Oh.... that's bad.... But I believe that you are in a better situation than mine.
After LIS, my constipation did not go away. Yeah, I've been scaring myself using google too. I think I have atonic colon. With it you generally suffer many many years with constipation, using lots of laxatives, then when nothing works, you just take out colon out of your body. Looks like this is my future and your abscesses is nothing compare to what I might have.
So, don't be depressed too much. They know what is wrong and how to fix it.
Mine, they don't know why and how to fix. So you are a lot better situation.

oh my goodness, Alpha! That's truly terrible! You should definitely see a specialist about this as soon as you can. Maybe they can at least delay removing your colon for as long as possible. I hope it doesn't come to that!

Glad you're feeling a bit better Hope. Sometimes, to put things into perspective I imagine if the same thing were to happen to another part of the body - ie like an infection in an ingrown toenail. We would just take antibiotics, or have it dealt with, and not dwell on it too much! I know that's a funny way of looking at it, but it does help sometimes! What I'm trying to say is that it's just because it is in such a personal place that it is so scary!
I truly hope your antibiotics work very quickly for you and you are back to good health ASAP.

You're right, Val. If this abscess had shown up anywhere else, it wouldn't be nearly so scary. There hasn't been any more pus since Monday (I've been watching very carefully), so I'm hoping that's a good sign. The pain has also been pretty minimal, compared to Monday - just a bit of stinging at the fissure and skin tag sites. I hope that means the abscess is receding and resolving. The doc said that if I feel like I'm sitting on a golf ball, I'll know the abscess is still there and has grown. Does that sound right to you?
I'm actually not doing too bad today. I keep waking up way too early (like 5am) - that's the anxiety. Today I'm going to do nice things for myself and eventually the anxiety will subside.
Thanks for all your help and reassurance! I feel a lot better

No need to worry hopetoheal.
As I said, they know what is wrong and how to fix. There are a lot of disease that they don't know the cause and how to fix so you are not in a bad shape at all.

Yes, it's true. Even the worst case scenario here can be fixed, so I'll just wait and see what happens and do other things to take my mind off it.
Anxiety causes so much anxiety!

Things are very scary when we haven't experienced them. You've dealt with a fissure - that's a hellish pain, you can cope with anything now!
Actually, I never got a golf ball feeling. An abcess is very painful - it feels exactly the same as a thrombosed henmmie, and once it drains it relieves the pressure, then starts over again. Afistula, in my opinion, is more an agravating itchy pain, but sharp like a needle being poked up there!
Do something nice to pamper yourself, yes, anxiety definitely causes anxiety and so does googling everything!!
Take care xx

Hi Hope-
Sorry to hear that you have another thing to deal with. It sounds like you caught it early so the antibiotics hopefully will knock it out.
When I had my abscess my whole right cheek was very swollen - like sitting on a softball. When I first went to see the CRS he could feel everything was swollen but couldn't pin point the location. He put me on antibiotics but it was to far along to help. It took me 3 weeks before I actually got into surgery so it was misery.
Take care.

Wow Paul - that sounds like it was so painful. Three weeks with that kind of pain. You are incredibily strong!
Thanks for sharing your experience. It really helps so much to have a sense of what to look for and what to expect as a possibility. I've been keeping an eye on things. There's no swelling at all (never was), but there are still stinging and raw feels. I had this before, but it had been getting better and only got worse the day the abscess opened. So I'm a bit paranoid now, not really knowing how to interpret butt sensations.
I guess this is just a wait-and-see game now and hope the cipro works :D
Thanks again for your reply. How are you doing these days?

How are you feeling today, Hope? Are things any better?I hope the antibiotics are working for you.