Congratulations! Have a speedy recovery!!!!! :D

Hey Scaredy_butt,
It's all very swollen down there. Don't get discouraged!
Do everything you know already that will give yourself a good start at healing this... You just had the surgery, so a couple of weeks should really show a difference in how things are going. It's hard to relax with the bm's when you are use to the shards of glass feeling. I was so tense down there in the beginning. That's where the valium came in handy. :)

Scaredy Butt, glad to hear you're all done with it now :) Rest up and hope everything goes smoothly! Don't worry about how things look just yet. It'll take a bit of time to settle down and you won't really know what it'll end up looking like for a while still.

wow, you already had your bm scaredy_butt?????
amazing!
just keep up the good work and let things heal.
don't worry too much and the stinging feeling is probably because something irritating hit an incision or opening...just make sure to soak it, wash it with non-irritating soap like baby's soap or aveeno, and keep it dry with your cotton/gauze on it in between soaks and bms.
now let's give ourselves 60 days to progress.....
it's too early to tell!
but good enough to celebrate that you got over the procedure and it wasn't this horrible experience everyone thinks it would be....
sleep well tonight and relax.

Happy,
with all due respect, I thought I read in some of your older post that you didn't think using soap down there was good?! Lol
My CRS said no soap! I'm curious about what others have been told by their CRS's? :)

My surgeon didn't say anything about using or not using soap. He just said that keeping the area clean is the hardest part. The nurse in the recovery room said it would be OK to use Epsom salts in the bath which I've been doing and after my bm last night I think I used a bit of soap. I've been using a gauze with Polysporin on it between my cheeks but to be totally honest I can't tell if theres been any discharge or not because I have my period too! I think there has been a yellowish serous drainage from my LIS site, but no blood.

After my LIS about six weeks ago, I had intense spasming, pinching, burning feelings with BMs--just like back in the worst of my fissure days, like what you describe. This was bad for maybe a week, then faded away. I also had discharge (blood) for a little over a week. By about two weeks out I was pretty much symptom-free. Six weeks later (knock on wood) things are looking good. From reading this forum I know everyone's different, but based on my experience I wouldn't worry at all about the pain with BMs so soon after the surgery, just give it a little time.

Hey scaredy_butt..
Never use soap down there as it can irritate the area, and yes it's quite a task to keep the bum clean, I used cotton wool balls soaked in warm water to dab away fecal matter after BM, it was a lengthy task but makes sure the anus is spotless, then I took a bath with Epsom Salts in (one cup full per bath) 4 times a day and did this religiously for well over 2 months, there's no doubt in my mind that this regime helped with bruising and swelling and helped stave off any risk of infection!

Hey S_B,
I got my period 3 days after my LIS too.
The discharge sounds pretty normal to me. I had the same thing and was scared to death that it was infection or something, but it eventually went away...
I was told not to use anything on my anus while it was healing, to just let it breath (air) until 4 weeks post-op then I got the ok for vaseline.

yes i have been skeptical at times with what i have seen in the literature and what my current CRS has told me.
it's kinda like the instructions on your surgery sheet when you go home after anal surgery - go back to your regular routine after 24 hours.
confirmed by the new CRS, she was like "i want you to be up and physical as soon as possible within reason - ie, don't be lifting weights or running marathons but you should be able to walk outside, get some physical exercise, etc." i was thinking, um, no way.
but by friday morning, i was out walking my pug.
**
anyway, yes i totally agree not to use soap on an active fissure in the sense to not put anything near or inside the anus with soap. i hate to admit but in my younger days, i would soap up my entire butt including the anus and somewhat the beginning of the inside.
**
since i have a lot of skin excisions, including the skin tag, the CRS did recommend to wash in soapy water. i didn't do the soap thing until about day 4.
my swelling has gone down tremendously as of this morning that i would say possibly having 3-5% swelling. i do have two excisions that are not closed up yet - a big one on one end and the area where Laverne & Shirley use to be.
**
the CRS said it would be okay to use the lidocaine 5% ointment to help with any pain down there and if i wanted to when i was ready and if needed, even use the diltiazem 2%.
the last three of days, i have actually started to apply the diltiazem since we have talked about that tightening feeling nearby the fissure/skin tag site. that seems to have helped with that. i am just applying those two externally. altho 1 of those days, i just had to insert my finger deeper and it was okay.
the last two days at work, 1/2 days, have been going well. it's nice to go to work and get a distraction of my mind being hyperobservant of how my ass is feeling every single moment.