I am an extremely anxious person especially about surgery since I haven't had it since I was 9. So I went in with about 20 questions and I don't think shes used to dealing with my kind of anxiety/OCD.
She seemed a little impatient and annoyed at times but other times she was nice. I guess that's par for the course. Here's what I asked and the answers (some of which don't jive with the experience on this board but I guess each doc and each person is different).
How many fissures do I have and will surgery heal them all? I have one large one and a few cuts she says are more breaks in skin than fissures. Said the skin breaks are due to moisture and anal itching, skin becomes weaker and cuts can form. Surgery will heal the fissure, skin breaks will heal with moisture control and less itching
Does skintag need to be removed? Too small, no need.
How long for fissures to heal? 4 weeks roughly
How long for incision to heal? 1 week roughly
Area is raw, skin feels thinned out, how long before it's all full strength? She said skin is thin and raw and could take a year for it to be at full strength. Said if anal itching continues to be a problem then she will refer to dermatologist. Things use of steroid creams over years has thinned it out but odd thing is I haven't used a cream aside from diltiazem in a year.
Will there be scar tissue or skintags after healing? She said no.
How will I know if there is infection and how quickly will I know? Said I will have discharge from incision, could be anytime first week to three week follow up.
What pain meds will I get and do I get antibiotics? Vicodin for pain, no antibiotics.
How big is incision, how many sutures/stitches and do they fall out on their own? 1/2 inch incision, sutured all the way from top to bottom of incision (one long suture) and they fall out on their own.
I've been taking Miralax for over a year and an afraid to stop, can I take it afterwards? No problem, take every night for as long as I want but eventually won't need it and can wean off.
Should I stay off my butt to heal? Not needed but should take week off work and take it easy.
What should my diet be during healing and when can I start eating regular food? She said I could start eating regular food right away no problem ( found this odd, I will stick to fissure friendly diet)
I think that's it, did I miss anything? She, of course, made it sound like this was the easiest thing in the world and no big deal and seemed puzzled by my anxiety. I guess that's how many docs are.