Hey all,
I'm Lisa. I have been following this forum for a few months now. I haven't posted anything, but have been taking all the advice from the forum as I can. I have been dealing with a chronic fissure for a while now. Pain comes and goes...At first, I saw a doc that made the situation 10 times worse with antique approaches. It didn't take me long to get a second opinion. I got a second opinion and trust this doctor much more. After trying several conservative approaches through him, I saw my doc last Monday and we decided on surgery tomorrow. I am on break right now from school, so I have a small window to recover. I am scared to death...so, any advice on things to get before surgery would be much appreciated. I have read a lot on here but anything that will make the recovery easier would be great to know. My fissure doesn't really bother me that much at all right now. It tends to flare up every once in a while, but right now, it hasn't been bothering me much. I am going to go ahead and have the surgery now though while I can. I have a small window to recover and have awesome insurance for one more month before I switch to horrible insurance, so all the more reason to have the procedure now rather than later.
If my fissure isn't bothering me much right now, will that possibly make the recovery better or maybe faster?..Just hoping..
All I know is that the first doc I went to did some procedure that left me in excruciating pain and with horrible spasms for like two days after. I am just really hoping that having the surgery won't do the same...that was the most horrible thing I have ever had done.
Thanks ahead of time to any advice!

Hi Lisa, and good luck for tomorrow. I am 7 weeks post Lis and i am very glad i done it. As you have prob read its not as bad as you think its going to be. just go with the flow after take all the baths you need and rest oh and eat well and keep up your fibre sups and stool softeners if you are on them now. I never took stool softeners till the surgery day and i had some for the 2 days after because of the pain killers so i wanted to be on the safe side. and a good tip i got off Dawn was to use wet warm cotton wool to clean that area, which i still use now.
Like you i felt good before surgery but i dont know if it helped with the recovery then and now. I just want to add some people recover really fast with in a few weeks and others take longer eg a few months.
any thing you want to ask fire away!
good luck

I haven't had my surgery yet, I'm booked for the 25th of this month. I'm looking forward to it actually. Like you and Salt Bather my fissure doesn't cause too much pain anymore, it's just so annoying and I bleed quite a lot so I am looking forward to that all stopping!
I will be thinking of you tomorrow, and will be anxious to hear how things go!
Congratulations on making the decision to go for it and get back to a normal life!

Good Luck scaredy butt and Lisa!! I had Lis/ skin tag removal almost 3 months ago- best decision I ever made with my fissure!
Like New mum said continue with your regimens that have kept your bm's soft and regular through out your recovery! Take your warm baths, lay around "off "of your butt for as long as you can....
You will be sore but shouldn't have spasms. For most people they are gone immediately. I had some but was called in some valium which stopped them immediately.
I know this surgery is very scary. I was a mess before mine but I just want to say, it was not as bad as I had imagined and feared!
Take care:)

pss...Lisa, I got so tired of Drs. doing exams on my rear before I was even diagnosed! I always left feeling much worse than when I came. I didn't trust anyone, not even the CRS who did my surgery until it was done and over and I knew by the success of my surgery that she knew what she was doing,Lol.

Best of luck, and let us know how it goes if you want. I haven't had LIS, but I am anticipating that I'll be a candidate for it in a couple months, so it's interesting to read about people's experiences.

Thanks and I really hope it isn't as bad as I am imagining. Yes, the checkups were a nightmare. I think the history of them is what is scaring me about today.. I hope I can get on here later tonight and say it was no big deal. :D I'll definitely let you guys know how it goes...time to go to Walgreens and then here goes nothing...

Hey Lisa,
Just wanted to say that your butt will be numb the first day-most likely. Just take it easy and don't over do it. You will probably be the sorest the first few days but I don't think it will be nothing you cant handle:) Take your pain meds and maybe miralax to keep the bm's from getting hard or constipated. I quit the vicodin after the second day and just took tylenol/ ibuprofen.
Good Luck!

Hey Lisa, hope it goes well for you. I expect you've had it by now, fingers crossed for you. Spend as many days now off your bum, lay on your side or sit with a lean. Above all do not rush back into doing things.

Ok..So, I did it!
The experience was nothing like I thought it would be. I was really thinking I wouldn't be all the way asleep and I would feel something or wake up to my butt hurting like hell. But, the surgery itself was a piece of cake. I spent like 3 hours in pre-op freaking out clinging to my bf for no reason. The magic cocktail that they gave me was awesome! I could have cared less about what they were doing and this was after I was practically hyperventilating before they gave me it. They had me awake enough to climb over onto the operating bed which was like 5 big pillows which after the cocktail felt a lot like a cloud..so I moved over and went to sleep immediately.
Woke up after with no pain. I was completely numb and stayed that way all until about 3 am this morning when I guess it had worn off. I was even able to eat a big meal...take a percocet and go right to bed after leaving the hospital.
So, now there is pain, but it's more of a burning sensation than normal fissure pain or spasm pain. I definitely keep thinking of that saying..If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck...cuz that is definitely me today.
The lidocaine ointment is really helping a lot. I took a short bath at 3am just because I was sort of trying everything to figure out what would help the burning pain. The percocets are helping but they make me really nauseous when I first take them. I haven't had a bm yet and skipped my morning coffee today cuz I am scared to death to have one. I haven't had any drainage yet since the initial bandages, so I'm not wearing any pad or anything. I definitely have a constant burning sensation which is highly annoying and definitely kinda painful....
Do you guys think that I will a lot better by Monday? I know the first few days are the worst...because, in addition to my butt surgery, I also HAVE TO have my wisdom teeth pulled. I have two. Once again, my insurance is only this awesome for a month and I go back to school on the 16th. I was able to put myself on my mother's insurance for this month only because I am about to be 26. Since I am in school full time again, I had this window of opportunity to have everything paid through her awesome insurance. My insurance doesn't cover any of this really. So, my wisdom teeth were already scheduled for Monday. I don't want to push them further ahead if I don't have to because I do need to do some studying and running around before I go back to school. Do you guys think I will be well enough to deal with that in addition to this by Monday? I don't really have much of a choice. I could possibly push it ahead by like 2 days if absolutely needed, but I really hope I don't have to.