienced with a different anal operation on a patient with crohns. I’m in a hospital, no better place to have uncontrollable bleeding.
4) it won’t work. Well it won’t heal if they don’t try either.
And 5) it could all be a disaster. It doesn’t work, I get infections, a fistula as well as a fissure and everything is the worst it could be. So I have an ostomy of sorts. Again, I’d rather have that than a life of pain
I guess what I’m trying to say here is that there will always be a level of risk. For some of us, it will be significantly higher than others. But you reach a stage where that pain is too great to bear anymore and you accept the risks and potential consequences. No one other than you can decide where that tipping point is. But it’s usually years when you are someone who is at high risk for this operation.
I wish you the best of luck Katie. And if you do decide to go through with it, remember that in the vast majority of cases, even for people with underlying conditions (and I don’t know if you have one), this is a very successful operation in the hands of a good surgeon.
Please let me know you get on!