Day 13 (Wed, 11/4): Had my post-op today. CRS reports that things are looking good, and that I have passed the point where infection is a concern. She predicts a full healing in another 4-6 weeks. So it's a new bum for Christmas this year. LOL. All in all, it's been a test of patience more than anything. Now that I am not having pain and soreness with every BM, my outlook is vastly improved.

Day 18 (Mon, 11/9): Pretty much back to normal as far as using the bathroom goes. I don't miss the gauze or the stinging. It's nice not to be homebound for #2s. My CRS provided a good report, says it'll be about four more weeks before total healing. Advised that I should be able to resume sexual activity in another 10 days or so. The area looks really good - I feel slight pulling and itching sometimes down under but no blood. I've started dilating a bit each day to loosen the muscle and help promote healing.

Glad to hear it! Thanks for sharing your storey :)

Day 28 (Thurs, 11/19): Hard to believe it's been a full four weeks since surgery. I'll be honest if you had asked me on Day 7 if I'd be doing this well at Day 28 I'd have had my doubts. No sensation of any weird nature down under, and although fissure is not totally gone the tag is and the area looks like a "normal" anus. You'll be amazed how quickly things heal beyond that 14 day mark.

A year later - it occurred to me that I'm coming up on my anniversary of LIS. Although the experience wasn't easy - I have to say that the six months of fissure pain that I endured is long gone, my ability to move my bowels is far and away easier than it was in the past, and you would never know that I had it by appearance. It was worth it for quality of life, and incidentally once I allowed myself to fully heal (a couple more months), anal sex was AWESOME (don't be judgmental - being able to do this is important to some people especially gay men). I am really thankful I did this and stopped avoiding surgery out of fear. I was diligent in recovery and would tell anyone with chronic fissure - bite the bullet, and go for it. Look into who in your area is a strong, communicative colorectal surgeon, if you are in the LGBT population try and gauge who is LGBT friendly in your area (I had a straight, but understanding female CRS who took my quality of life and sexual impacts seriously and didn't shrug them off as unimportant). Good luck to all.

Thanks for the detailed post I'm due to have my LIS in a few weeks and it really does help to hear others stories....think you are very brave to have anal sex again after the agony of a fissure....I'm a straight female and even vaginal sex sets off the horrendous spasms...so hoping LIS will stop that,
Pleased you are back to normal and feeling good

Hi rufftime,

Thank you so much for the post. I had my LIS 2 months ago. My doc said I was healed and said I could resume anal sex but try one did not go as I had hoped. Hearing your response puts me at ease to think I just need more time, not necessarily "done for" in that department.