Patt here. It has been about two weeks and I still can't believe how easy this was--feel odd even calling it surgery. I saw my surgeon last Friday and he said I had two very large, involved fissures. I told him about the various posts on this site and problems people had. He said many surgeons are too aggressive with LIS and that's what causes the problems. He doesn't routinely remove the tags because he said that can cause the sphincter to continue to spasm and results in a more difficult (and often unsuccessful) healing. One of my tags got swollen after the surgery and caused a little bleeding and irritation, but nothing more than that.
I don't know what's down the road, but the two weeks since the surgery have been the most comfortable for me in the past nine years.
Now, a little advice for those who need to take sitz baths: For about $15, you can buy a small container made especially for sitz baths. It fits onto your toilet, has a drain so it can't overflow, and you don't have to run an entire bathtub full of water. I don't particularly like baths and hated the time it took to run the water, crawl in and out of the tub, etc. The toilet container meant less fuss and I ended up actually soaking 3-4 times a day like the doctor advised.
Finally, FYI--I'm 59, so we can't chalk up the healing to youth!

Patt,
Congrats on the good report. Posts like yours give hope to many who are still suffering!!

I personally felt/feel the bath tub puts less pressure on the butt and started to really improve once I switched to the tub from the sitz bath, but maybe everyone is different with that.
Cheryl

congrats on the success patth hope it continues for you trust me after reading your message i'm going to get LIS asap

Congrats : ))) !!!!! It is great to hear a happy ending and it does happen for most people : )) !!!!
I preferred bath-tub - could sit nicely and comfortably for 20 min or longer and kept my water nice and warm for the long time : ) which sitz-bath could not : (.
Regarding tags, I actually developed a problem because it was not removed during my first LIS !!!! Only after removal of both tags I had a complete healing !
Yes, it was more pain but definitely worth it ; ) !!!!
Everybody is different, I guess and every case too ...