Hi Folks,
Well, after canceling two previously scheduled LIS surgeries, I finally bit the bullet and had the LIS surgery done this past Wednesday. I suppose three is a charm.
The pre-surgery prep was a breeze other than the fact that I could not eat or drink anything after midnight and my surgery was scheduled for 12:45 the next day. It was torture laying on the hospital bed waiting for my Colo/Rectal surgeon to make his appearance. It was worse when I could hear the nurses talking among themselves wondering where the doctor was. One of the nurses poked her head in and said, "We don't know where your doctor is so we are paging him now." Every minute that went by was torture because it was another minute I had to think about what was about to come. An hour later, I was being wheeled into the operating room.
When I heard that they were giving me a spinal anesthesia, I balked. I told the doctor that I would just prefer for them to knock me out. He protested and said that he preferred the spinal because it allows your back end to completely relax which makes his job easier. I quickly gave in and they moved forward with the spinal which was no big deal. I heard that getting a spinal can be a real pain in the back, but I really don't remember them giving it to me. Partly because they injected me with Valium (or something simliar) that put me into la la land.
Let's put it this way. I think I was in and out of conciousness because I really don't remember much of the surgery. What I do remember was asking the assistant who was standing over me "how much longer before the surgery gets underway?" He laughed and said, "In about 30 seconds, the surgery is going to be complete." I had no idea that the doc was cutting into me.
Once in the recovery room, the nurse gave me all the post operation instructions. She said, "Don't fool around with your pain medication. It will take about an hour for it to take effect so make sure you take it immediately before the anesthesia wears off." The perscription was for the high powered pain med, Percocet. I had the perscription filled. However, I went against the nurses recommendation, I decided to roll the dice and see if I really did need this powerful pain killer to my astonishment, I never needed it.
I did ask my surgeon what my chances of going "up north for the weekend" would be and he said, "zero to none." That was a pretty clear indication that I was not going to be whistling Dixie anytime soon.
Going into Day 4 post surgery and I can tell you the recovery is MUCH better than I ever anticipated. Let's put it this way, morning after my surgery, I was out mowing my lawn and shooting archery in my backyard. Yeah. There was some tenderness and some bouts of pain, but nothing to the extent that would have me laying on the floor. I have no problem sitting or doing any normal every day activity but I do use an element of caution and don't get too carried away.
Don't get me wrong. Nobody is escaping this kind of surgery without at least a moderate level of pain. What I am doing is taking two Advil every four hours to help with the inflamation and I'm taking roughly 5-8 sitz baths every day. I am also taking a liberal amount of Miralax to play it safe.
Like everyone else, I feared having a bowl movement and restricted my diet to a small package of oatmeal on the first day after the operation and drank a couple pots of hot tea. The next day, I did about the same thing but added a can of Campbell's chicken soup to the menu. Despite this, I was still fearful for what was to come. When the BM happened, it was pretty painful. The next two were also on the same pain scale. I immediately dove into the bathtub to help with the associated pain.
I'm going into Day 4 and I do have a little concern over an infection. Near the opening of the anus, I have a very tender lump which is on the same side as the stitches - the stitches are INSIDE the anus. I don't know if this lump is a normal side effect from surgery or if I have something else going on. If it still concerns me on Monday, I'm going to ask my surgeon to give me a quick evaluation in his office. We'll see what develops here but to be completely honest with you, I don't know how you CAN'T get an infection from such a surgery. You're passing stools over an open (stitched) wound? Just seems like an infection should be expected.
Thus far, everything is going forward quite well. I'll keep everyone posted on my progress.

Hi eagle, sounds like everything went well and you're doing the right things as far as the sitz baths go, stick with that regime for a good month or so which will help with the swelling and keep the area clean, I would get that lump checked out as it could be an abscess, then again it may just be swelling from the surgery trauma, have a look in the mirror, it took me a while to check out my anus after surgery and when I did I saw a huge black bruise around the opening but it was very neat, I expected it to be a bit butchered, you'll be surprised.

Glad to see you are doing well
Congratulations on having the courage to get your life back!!
I agree with Steve, get that lump checked out. Hopefully it's just swelling and will go away soon!
Did your doctor put you on any antibiotics after your procedure? I'm just curious because I will be having lis soon and they're giving me antibiotic.

