That's great news!! I'm so glad the tests came back clear and that you are not in so much pain. Wonderful! :)

Dexter, do you (or anyone reading this post) live alone? I am having a skin tag removed and a fistula operated on. Will I be able to handle things alone I wonder?
Thank you for sharing your surgery experience with us. It gives me hope that I may have a decent recovery!

Aww, Summer, it won't be nice if you have no-one to help you out immediately after surgery. Do you know anyone who could just help out for a day or so? I mean, it is possible to cope with it on your own, but it would make the recovery process a lot more pleasant if you had someone even just being there making sure you're ok. You wont feel much like cooking or anything for a couple of days at least.

Agree with val. You can do it alone, but it's way better if you have someone pampering you. I would say the first two days are rough, then it starts to slowly get better. But if you don't have anyone, don't be too down: just take the pain meds and you should be able do walk around the house fine.

How are you today Dexter?? Still on the mend, I hope?

Thanks Dexter and Val. I could go to my dad's house or maybe see if the doctor would order a home health care person for a couple of days. And ditto what Val said...I hope you are still on the mend and each day gets better Dexter!

Hey! Today was a bit of a weird day:
1. Had some pain during BM, and very little after. Not bad during BM, but it was there...almost like it's getting tighter again.
2. During the day had from time to dime some dull pain from the wound site, maybe a 1-2 on a scale of 10. Came and went.
3. In the evening walked about a bit and at some point going up some stairs had some sharp stabbing pain from the wound site. Now resting in bed, mainly no pain, but from time to time a sharp stab.
I don't know exactly what this means. There is no blood with BM and the area looks no different than until now. Let's see what tomorrow brings I guess. Overall I would say though that things are improving :)

Hey Dexter, that's exactly what I've been having today - a sharp stabbing deep in the wound that just comes on suddenly out of nowhere! Maybe its just the wound closing? I remember it happening after my surgery before.

with regards to sharp stabbing feelings - i think there is a term some AF peeps coined this as but i forgot what it was! - these will come and go and will play tricks with your head.
as nerve endings are finding their way back to a normalcy and your wounds healing, there will be feedback for your body.
i had some odd feelings the first month but they way resolved - on their own - and i've had 2 post-op check ups already.
just keep tabs on when they happen and if they can be associated with any difficult BMs post-surgery.

Major WTF today: i woke up all fine no pain, and just wiped a bit out of habit. Imagine my surprise and horror when the TP was soaked in fresh blood. I wiped again a few times, more blood.
Then proceeded to shower the area for a few minutes, with blood still coming out. I was beginning to panic. Felt the need for a BM.
Suprisingly the BM was not bad. Very little pain, no blood! So I washed again for like 5 minutes and thought "ok, it's over, whatever it was".
Then, as I wanted to lie in bed, it started again. More blood, wouldn't stop. Washed it some more, still wouldn't stop. As I panicked and called the emergency number, I actually had it dripping on the floor *horror* *shock*. Still no pain! In fact, the whole area felt REALLY relaxed.
So the ambulance comes 15 minutes later and behold, the bleeding stopped in the meantime. They took me to the ER, I sat (didn't lie down) all the way, still no blood. In the ER a surgeon came by and did the finger thing: this hurt quite a bit...but still no blood.
Then some time later he returned with another surgeon who was actually a CRS (my doc was off today). This dude just examined the area, no more finger exam, and then told me this: there is a critical period between 7 and 12 days post-op. During this period the granulation tissue starts to build up and the area is extremely sensitive, to the point that even a wrong movement can cause it to break apart and bleed. That's what he thought happened to me.
So, since there was no more bleeding they sent me home and told me if it happens again, I will have a scope examination probably under GA. But they told me to really not worry as this happens sometimes and as long as it stopped by itself it can't be something major.
Now I just got home and am pretty confident (the docs told me in any case i can lose up to 1l of blood with no problems, but most likely in my case it was less than 100ml, cause it really spreads out fast; also they did a red cell count which told them i lost no significant quantity of blood, plus some other tests which all came back fine). Still, I think I now have a new nightmare to look forward to...and i mean an actual nightmare, getting up in the morning soaked in blood, just cause I made a wrong move during the night.
Otherwise, doing good, no pain, BM was less painful than yesterday and pain went away in like 5 minutes, even though i forgot to take the pain pill at the time due to shock :)