My path towards healing has been, unlike my fissure, nonlinear. Sometimes I experience several painless bowel movements in a row, and I start to get optimistic that I'm on the road to recovery, only to get sucker punched by throbbing pain and spasms after my next BM. Sometimes I don't experience pain until up to four hours after my bowel movement. I don't want to get too graphic with the visuals, but the tear itself has looked more or less the same. Maybe it's fading a little bit, but maybe that's just what I want to see. There hasn't been much blood though.
I finally saw a gastroenterologist about about six weeks after that fateful re-tear. She told me to, every day, drink at least 2 liters of water, take two Coalce pills, drink two teaspoons of Metamucil and take two sitz baths for half an hour each. I admittedly hadn't been taking sitz baths before that point, due to an irrational fear of infection. It's been about three weeks since that doctor's visit (nearly nine weeks since the fissure's emergence) and the pain seems to be a bit more under control. I still occasionally get spasms, but they no longer feel like a shiv slicing through my rectum. I still only take one stiz bath a day though - I live with two roommates and there's simply just not enough hot water.
What concerns me is the actual physical appearance of my fissure. Even after the sitz baths, Colace pills and spoonfuls of Metamucil - it still doesn't appear to have faded at all. It still glares at me as a clear, sharp, angry line. My doctor said to schedule another appointment if it doesn't go away in four weeks, and I'm nearing my deadline. So I guess I'm wondering if anybody who's been lucky enough to see a fissure heal can tell me what it looked like, how long it took, and if I need to start getting worried about prescription treatments, or worse, surgery. Thanks in advance.
-- Avery