Hi Steve and Dawn,
Believe it or not, the day after the surgery I took a look and I was surprised how 'neat' the procedure was. Like Steve, I was expecting it to look butchered but this was not the case. I had some minor bruising which has since gone away.
Today I noticed a slight improvement with the discomfort. My wife says I'm not walking like Herman Munster anymore so I may be turning that corner.
I'm a little up in the air with this lump. I think it may be reducing a little in size. Like I said before, the lump is right next to the opening so I got a little daring today in the mirror and actually pushed down on it a few times. What I was looking for is a 'pus' reaction but I did not see anything. Thus far, I don't have any other symptoms of an infection. No redness. No fever. No extreme pain (but there IS pain) and No general sickness feeling. Obviously, I will be closely monitoring this and will be on the phone right away with the doctors office should anything change for the worse.
My doctor did not issue me any antibiotics but there may be a reason for this. When I was researching this LIS surgery, I am to the understanding that if an abscess is present, the only way to resolve the issue is by draining the abscess through surgery. This particular article said that antibiotics alone will not cure the issue and it's next to impossible for the body to rid itself of such an infection alone.
On a side note, I want to thank you Steve for putting this forum together. It really is a great resource for those of us that are dealing with this lousy and embarrassing issue.
This is one of those ailments that you really don't ask the neighbor for their input. You know, "Hey Bob. I was wondering. Have you ever had an issue with your ass?"
I will say, many of the discussions that you read on LIS surgery is about the doom and gloom of individualized experiences that some of the less fortunate (like yourself) had with this surgery.
You'll see some discussions from folks that say they are going forward with the surgery and that they will keep everyone posted with the results and you never hear from them again.
One thing I'd like to throw out there for anyone that is considering this surgery is to understand that most folks do not go through the steps to post their experiences on the Internet.
Furthermore, my belief is, most folks don't find the need to do so. In other words, they had a positive experience with the surgery and they have moved on. I think it's more likely for folks to post on these forums who had a not so pleasant experience and they are rightfully so, looking for guidance.
Anyway, I made a personal pledge to post my LIS experience regardless of the outcome and fortunately for me, it's been so far so good. I hope the trend continues.
Good luck with your surgery Dawn! I'll send a prayer out your way for a smooth as silk recovery time. I'm confident that you'll be just fine. :D

Thanks AE,
It's interesting what you said about most folks going about their lives and not posting after this surgery. My husband and my CRS both told me this. I appreciate you taking the time to post your experience. It makes sense that the "rougher" recoveries would be posted because they are in need of support. It's been good to see a few who have had pretty uneventful recoveries come back and post on this board lately.
Good to hear that the lump doesn't seem to be anything. I have also read they have to drain an abscess. I've read others have been given the antibiotics to prevent any infection after surgery, but some haven't?! I know I'll be taking it and I'm a little worried because it caused me to have many loose bms when I took it before.
Did you only have lis? I'm having lis/skin tag removal. I had the option to leave the skin tag. Just wondering, do you think the lump you have is a skin tag from your fissure that may be swollen? I think it's optional to leave it.
Thanks for the prayers and support :) and if you have any advice or tips for recovery, please let me know.

Hey AE,
Glad to see your recovery is going well. I too have had a positive surgery/recovery experience. I'm 2+ weeks post-op and I couldn't be happier. I had some moderate discomfort from the surgery for a few days but after that I just felt the incision, not much else.
It’s just the nature of things that people with positive surgery outcomes drop from the forum. I can relate and will probably slowly start to fade from here at some point too. The emotional and mental anguish of a chronic anal fissure is gripping. Unless you’ve had one, you would never understand. Resolving this condition is like getting a new lease on life. I’m not saying that I’m completely healed. I still think it will be weeks before my fissure is completely healed but I honestly can no longer feel it. That in itself makes me feel like running through the streets yelling at the top of my lungs that I’m free. My life literally came rushing back to me and that’s a wonderful feeling. I no longer feel the need to devour every piece information about this condition so my mission on this forum now is to help show others that there can be positive outcomes to LIS.
I hope I can provide that somehow.

