Hey Adam - I'm glad you're feeling better. Your plans sound very sensible to me. Life changes for most people here, from what I've seen. BM are no longer simple procedures and most of us carry "butt bags" in case nature calls when we are away from home.
I'm doing ok, thanks for asking :) I've actually been off the prescription pain meds for about a week. I've been using OTC pain meds when I need them, which is less and less. I'm still pretty tender, but getting better, I think.
I still get drainage. One challenging thing I find is distinguishing mucus from pus. What I've got seems like mucus - that is, it's thick and kinda sticky. (My bathroom is becoming a laboratory. I think I need some test kits and maybe a microscope!) I'm glad I'm not the squimish type. I don't mind inspecting gooey stuff, I just wish I had more information to work with.
I didn't have very much drainage after my LIS, but I've had this drainage since the fistulotomy, and I developed my infection after the LIS! My impression is that drainage is pretty normal after surgery, so I'm a bit suprised, Val, that you didn't have any except when you had an infection.
I will definitely ask my surgeon about all this. I just heard from my surgeon's office and my follow-up is booked for Wed. I'll let you know what I learn about various kinds of discharge and butt sensations. That's the kind of thing everybody should know more about! :D
Val - we will all be mightily pissed if you went through that surgery for no good reason. We will form our AFSF army and find your surgeon. But I actually think the surgery will work - it just really sucks that you have to endure a long recovery. You will get better!

Thanks Val, the pus that was leaking before my surgery was much more liquidy and and yellowish-light brownish in colour, and obviously it flowed as I was in pain. Since the surgery, I have been leaking white jelly-like pus, and the crs said it would keep draining along with blood. Lately it's been draining a lot more pus than before, and less bleeding. I'm sure the more it drains, the better, as it all has to come out. It doesn't smell at all.
And hopetoheal, it sounds like our drainage is the same. Mine is white, almost looks like the white glaze on donuts lol and it is sticky too; the water from the shower is not powerful enough to remove it from my skin! When I'm out for several hours, and not able to change my cottonball, the white pus actually drains so much it pushes the cotton ball out of the way a bit and there's so much around it that I have to wipe away with a kleenex lol.
It would be nice to make ourselves a little laboratory so we can at least do something productive while healing! The first thing for me that I'd like to have access to is the books on these infections and books on the surgery and recovery that our crs' have studied to learn themselves!

Hey Adam - it does sound like we have the same drainage. Actually, last night the stuff got a little more liquidy and I'm sure it was more pus than mucus. I could feel things swelling up and getting more painful, and then, while I was cleaning, white stuff and some blood leaked out and everything felt much better. It's good to know your CRS told you that it will keep draining or I'd be worried that I'm reinfected. The draining is pretty constant, so I hope that's a good sign. I definitely have to use a kleenex - the mucusy stuff really clings to everything!
How are things with you today? I hope you are getting lots of good rest and that you're not too bored! :D

This all sucks! Why do we have to worry so much about our butts? GRRRR! lol I find myself looking out the window with envy when I see people jogging by or having a carefree stroll. Am I the only one? lol
Okay, I have a question for my fellow fistula people. I had an abcess that burst about 3 weeks ago, and it's been feeling pretty good since then with the drainage. Sunday, I was driving home form a family reunion, and I noticed although it was still draining it's now more sore and irritated. Do you think driving for 5 hours caused it or do you think it's about to abcess again? Tonight I had diarrhea and afterwards it feels like the fistula opening on my left cheek is more like a bump underneath. I hope it's not an abcess coming back. I am dreading that. My surgery isn't until the 29th of this month. Did you all have bad days and good days too before surgery?

Hopetoheal, I'm glad we have the same symptoms of healing :) isn't your followup today?? (Wednesday??) mine isn't until another couple weeks. But for you and I, as long as we keep the good work up, I'm sure our crs could diagnose and cure an infection if there was one because we are so close to the follow up and still heathly! (especially you ) I do find as well that when I walk or work a little (similar to your cleaning effort) that is when more pus drains out than usual.
I'm doing great today again, thanks! I had a few errands to do during the day, with an hour long drive there and back, and it was painless! Not one zinger lol! I even went to a friend's house to fix more stuff there and was able to have some fish with them off the bbq! I ate a lot today, probably the most since the problem started, I'm glad to see my body getting thicker. But I will keep relaxing, I downloaded thor, iron man 2, and x-men first class, which i seen all in the theatre in 3D and were incredible!
Hey summergal, I feel your pain. I had a similar experience, except my first doctor was telling me my abcess was a hemorrhoid and it'd go away on it's own! When the abcess was at it's largest I could barely walk. The only way to sit was to sit on ice directly applied to the abcess. My abcess 'bursted' as I was experiencing the splintering of pains and jumped in the bath. I knew it bursted because of all the skin particles floating in the bath, and because the abcess went to more than half the size. However it still was painful. My doctor didn't know it was an abcess, she thought it was a hemorrhoid, and was clueless to it bursting as there was no blood (that comes with a bursting hemorrhoid)
I definitely would agree that driving for 5 hours would aggrevate any butt related problem. The "bump" you feel, do you feel it with your hand, or do you feel it inside the actual butt cheeck? If it's a bump outside, it could be another abcess/skin tag (not to worry if it is, your crs will take care of it) and if it's a bump feeling inside your anus, it's probably an internal hemorrhoid or maybe just the pus building up (also no need to worry, the crs will fix that).
Mine was leaking too, more leakage when there was more pain. The leakage was yellowish before the operation, now's it's either white, or a bit brown as it mixes with blood. The drainage is about the same amount as before the surgery. But one day I did have a lot of blood that was scary after the surgery, but I was told it may happen, amd they gave me specific instructions on what to do incase it happened and I was okay.
Summergal, my bad days were all after my abcess first became it's largest in size, when it bursted in less than half the pain was still there and still bothered me for hours after a bowel movement. But after the surgery, I'm in heaven, because I'm without the after bm pain (still very little pain during bm) and I'm relaxing at home healing TRYING to stay inside and rest and not go out excersizing because I'm no where near fully healed yet

