by tightbutt5678 » 15 Jul 2019, 20:17
2 WEEKS POST-OP
Yesterday I had my follow-up appointment with my CRS and he said that the surgery site looks fine and that things are healing up nicely. I did experience a small amount of pain when he examined which was a bit annoying. I always get stressed that certain things like that are setbacks in some way to the healing but I know I need to just look forward.
Summary of my progress so far:
Diet:
I have relaxed a little with my diet and am trying to eat things here and there that aren't on my usual boring meal plan. Still healthy eating of course but trying to slowly become a bit more flexible. I still do 1 movicol and magnesium to keep stools soft.
Pain:
Since surgery I have been almost completely pain-free! I have noticed that if there is a harder BM or a hard tip, I will have pain level 1 or discomfort but nothing more than that and it lasts a few seconds. The rest of the day I am totally pain-free. In other words pain-wise it is significantly better than before the surgery.
Incontinence:
I have had zero incontinence with gas and stools. Definitely no issues there. At most, there is maybe a tiny tiny bit of leakage around the site which I will only notice when I have a sitz bath a few hours after my BM. This is just a couple of tiny specks in the water but nothing of concern. No staining or soiling in underwear whatsoever.
Exercise:
I was walking for exercise already around day 4 or 5 post op then gradually started to walk more and was doing 1 hour uphill walks soon after. Today I will go to the gym for the first time and will hopefully keep this up on a daily basis for a while and gradually increase intensity.
Bleeding:
I had a tiny bit of blood on the toilet paper 3 days ago which concerned me. I know it was because I had overeaten a little the day before. This was the only time I saw blood apart from the first day after surgery when things were very raw still.
Pain meds:
I never took anything strong that the doc prescribed. I would take panadol and ibuprofen right after surgery but I never really felt sore enough to take it. I took it as a precaution and didn't mind doing so as they are very mild anyway. These days I actually take one ibuprofen when I wake up to get ahead of any potential pain of a BM. I don't think it's necessary at all, but it does help me relax psychologically and as a result, 95% of my BMs are completely pain-free. If I forget to take ibuprofen beforehand, I have noticed some discomfort but I don't know how much of this is due to my own tensing up or the lack of pain-killer. I have given myself 1 more week of doing this then I will stop the morning dose and will be 100% without painkillers.
Mental Health:
Well, it has improved significantly since surgery. Being able to get through a whole day with zero spasms or tightness is just the best and makes me feel more and more like a normal person again. I still need to keep reminding myself that healing can take longer for some and that I need to be patient but am also very happy with how things are going so far.
Full healing:
My CRS said that full healing is usually around 6 weeks. I really hope that 4 weeks from now I will be here with some good news!
Work:
Given that I flew home to Adelaide for surgery, I am still here and therefore not working yet. This has been awesome for recovery but I am craving getting back asap. My work is based in Europe so I feel it is too early to take a long-haul flight and get straight back into it but will probably fly back around the 6-week post-op mark. I think most people only take 1 or 2 weeks then are back at work and I definitely could have been working already 1 week post-op with how I was feeling.
Overall I am extremely glad that I had the surgery and hope that things just keep getting better from here onwards! :)
- February 2019 : Fissure
- Tried all of the creams, perfecting the diet, self dilation
- Reduced symptoms significantly but still not healed
- July 2019 : LIS with tag removal