New here, just had 2nd surgery

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New here, just had 2nd surgery

Postby MamaV » 23 Mar 2012, 14:56

Hi everyone,
I had my first child in June, and developed a fissure. After trying applying Nifedipine, the fissure wasn't healing. This past January, I had my first surgery. The CRS injected Botox into my sphincter. The Dr. said I actually had 3 tears. After healing for about a week, I felt great! Then, one day, I had a really difficult BM and tore again. I started applying Nifedipine again, hoping to heal the fissure, but to no avail.
This fissure has been the biggest yet. 2 weeks ago, I had another surgery, where more Botox was injected and he did a "house flap" procedure. The night of my surgery was the worst pain I have ever experienced, including childbirth. Even with taking Percocet every few hours, I was still writhing in agony. The next day, I went back to the doctor and saw my CRS's associate. It turns out that there was some dressing in my anal canal that was causing a lot of pressure Image . As soon as it was removed, I felt better (but of course, still in ridiculous pain).
It's been 2 weeks now, and I am slowly healing. The pain is definitely getting better, but I still experience pain for a few hours after every BM. Anyone know if this is normal? I have also had awful post-surgical itching. It has finally calmed down.
The doctor told me the 2 weeks after surgery would be really bad, and that I'd be totally healed by 5-6 weeks. Please, I hope this is true! I just want to go the bathroom like a "normal person" again!
Anyway, I am so thankful to have found this board. I've never met another person who has gone through this, so I am glad to be able to talk to people who know what this is like.
MamaV
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Re: New here, just had 2nd surgery

Postby MamaV » 23 Mar 2012, 14:57

I should add that I opted not to have the LIS procedure done. Being that I am planning on having more children, it wasn't worth the risk for me.
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Re: New here, just had 2nd surgery

Postby workingonit » 25 Mar 2012, 20:33

Hi MamaV,
Is a 'house flap' the same as an 'advancement flap'?
It's a slow process, healing from an advancement flap procedure from what I've read, as it is basically a skin graft.
There have been a few here who have had that, but none the last few months. If you do a search for it in the above search box, you will come up with a bunch of links.
I remember reading this one;
http://anal-fissure.org/t1136p15-advancement-flap-surgery?highlight=advancement+flap
I'm sorry I can't be of more help. I wish you a speedy recovery!!
-Tanya
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Re: New here, just had 2nd surgery

Postby workingonit » 25 Mar 2012, 20:37

Sometimes it helps to just PM a person who you think might be helpful. Most people here would bend over backwards to help a fellow AF sufferer. We know what it's like!!!
-Tanya
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Re: New here, just had 2nd surgery

Postby sailorgal » 29 Mar 2012, 08:16

Hi Mama,
My healing after my Botox on 1/24 with fissurectomy was REALLY slow, too. My CRS warned me that I would hate her the 1st 2 weeks because she apparently sliced me and diced me to get rid of all of the infected scar tissue around the fissure and the fissure was super deep so she sewed that up as well (way more involved than we both expected, she said she was surprised i was able to walk at all leading up to the procedure considering how bad it was once she actually got in there, helped validate the excruciating hell I was going thru leading up to the botox). For me, I didn't turn a corner with feeling somewhat human until week 5 after Botox, but still dealt with post BM pains 4-5 hours. By then, I had a pretty solid "post-BM-regime" in place to manage the pain. I did seek a 2nd opinion at week 7 due to my slow healing and he said a 2nd Botox injection was really up to me (my level of comfort/patience/desperation).
It sounds like the majority of your pain this time around is from healing from the "houseflap" procedure. My understanding is that takes much longer to heal from and can create much more pain while healing from it. So, the pain you are having sounds par for the course (of course if something seems not right, do not hesitate to f/u with your CRS). I had such terrible pain-episodes 4 weeks post-op during my post-op follow-up appointment, I couldn't even sit or stand in the waiting room - was wrything on the table doing breathing exercises as I was trying to give her an update. It was a disheartening office visit because there was not much she could do for me except the same-same "fiber pills, water, I'll refill your vicodin" - even tho the week before that she said I shouldn't have still been needing the vicodin. In hindsight, I learned to always tack on extra healing time from whatever they told you and don't hesitate to badger them if your pain is not well controlled. And, it will pass. I had experienced a pain episode a week later, but now understanding my pain patterns better it helped to know that even while I was wrything and crying - I knew it would eventually pass.
Today, my post BM pain lasts about 2 hours and can be managed with heat (via bath or heating bad) or vicodin if I can't get to heat. I haven't had a terrible pain episode that's reduced me to wrything-tears in a whole month. A HUGE improvement from a month ago.
Lastly, because the healing was sooo slow for me and it was difficulty for me to be able to tell whether i was healing or getting worse - I would try to use 1-2 week increments if possible. If you compare day-to-day, it will not feel like you are healing at all. But, when I reflected on my symptoms in 1-2 week increments, I was able to see what was better or what was worse. This, of course, didn't work until I was a few weeks out from my procedure anyway because the first 2 weeks were pretty terrible.
Geez, sorry for the ramble. I sure hope this helps.
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