Hey Arafat - you are definitely not bugging me at all!
I'm sorry you had a bit of a rough night. I imagine that having two procedures at once would add to the discomfort - but I'm so happy your were doing better in the morning. That's a good sign. :D
Your work schedule sounds like it will allow you to get good long periods of rest, so I imagine you'll be just fine, especially since you're not in a lot of pain. I'd say you should be sure not to lift anything heavy and to do only the minimal amount of work you can get away with for now. You can always catch up later. When you come home from work, really take it easy and rest.
It sounds like you are doing a great job with the fistula wound. I'm not sure about the fissure. I didn't do anything to mine other than let it heal on its own, which it did pretty quick. I just kept my butt as clean and dry as possible. When I was at home, I didn't wear pants or underwear while I was laying down - just to let the air get to the butt :oops: It was a bit strange wearing clothes like a normal person again!
You're doing great! It sounds to me like you are doing all the right things. Let us know what your doc says on Sunday. I'm sure he's going to say you are making excellent progress. :D

Hey hopetoheal! Firstly Secondly,
I did quite well today and moved around quite a bit in the house. Did small chores, nothing heavy.
Im hoping that my fissure wound is healing quite well, considering that now its almost a week and i think i see healthy white skin being formed. While cleaning today, i didnt find the fistula wound overly bloody but i think i'm seeing the formation of white skin in the wound. Of course, i may be completely wrong and its possible that the white skin or whatever it is, is actually a sign of infection without me actually realizing it!
A little anxious before the follow up! My 7 day course of Cipro is coming to an end tomorrow. I see people outside going abt their work and i wonder...

Yay, Arafat!! It's awesome that you're up and about, even just doing some small things for now. I'm so happy you're doing so well. :D
Thanks so much for the praise. You're a sweetie.
My fissure wound had yellowish/white filmy stuff - like new skin and exudate, and as I mentioned, it healed well. So I think that what you're looking at is healthy exudate and perhaps even some epithelializing.
My understanding is that if the exudate is green or darker shades of yellow, and the wound is sore and angry red, then there's the possibility of an infection. I've also read that normal exudate is a light yellowish, staw-coloured, thin fluid. When wounds are healing, sometimes the skin can get whitish-looking, and that may mean that it's staying too moist (macerated), so keeping things clean and dry is important. This is just info I picked up while obsessing about my own butt, so I can't say that this is exactly medically sound. (Your doc might say "would you people please stop googling!!" ) But, since there's no pain and no discharge with alarming colours or texture, then I think you should give yourself permission to be feel pretty good. :D When I developed my infection, I sure felt it! I'd say if you develop an infection, you'll know it.
Try not to be too anxious, my friend. You're doing really well. Your doc sounds really great too. So you're in good hands and you are doing all the right things. Stay on course, and soon you'll be one of those people out in the world going about their work and enjoying life - you'll see. :D

Hey hope to heal! Hope ur having a great day! :D All of us here could probably open up our own little clinic someday with the knowledge that we have abt these butt issues :D
Hmm, i still have my gauze pads stuffed in my butt cheeks to catch the drainage and the little almost diluted blood. I do try and keep the wound dry but mostly because of the little but constant draining, the wound remains moist and a little bloody. I do notice white slimy stuff on my wound almost every time i look at it when cleaning and a little blood. This tends to be more noticeable after a BM. Abt BM's i'm still not very comfy even tho there isnt much pain but only soreness for a few hrs after BM. I think during BM, i feel a bit of discmfort as the LIS wound gets a bit stretched. Plus, i want the stools to be softer. I ts not hard but is quite well formed and i'd rather have pulpy stools at least for another couple of weeks.maybe after i finish the antibiotic, stools will get softer. Currently, i have 2 spoonfuls of MOM plus 2 spoonfuls of ispagula in a glass of water before going off to bed at night.
I wish i could walk around at home without underwear or anything...that would be relaxing :D Oh well, if not that then maybe one more sitz bath! I'll be off for my follow up in a couple of hours' time. Plz plz plz let things go well! I do NOT want uncomfortable poking n prodding...

Well, back from the doc. It wasnt a howling success but wasnt a disaster either. The doc said i had a little bit of unhealthy white tissue on the top of my fistula wound which was a strict no no as the wound had to heal from the base upwards. He scraped out the white tissue n my wound is back to looking like a clean ditch. It wasnt painful when he plucked ou the white tissue but i feel sore now. He said to rub thoroughly after every sitz bath so that i could clean up any white tissue that formed on top. I'm hoping i dont have painful BM's cuz of the scraping that was done:(

Arafat - Just keep at it.
These anal things take awhile to deal with. It's a real test of our patience, for sure.
When do you go back to be checked?

