Sorry adam, I slept through my surgery so I can't tell what went on. As for the stool softener, I take Miralax/Movicol, which is a godsend and recommended by my CRS.

Update: had a BM in the afternoon and decided not to take a pain pill to see how the pain is. The pain itself is not that bad when lying down, i would say a 2 out of 10, but it's there. But, when standing up, it becomes a 4. I don't even have to walk around, just stand. No idea why this would be.
So, a bit dissapointed that I'm still in pain almost 3 weeks post-op, but hopefully it will get better.

Mine's the same Dexter - maybe something to do with gravity and the longer I stand, the more I'm aware of it hurting.

I'm so sorry you guys are in pain when you stand. That really sucks. It's hard to avoid standing!
Dexterdude, I definitely know how you feel being disappointed! I've been through the ups and downs of an LIS and then the fistulotomy. The recovery process really is two steps forward, one step back sometimes, at least pain-wise. It's pretty frustrating!
But I am really sure that pain will go away with more healing and you'll be able to stand in long annoying line-ups for as long as you need to.

Reporting at almost 4 weeks post-op. I would say my progress is stagnating. The wound itself looks like it's healing, however I still have pain with every BM as well as post-bm for hours. The pain I would say is like the post-op normal fissure pain, not better not worse.
Discharge seems to be less than before and somehow stickier. Hasn't stopped completely yet though.
I still take a painkiller every day in the morning and it helps a lot, with it the pain is almost non-existant. But I would sure like to have no pain without painkillers.
All in all, I guess I just have to wait. My follow-up is in about 3.5 weeks, but unless there is some drastic improvement around the corner, I don't know what to say... To be honest I would have expected the pain to lessen as time goes by, which it did after 1-2 weeks, but now it's just the same every day.
On the bright side, haven't had blood since week 2, so at least that's a good sign.

Hey Dexterdude - I'm so sorry you are still in pain. I don't know much about botox, but I think I recall reading on this forum about how it can take a few months for the effects of the botox to really kick in. A few boardies got second and third treatments. Do you think that's something you would consider? Perhaps an LIS is the next step if the pain doesn't go away?
I think the lack of bleeding is a good sign - it sounds like your fissure is healing, but the spasms are still there.
That's got to be *&&^% frustrating! I really hope you find relief very soon.

Dexter,
From what I read on Bambi and NG's botox- if I'm recalling correctly, it can take about a week, week and 1/2 to kick in and effects of it can wear off it that happens at around 3 months because it's temporary. That may be when another round is needed it the fissure isn't healed from my understanding. I hope things get better for you! I just don't think it's all that uncommon for botox not to do diddly squat for many people I was never offered and to be honest, I didn't want it. Although I know it must work for many or they wouldn't do it, I couldn't find that to be the case will all the stories I've read and just wanted the permanent solution with the LIS. Hopefully LIS will be a choice for you if this doesn't get better. I'm not sure if you have already said ,but have you been able to get some valium to help w/ the spasms. Maybe it will help temporarily?!

Past the 4 week/1 month mark. Discharge is getting less and somewhat more sticky. Also the outside wound seems to be healing, albeit slowly. Unfortunately had 3 bms today and although they were soft, I noticed some blood streaks on the stool with the last one. Nothing major, but enough to let me know it's not healed yet. The weird thing is the pain seemed to be less than usual, even with this blood. Also the after-pain was very low, but I did take a painkiller just in case
My follow up is in 3 weeks, I'm pretty curious how I'll be doing by then. To be honest, I would like to try another round of botox if the doc suggests it, before going with the LIS. My reasoning is that at least that would help the sking tag/fissure excision wound heal, if not the fissure itself. Altough, since I had a fissurectomy, the fissure should actually be gone and the wound left behind is what needs healing :)
I was thinking today of the botox and if it's working or not and my feeling is still that it IS doing something. I really can't tighten my muscle like before. When I try, it tightens to a point, but after that it just won't do it anymore. Very different (and weird) sensation than before, when I had complete control over it. So, I still think the long healing period might be because of the fissurectomy/skin tag removal, which left a really big wound behind. I'm thinking such a wound would take a long time to heal even in another less "used" place, let alone down there.

Hey Dexterdude! I'm glad you're feeling better and that the pain is not as bad. My recollection from many reports here is that fissurectomies and skin tag removal sites can take quite some time to heal, so seeing a bit of blood doesn't seem unusual at your stage of healing. I really hope you keep going forward with your recovery. Not too long now before the doc can inform you of your progress from a medical point of view!

Thanks for the reassurance! I forgot to say I'm also a bit worried about an abcess. The reason is there seems to be, at the very outside end of the wound, a small round area which is *slightly* bumped (i.e. round bubble form opposite the skin), maybe like a smal blister, with shiny skin on top but yellowish color underneath. It's not painful so far, nor do i have any fever, but considering a few days ago the skin in that area was rather curved towards the deep-end of the wound and now it's curved towards the "sky", it has me a bit worried.