i am so impressed scaredy_butt by reading your other post response that you are out having your hair colored!
awesome.
keep up the good healing. isn't it weird that it feels like if we didn't go through anything surgically.
altho for me that changed a bit around day 6 i think. but it still isn't any compared to what i thought i would be feeling. i thank God for everything.

Oh man! I had just written huge post, and I hit some weird sort of key combination and now it's all gone! GRRRRR! The kids are waiting for me to take them to the park so I will have to try and post again when we get back!

Ok, lets try this again. So today is day 12 (13 if you count surgery day as day 1) post LIS. Things seem to be getting better and better.
The discharge seems to be gone, except for after BM's. I no longer use a gauze except for after BM's. Seems I need to have another bath and clean again about 1-2 hours after.
The minimal pain I had after surgery is completely gone. I can't tell anything happened down there. I did have a couple of loose BM's which left the burning sensation afterwards, but that's about it. Of the last 3 BM's I've had, 2 of them caused no pain whatsoever and there was no bleeding. I nearly broke down in tears of joy on the toilet. I had a BM today that caused a slight pinching sensation right at the beginning but was pain free after that. There was a bit of blood on the toilet paper, but I am assuming that it was from the fissure which certainly can't be healed already. I suspect that the bleeding is normal for this stage. The pain came from the spot where the skin tag was removed, which is also where the biggest fissure was. I am still bathing 2-3 times a day.
I don't have to strain for BM's anymore, just a small push. I sit there waiting for the feeling of the BM passing my internal sphincter and stretching it, and all the bleeding and pain that used to come with it, but it doesn't come. It's wonderful. Things seem to just pass right on by the ol' internal sphincter now! How lovely.
I got a copy of my operative report. The incision was made at the 3 o'clock position, I would say the skin tag was between 12 and 1 o'clock so everything took place at almost the same spot which is why the only pain I felt was there. I had versed, fentanyl and propafol during surgery, I was not intubated, but had an LMA inserted. The skin tag was removed with cautery. At the end of the surgery, the Dr. injected marcaine (like lidocaine) into the whole area. Apparently I had a long posterior fissure, whatever that means, and also some fissures on the right side, but no skin tags there. I was returned to recovery in good condition the report says! It's funny to read about what happened in the surgery because I don't remember a darn thing! They inserted some sort of device in order to put the "sphincter on the stretch" it says. YIKES! I imagine that would hurt if I had been awake!
Warning: if you are a bit prudish you might want to stop reading now.
Another hurdle that is now behind me is having sex for the first time after surgery. I thought I would mention this after reading the comments about pain during sex in the "what are looking forward to doing after your AF is better" thread. I experienced pain during intercourse too. I could not have sex on a day that I had a BM because everything was too swollen and painful, and even on days that I did have sex, the initial penetration (vaginal) would feel like someone was slicing my perenium (between vagina and anus) with a razor blade, making tiny little paper cuts. I expected to feel some pain yesterday, but again it never happened! Let me just say that sex is much more pleasureable when you aren't dreading the pain and wincing. It was probably a lot easier on my husband too once he knew that it didn't hurt me! I'm looking forward to a repeat performance in the near future!
The only complaint about the whole procedure is that I am now only having BM's every 3 days which is unusual for me. I usually go everyday or every 2 days. With the Restoralax and lots of fiber things are nice and soft when they do come out so I guess it's nothing to worry about. Maybe things are still settling back down after surgery. I just get a bit nervous when day 2 passes that I might be in for a big hard stool the next day. So far, so good though.
I've gone back to running, if you can call it that. I am doing the couch to 10K training program for a 10K race in May. So far I am up to run 1 min walk 4, 8 times. Today I move up to run 1min and 30 secs, walk 3min 30secs, so we'll see how that goes. I am not a runner, I don't have the endurance for it, I am just hoping to build up some cardio now that I am not bleeding to death and will hopefully have a normal hemoglobin level soon. I'm going to do this race with my mom, my mother-in-law and a couple of my best girlfriends. Should be fun.
Anyways, that's all I can think of for now. Like many of you have said, I wish I'd have done this sooner. A pain free poop after 13 years of pain and bleeding was like, well, I don't know what it was like. It seemed like a miracle! Thanks for all you comments, tips and support. I look forward to reading the success stories of the Feb LIS-ers. Try not to be too nervous, it really isn't as bad as you imagine!

I can't even imagine trying anal sex after all this fissure business. It's always been an "exit only" for me, and I think it will continue to be! Though I hear it can be quite pleasureable!

Oh ya, I forgot to mention the "healing itch." So I've had that for about a week, only sometimes though, and nothing as bad as what I've read some people here having. It's a bit annoying and always seems to come at the worst moment (like while grocery shopping) where I'm sure people notice me walking funny. I actually find that a BM helps a bit as it kinda "scratches it!" LOL.
Oh well, a small price to pay. I guess it means things are going in the right direction!

scaredy_butt wrote:Warning: if you are a bit prudish you might want to stop reading now.
Another hurdle that is now behind me is having sex for the first time after surgery. I thought I would mention this after reading the comments about pain during sex in the "what are looking forward to doing after your AF is better" thread. I experienced pain during intercourse too. I could not have sex on a day that I had a BM because everything was too swollen and painful, and even on days that I did have sex, the initial penetration (vaginal) would feel like someone was slicing my perenium (between vagina and anus) with a razor blade, making tiny little paper cuts. I expected to feel some pain yesterday, but again it never happened! Let me just say that sex is much more pleasureable when you aren't dreading the pain and wincing. It was probably a lot easier on my husband too once he knew that it didn't hurt me! I'm looking forward to a repeat performance in the near future!

Dang at 12 days after this is pretty impressive :) Within that post-op time frame I definitely wasn't thinking of doing anything remotely sexual (unless you count ogling my own ass in a mirror as some really weird form of voyeurism). I think I was too worried about "unintentional escapees" while I was getting busy. If some folks are able to "resume normal activities" after 12 days then perhaps the fables told by CRS's everywhere of lightning fast recovery times might not be so far-fetched after all It's good to hear that you're doing well, and love your writing style hahaha.

That must be the new benchmark for judging LIS recovery! You've set the bar high!
Sound like things are going well! Good.

great news scaredy_butt!!! i am so glad you are having your life back and then some!
sounds like the january LIS club bunch is doing well at the 3 week mark!
i'll post my 3 week update tomorrow.....