Aw, Arafat, I'm so sorry you had to have that tissue scraped off.
Fistual wounds are really so counter-intuitive - we want to heal quickly, but with these things quick isn't good. During my first follow-up, my doc pulled my wound open It actually hurt a bit and I let out a few wee yelps (I think I said something like: "ow, ow, OW - damn!). My doc told me that's what I had to do to myself when I bathed (so my hubby knew when I was having a bath because he could hear me saying "ow, ow ... damn!"). That goes against every instinct of self-preservation and pain-avoidance. Thankfully, after the first few times, stretching the wound didn't inspire any curse more words!
As you can imagine, my first follow-up wasn't much fun at all. But at least my doc got to me before I healed the wrong way. And it's a good thing that your doc got rid of that tissue before it caused you more problems too. I'm sorry your appointment wasn't the howling success we were both hoping for, but I am happy that everything is going well generally. My follow-ups went much better after the first one, and my doc was happy with my progress - I'm sure your doc will be happy the next time too.
My wound oozed some slimey white exudate for a good while, and my doc said that's a good thing, since that means that the wound is draining. You may not have a painful BM, although you may feel a bit more tender after the treatment you got. Just remember to relax as much as possible and don't strain. I'm sure you'll find that even if the next BM is not as comfortable as before, the ones that follow will go better.
I hope you aren't too discouraged. Post-fistulotomy follow-ups often involved that kind of thing, at least from what I've read here, and that doesn't mean you won't heal or that you will have more pain. These things realy do take quite a while to heal, as Sweet Bugaboo says.
I hope you're able to get some rest and that the soreness has subsided. Take heart - you are healing, you are doing what you have to do to heal well, and it sounds like your doc is taking good care of you too. You'll get there!

Hey thanks for ur encouragement, guys! Well, the morning BM went without any problems at all as the stool was soft:) My doc said he would see me in abt 5 days to see if i was cleaning to his satisfaction and that if i wasnt then he would set up an arrangement at a nearby clinic where i could get my dressing done for abt a week.
Well i've cleaned a few times today, but feel as if there's always a bit of white there in the wound even after i've wiped a dozen times. I've been left a little confused as to what a healthy wound should look like abt 8 days after fistula surgery. Any help here would be appreciated!
I'm a little low on confidence as i feel this recovery is going to drag on for some time. Even the fissure wound (which is quite dry) has yellowish/white on it and i'm wondering if my doc will say nxt time that this isnt healing well either!!! Truly, frustrating. Ignore my rants, ppl. I just needed to vent a little bit...

Ah, Arafat -
I'm so sorry you're going through this. I completely understand your frustration. It seems like anal problems can be so hard (and long lasting) to deal with!
Hang in there. That's what I'm trying to do. I know it's tough, but I'm wishing you the best, and I'll pray for you.
Keep us posted on your progress!

Hey Arafat - vent away! That's what this forum is for!
I also understand your frustration. It really is so hard to know what is healthy and what isn't when it comes to butt healing. My fissure also had yellowish-white gunk for about the first week, but it healed well. As for the fistula wound, all you can do is your best, my friend, and it sounds like you're really being serious about the cleaning. So please be kind to yourself. These things are difficult to manage sometimes.
Your doc sounds awesome! I'm so glad he's keeping such a close eye on things. That really increases the chances that the healing will go well. My fistula wound looked like a raw, red ditch for quite a while. It seeped and oozed whitish gunk for quite a while - sometimes the exudate was thick, sometimes it was thin. But I didn't develop much in the way of white skin-like film. The wound just got more pink and less red over time.
These things do take a while to heal, so it's important to measure progress in weeks, not days, as many surgery vets here have said. It gets easier, though. The soreness subsides, and it gets easier to stay clean. Healing from butt wounds is a long-term process, but after the first week or two, you get into a routine that isn't really so disruptive to your life, and everything about recovery gets less annoying when you start to feel better and you get back to your life.
You are definitely welcome to have a good rant. Many of us have done that! You are going through the difficult phase of recovery, so pamper yourself as much as possible and remember that everything will get easier and we are here for you.