Hi all, well this is post op day #2, so far so good. I did not have a BM yesterday, but with 2 doses of miralax yesterday, I did have one this morning... not as much as I wanted, but I did have one, no pain no blood during. Jumped in the shower with the wand and just rinsed gently and then filled the tub for a nice soak. I was having poop anxiety but really was not that bad. I do have a question though. I had a little more stinging and burning after my BM even after my bath, and of course started to freak out. My husband did a close inspection and said there was some poop in my fissure, and around the area so he got a wipe and gently wiped it away. Of course I am still swollen and bruised and getting weird feelings I did not have yesterday, but no spasms. I guess I am just worried about the stingy feeling after a BM is this normal??? I have a tucks pad on like my post op instructions say and changing it b/c there is some residue on it. How do you get squeaky clean. I am not sticking q tips in my butt at this point!!! But all in all, doing very well, other than my back killing me from laying around all day yesterday...LOL I will take that over fissure pain anyday!!! So just wondering if what I am dealing with is normal for day 2. Thanks Sue

Hey Sue - congratulations and welcome to the other side!!! I'm so glad that everything went so well for you. I don't usually like to say "I told you so!", but in this case, I'm really happy to be able to say that. :D Way to go!
What you're experiencing is definitely normal. Those little poo bits that escape the cleaning process do cause quite a bit of stinging. I had the same problems with clean-ups. It is really difficult to get clean with all that swelling going on. I used chemical-free baby wipes that I'd soak in warm water and gently dapped my butt (no actual wiping). It can take a while to get completely clean that way, but with a bit of practice it gets easier. And, of course, having a wonderful partner help you out is also great. Quite a few folks here have had partners help with cleaning for the first little while post-op. Cleaning gets much easier when the swelling goes down in a few days, so you shouldn't have to deal with this too much longer.
I'm so glad you're doing so well. Soon all this will be a distant memory!

Thank you so much Hope for getting back to me so soon. Just paranoid I guess, but that is me, anxious Annie..LOL Things are definately sore, and swollen, and feel weird and got a lovely shiner around the whole brown eye...LOL I am so ready for this to be a memory and it is definately ok to say I told you so!!! how long does the swelling last?? If that was gone life would be great!!!

LOL - I'm the queen of paranoia! I was a quivering bundle of anxiety - my doc had to give me happy pills. :D You're way braver than I was!
For me the major swelling only lasted for a few days - like maybe three days. But the swelling diminishes gradually, even if things are a bit puffier than normal, so the tenderness and the difficulty cleaning diminish too. By the end of the first week my butt looked and felt pretty much like normal and the cleaning process was quite a bit easier.
I also had an alarmingly dark blue/black bruise where they put the clamp Oddly, though, that didn't really hurt very much, for all that it was very scary! It faded after about a week.
I'd recommend staying off your butt as much as possible to help the swelling subside. My back got achy laying down all the time too, so I would lay on my side as much as possible.
It sounds to me like you are doing REALLY well. Try to be patient, though. Your poor butt has been through a heckuva lot and it needs lots of TLC and time to recover. You'll be back rockin' in the land of the living very soon!

Hey Sue,
I've read quite a few threads where this happens after LIS. Kim (admin) comes to mind as one who had that. It will subside as your healing. Most say jumping in the bath right after the bm helped...
All the bruising/ swelling is pretty normal. I bruised easily anyways and my LIS bruising was far enough up my butt cheeks that I saw it while drying off at about two weeks post-op. I never looked directly at my butt after surgery but my husband said it was very bruised. I'm a slow bruise healer, I guess! Lol.
The external swelling will greatly improve over these next two weeks. It seems like you're getting nowhere in the beginning, but it does happen.
As for the cleaning, warm water on cotton or as Hope said rinse out the baby wipe with warm water and dab...I would definitely not ever stick a q-tip up your butt. You or your husband can use them to gently dab the area with just warm water for detailed cleaning. Take lots of the baths! Blow dryer on cool or air dry as much as possible.
Try not to worry Sue. I know from dealing with the fissures, our minds are just so use to being let down or the worst happening, but what you are experiencing is normal and part of the process of healing. The first week can be very slow...

Thanks so much Dawn and Hope!!! As I said I am just anxious Annie...LOL Just making sure everything I am experiencing is normal, and sounds as though it is. I bruise easy too, that is why I am surprised it is just around the area, but I am not complaining. Only 400mg of Advil today so far, feeling pretty good. My husband is really trying to make me gain the weight back I lost with my fissure a little more than 20lbs, but I refuse!!! Liking my new size..LOL but what a price to pay... Thanks girls for coming to my rescue again