Oh, and the diarrhea makes things worse for sure. We have to stay away from dairy, red meats, chips/nachos, fried food, slicey food, coffe/tea, and any hard foods completely, as keeping our bowelmovements soft and proper is the only way we can heal properly and naturally.
So many times I have turned down meals from people this past month! So many times I've drooled watching the "Stacker" commercial from KFC with the two fried chicken breasts sandwiching the fried bacon (drooling now lol) but I've kept a strong head and only have been eating fibre 1 original cereal in the morning with fruits, and then a bowl of chicken soup for lunch and dinner with fruits as a desert, and plenty of water during and after thr meals. I'm healing really well I believe and my diet is the main cintributor for that

Thanks for the helpful info Adam. I made notes of the diet recommendations. The abcess that initially burst was more on the innder side of my butt cheek, so that is the spot that is still sore the most. It feels better than last night, so hopefully it won't get bad again. Initially I was terrifiedddddddddddd of the surgery, but I am finally getting to the point where I just want this pain and worry to end, so maybe that's a good thing mentally at least. I want to feel normal again! I am so glad you and Hope are feeling better, and I appreciate you sharing your stories, that does give me a lot of encouragement that healthier days are to come! How many days or weeks out are you from the surgery now? It's good that you aren't having much BM pain anymore. Do you still get nervous when you have to go? I hate that feeling! What is your pain like now? I hope you keep on this good path!

Adam,
sounds like you are rockin with the healing!! Keep up the good work!
Summergal,
I felt the same way before my LIS. I knew I was at the point where enough was enough. I was still scared but there's a point where you have to make the decision to get the surgery and get it over with. It may not be easy and seem slow but it is the best decision to get these procedures over with when they are necessary and move on to real healing!:)
Speaking from a LIS point of view, the fear of the poops gets easier with time. You will gain confidence with every good poop after surgery...

Summergal, I had my surgery 1 week and a day ago. I was lucky and I had my surgery done just a couple weeks after my fistula started getting bad, and I had basically zero pain since the operation. But others here have had the pains for a bit longer before the surgery, and needed pain killers to deal with the pain in the first couple of weeks, they are strong people for having to deal with it so long before surgery! They're my heroes!!
As for the bm's, I was nervous the for the first one after the operation. Scared that pain was going to begin, scared that a loy of blood was going to be shed. However just a bit of blood was shed, and thr bm only seemed tough because I was so nervous!! Jusy make sure you take big breathes softly as you go, and let your stools come out without effort.
My pain now is so minimal it's almost not not there anymore. I have maybe one "zinger", what hoptoheal and i refer a specific pain to, a day now. It is the type of pain that doesn't last, but feels like a quick splinter sharp pain poking at you, and my crs told me that it's natural in the healing process.
Dawn, how have you been? And thanks for the ecnouragement! It's thanks to you for my surgery and healing going by so swiftly! If it wasn't for you, I would've probably forced myself to work after my family doctor said it was okay to return to work, as it was just a hemorrhoid that was healing, oh the troubles I would've had; I wonder how much longer I would've waited to see a crs making the problem worse :S ...

Hey Adam - I'm so glad you're feeling so good. That's great! :D I actually prefer the first Iron Man, but I like all the X-Men. Didn't see them in 3D, though.
You're right, today was my follow-up. The doc said everything looks good, but that I am healing a bit too quickly - that is, the top of the wound wants to heal before the botttom, so he pulled the wound open. That hurt! and I'm supposed to do that to myself everyday so that the wound heals properly.
So here's the news - keep the wound wide for as long as possible, because if it doesn't heal from the bottom up, another may be required. It sounds to me like you are already doing that, and that you are actually doing everything right; but the strange thing about fistulas is, apparently, we shouldn't heal too quickly! Pus and/or mucus drainage is normal and good because we don't want that stuff to build up and stay inside. So, anyway, Adam, you might want to prepare yourself for a bit of a painful follow-up examination - but given your pain tolerance, you probably won't even feel it! I'm a big whimp, but I only said "Ow, ow, ow, damn!" and then I was ok. (BTW, I saw an episode of Mythbusters that demonstrated that cursing can actually decrease pain sensation - I swear a lot even when I'm not in pain!)
My doc said that during the operation, he found pocket of pus about the size of a nickle, which was caused by the LIS incision. So the fistula was very low. I have another follow-up on the 18th.
Summergal - I completely understand what you mean about being envious of people going about their lives! I've been in the condition for about a year now, when this fissure nightmare started. Dont' worry, you will get better and be one of those people again! I agree with Adam that the irritation was probably caused by the driving. But it also happens that until you get the fistulotomy, the abscess will keep returning, not as bad as the first one, but until the area is opened to drain freely, it builds up until it's ready to burst again. Don't worry - that's normal, and it's the reason why surgery is necessary for fistulas.
You will be so happy that you had the surgery. The surgery itself is a breeze. The recovery is not all that much fun, but it's really not too bad either. I am two weeks and 2 days post-op. I still have some pain (I wish I had superhuman pain tolerance like Adam!), but a few OTC pain pills usually fixes that.
I hope everyone is having a good butt day today!