My next appointment is supposed to be 2 weeks from my surgery (last Friday) but I haven't got the confirmation for that yet. I took a lot of laxatives last night and painfully purged this AM. was the worst pain I have ever experienced, or perhaps it was painful like the hemorrhoidectomy I had 12 years ago! Didn't help that is was liquid but I don't think solid would have come out! I have a patch where my LIS site was that is now 'peeled off' and cauterized. About the size of a thumb nail is what the CRS said he was going to do-it's called wound debridement. Not only do my muscles absolutely refuse to relax and let anything pass on that side but the second my BM touches it I get the worst spasms and get nauseous and almost pass out. I did not see this coming. Had no idea he wanted to remove that much skin! After all that purging (2.5 days worth of food-I have never skipped a day in like 10 years) it is throbbing down there like a free nerve ending! My gurgling gut won't let me take anything other than acetaminophen for it so I tried an ice pack for a bit. Will have to keep with that as it may have helped some. I sure hope my body can somehow amazingly heal through this daily trauma. My pelvic floor is most uncooperative

Anyway, I find it really interesting that these bumps are all on the incision side. That is what I had form. It was one long weird-shaped half-clover (as my CRS put it) that went from front to back on the incision side. It was an abcess. It would ooze puss and serous (yellow) fluid and get better with antibiotics but then kept coming back. That is what lead to the surgery I just had. Many times I remarked how that swelled up area felt just like strangulated hemmies! Not to alarm you but it sounds like you may not have hemmies there. Maybe it's just post-surgical swelling. I was told that would take up to 10 weeks to normalize.

I cannot believe that you can even type after such a traumatic episode, and I know HUGE pain in that area far too well myself. I have actually wanted to die and been vomiting as well in the past, so am just dying here on your behalf.

I hope that I don't have an abcess, but from everything that I've read, it should be red in colour and perhaps discharge (I have none). I have also read that the pain should be constant and I have none whatsoever, unless I touch it with my finger, or accidentally with the toilet paper after I urinate. The other hemmies are all separate from each other too, with this smaller one about the third of five. They all run between the anus and the incision in a little line. They were there as soon I as came out of the OR though, and that seems odd for an abscess as well.

Thanks again for your reply and I'm really hoping that tomorrow is better for you than today was!

Thanks so much Chacha. I really don't feel like anyone else understands how painful this all can be, especially my husband. I feel like he thinks I am over reacting. I can't believe my muscles can still spam like this. I thought the LIS would take care of that. Although I mainly feel it on the surgical side and so it could be my pelvic floor then

My swelling was there the moment I left the OR too. WTF do they DO to us wen we are out?! When I went to sit and put on my clothes to leave the hospital I felt like I had a donut stuffed between my buttcheeks! That came down very slowly but then got infected:( I certainly would be hopeful that yours is just swelling that will improve. Sounds like it already is which is great. I am so glad your pain is relieved. Hang in there. Better times are around the corner.

I found a couple sites that may interest you if you are bored (and slightly technosavy):

http://www.audiobooks.com/landing/page/ ... oC5FLw_wcB

http://www.openculture.com/freeaudiobooks

Of course, you can buy audiobooks on iTunes as well.

I'm so sorry to hear that you don't think that your husband understands. I'm very lucky on that front and my husband fully "gets" it and thinks that I'm a very strong woman for even bearing half of it. I have to admit though, that if I had experienced what you have so far (I honestly don't know if I could go back for any procedure at this point), I may have been on my knees begging for an ileostomy. My mother had one after having rectal cancer, and the thought of it makes me nauseous, but I don't know if I could have had as much done as you have, and not at least considered going that route. I can't believe that you're still spasming either - I wonder why? Do you have a great CRS? Did you do any research into their work before going through with these surgeries? And have you thought about asking for a new doctor at this point? Maybe someone who could finally fix things up for you down there?

My swelling was never donut-sized, and my husband said that the four (plus the original sentinel pile) swellings were about the size of marbles to start off with, but are now the size of peas (except for the smaller, and only painful, one).

May I be rude enough to ask how old you are? And where you're located?

Thanks for the audiobook links. I'll take a look at them tomorrow.

Hi Chachacha, thanks for the update. I totally sympathize with you re the post-surgery hemorrhoids (which is what I prefer to call them instead of skin tags, but apples/oranges I suppose.) I have a few, two on the LIS side and one on the incision side.

They developed over the first week, got really big, then settled down somewhat but are now back plaguing me a lot. In fact, I'm about at the 10 week mark of LIS/hem/sentinel tag surgery, and for the past few weeks I'd say this hem/tag pain rivals my actual surgery recovery for discomfort. Some days are different, but I have a hard time sitting in one position for very long, and the pain really sucks b/c it is just like the awful hem pain I had pre-surgery.

BTW: When documenting my recovery early on I confused the hem on the incision side with what I thought was the Sentinel Tag that was removed.