SC,
That is the purpose of this forum to pay it forward, I believe.
Cheryl

Hi Dawn,
Today the lump is less painful and I think it's getting a bit smaller. Time will tell but I think I'm headed in the right direction.
I really had to give this a little thought if it was swelling from a skin tag or not but that's not the case here. What I can tell you is I had a couple skin tags and noticed that they are not there. I guess the doc gave them the ole snip.
The mystery is out there on a couple things. For example, I had an unusual fissures that were located on the sides as opposed to the top. My surgeon explained to me that fissures located in this area are "unusual" and are suspect for an underlining problem such as cancer, Crohns Disease, Leukemia etc. etc. Needless to say, I'm a little edgy on the test results but to be completely honest with you, I'm not THAT concerned with this.
Here's why. I had a colonoscopy a year ago when this fissure was going on and Crohns, Irritable Bowel Syndrom and the like were ruled out. For the life of me, I don't understand why my surgeon did not take a biopsy when they were in there to begin with. That's a little perplexing to me.
Anyway, the fissure problem continued and my doctor said that surgery is my only option to get this resolved and then he reminded me that it could be cancer and surgery is the only way to make this kind of determination.
After the surgery the doctor told me and my family that there is "no problem" and seemed to be able to visually determine that this is not a cancer issue but he did take a biopsy to be sure. I think my doctor was expecting to see more going on than just a fissure going on when he got in there. Apparently, if the fissure is linked to cancer, there is some distinctive visual traits other than the fissure that point to this.
I don't think I have leukemia for the reason that I've had physicals and blood work taken over the course of the last couple years and I assume if I had something like this, it would have popped up during routine blood work.
I guess nothing is completely ruled out until the biopsy results are in but I remain optimistic. We'll see.
Here is the other thing. I THINK he removed the fissure when he took the biopsy -or- the fissure just got in the way of the LIS procedure because on the side of the anus there is a large empty space where skin was obviously removed. What I can tell you is this particular side has little pain. The side that has the pain is where the internal stitches are.
I am also a little confused because I hear folks talk about keeping the area clean to help prevent infection. What I will say is it's IMPOSSIBLE to keep this area clean because all the cutting was done inside the anus - not on the outside. That's why it seems to me that infection should be a high probability. I don't know if there is different ways they do this LIS surgery because the one I saw on You Tube seemed like the incision was made on the outside. Not in my case.
Concerning the antibiotics. You said, "I know I'll be taking it and I'm a little worried because it caused me to have many loose bms when I took it before." Trust me on this one, you want loose bms after surgery. In my opinion, the looser the better so I think this will work in your favor.
Here is the other thing. On the patient handout they gave me after my surgery, it said that I can eat "anything but use common sense." Guess what. I'm deliberately not eating just "anything" and I'm sticking to a pretty loose type of diet. Oatmeal, Chicken Soup with some snack foods like pretzels or whatever. I also take Miralax on top of this just to make sure I don't run into any traffic issues. I'm in Day 5 right now and just the thought of having a bm is nerve racking to say the least. They have been more mental torture than physical torture but there is pain associated with it. Every time, I immediately jump into the bathtub and take a 10-15 sitz bath which calms things down.
After my BM today, I was in a considerable amount of discomfort even after the sitz bath so I took two Advil's at 11 a.m. and went about my day. Right now it's 7:00 p.m. and there is no need to take any pain medication but later this evening, I will take two more Advil whether I need them or not to help with this minor swelling issue.
I will continue to give regular updates and God willing, I will keep running to the finish line without getting off course.

AE,
Wouldn't there be cuts on the outside of the anus if they took the skin tags off? I wonder if that's not the large empty space you see or either your crs did a fissurectomy.
I know Steve had that procedure with his LIS, so maybe he would know what it would look like.
If you had a fissurectomy , I wouldn't think advil would be enough Especially if you had 2 skin tags removed too.
How many Bm's are you having a day? I'm really worried about having too may after surgery. I have been having 3-4 a day lately and that's just eating 20-25 grams of fiber with stool softeners.
Are you taking any fiber supplements or just a stool softener?
I think the LIS incisions can be made inside or outside of the anus from what I've read on other post...
Do you know when your biopsy results will be back? I think it looks pretty good for you considering all the other tests and your doctors opinion. I know how nerve racking it can be, I had a lump removed from my breast about 10 years ago and it was benign and believe it or not I wasn't really all that worried for some reason but when I got the call with the results, it was a happy day to say the least...But like you, I just didn't feel like it was
I will be saying prayers for you and I hope your recovery remains up-hill.
I appreciate you sharing your experience.
I just want to add ,I agree about not eating anything. I'd stay on the fiber foods and soft, non constipating foods for awhile.

Hi Dawn,
Prior to the surgery the skin tags were easily visible to me. Strangely enough, I don't see any evidence from where they were removed. No pain in that area either. Pretty odd.
I know what you are saying about the pain associated with having a fissurectomy. In fact, the hole that was left is actually quite large and very little pain comes from this site. The bulk of my pain is where the stitches are and this swelling on the outside.
I made the decision this evening to make a visit to my surgeon tomorrow. I want him to take a look at this swelling to either rule in or rule out the possibility of an infection.
I am not taking any fiber supplements. The only thing I take is a half cap full of Miralax every day which keeps everything in check. I'm having one movement per day.
One thing you want to be careful of is your intake of fibers as this will produce gas. Let me tell you something, passing gas is one thing that is pretty painful. When I have the urge, I have to strategically let this creep out otherwise it will send me to the moon.
I know this sounds a little crazy but the best position I have found when having a BM is standing up. I have found that sitting down creates too much pressure and causes a great deal of discomfort. I only mention this because some may not be thinking there are multiple positions you can have a BM.
Obviously, I'm not out of the woods yet and I'm thinking more and more that the delay in the full recovery action is what I now suspect is an anorectal abscess I have going on. It is this issue alone that is the main source of my discomfort. Again, this could just be swelling from the stitches but one thing is certain, Advil is not reducing this area of inflammation.
Hopefully today, I'll have the verdict on this.
PS: Thank you so much for the prayer!! I don't know when the biopsy results will be in but no news is good news.