What I've found most distressing was that while these hem/tags had been getting smaller/healing, and my CRS had been very pleased when I last saw him on Jan 10th, on Jan 23rd a taxi I had called to get me to an important appointment took off on me (my bad, I was dawdling) so I called the company, got put on hold, then realized I had 25 minutes to get a great distance. I grabbed bus fare, hustled two blocks to the main street, and was unbelievably lucky to have a cab cruise by (not the original one.) The good news is was in time for my appointment, the bad news is the stress pretty much reversed the hard work my body had been doing to clear this up. Stress is a kicker for this? Not good, not good at all.

I'm using Calmoseptine, usually just once a day, and it relieves the pain significantly. I'm trying not to use too much Tramacet, the prescription pain pill, but have been using about 1 every few days.

I next see my CRS on Mar 9th, but am happy with my Naturopath. These guys have 3 years pre-Med plus 3 years Naturopathic training. My rectum has a lot of inflammation -- and it is crucial not to get the zinc oxide accidentally inside -- which is due to too much yeast. I had my stool tested and my poor gut is in a roiling mess. Actually since I'm here want to hear how he summarized the test for me? We had discussed it, but I wanted something concrete I could tell my husband rather than, "Um, Turk's Mom not good." He feels if we get this inflamation improved the hem's will clear up a lot faster.

=====================

NATUROPATH SAID:

You have an imbalanced bacteria and overgrown of three different types of yeast, Candida Albicans, Cryptococcus Diffluens and Rhodotorula Mucilaginosa . There was also some blood found in your sample. Along with this there was elevated secretory IgA, which means the immune system of your gut is overreactive right now. Which will lead to more inflammation. This is most likely due to the overgrowth of all these bugs and our plan it to clear up the bugs and clean up your gut environment so that it will heal and you will have less inflammation resulting in your symptoms improving. I hope this helps and keep up the good work!

=====================

So, okay here comes doom-and-gloom me again. Here goes:

I'm really confused as to just how many people get these hem/skin tag post surgery growths. I'm thinking MANY MORE then are talking about it. My CRS told me they should lessen within three months, but the way I'm feeling now, plus with the eruption when anxious (see above post) I'm feeling rather heavy hearted.

I want to be able to sit down if/when I want. I want to not be in pain. This is why I had surgery in the first place. My recovery had been pretty swift in many ways but now not so much.

I think this is something that people either just don't talk about, and I've had a hard time finding info in this group, except for one memorable post that stuck in my mind about how 1 year post surgery one persons post-surgical hem's only bother when stressed. Yikes. I just feel this may be my Kryptonite. Grrr.

I'd asked for info/suggestions about this before with no luck. Here's hoping others who have been through this might chime in?

And...and...and...I have to say I ADORE audiobooks! I've actually been addicted to them for eons. Just wonderful. Most libraries have a good selection, and they truly would be a great way to pass the time while convalescing.

My LIS and fissure are on the same side, which really surprised me, because my CRS told me that the sphincterotomy is done "opposite" the fissure. Or are you saying that you had LIS on one side, and then a separate incision for the hemmorhoidectomy on the other? I only had LIS and my sentinel tag wasn't removed either. It never caused me pain though, and still doesn't, but these other new hemmies are my only problem now. I would love to be able to sit when I want to as well!

I'm not taking any pain pills, but would love to apply something topically to the painful roid in the middle of the line of new "eruptions". As mentioned above, it doesn't hurt unless I press on it, but I wish that I had a cream that would help it heal faster. I may email my surgeon tomorrow to ask if he could suggest something for me.

So sorry to hear that you were so stressed, and that it made things so much worse. I was very frantic during my first week post-op, but am now just annoyed and frustrated. I hope that you don't have another flare-up soon.

I wish that I'd been told about the possibility of external hemmorhoids before the surgery, because to be honest, I may not have gone through with it because of my previous experience with the acute/strangulated/thrombosed ones I'd had before on three separate occasions.

I hope that things start to improve for you soon - and thank you so much for sharing your story!

chachacha wrote:Or are you saying that you had LIS on one side, and then a separate incision for the hemmorhoidectomy on the other?

I'm not sure how the CRS got to the hem's, from the top inward but as far as I know, LIS incision is on the opposite side of fissure. I never knew where they were to tell you the truth. I did have two fissure's at some point, although I didn't have any when operated on. However, on the incision side there is a definite old scar that could only have been a fissure.

I am so used to this Anal Fissure group that I really haven't spent hardly any time investigating other online groups that talk about the healing of hemorrhoids. One thing I didn't mention is that my hem area before surgery was extremely puffy, and after surgery it was much better. Unfortunately, this past month things are getting more inflamed, which, here's hoping, has to do with, well, my inflamation, and the kooky ups and downs of post surgery life.

Barrier type creams won't heal the hemorrhoids but they make things much more comfortable.

Fwiw, I too am a Canuck on the West Coast.

Turk's mom

I don't even know if I need to find a way to heal these hemmorhoids, because they may only be a temporary blip directly related to the surgery.

A lot of Canucks on here!

Good luck with your healing and hopefully you'll reach the light soon.