Let me begin by saying that I refuse to re-tear . . . I just refuse to. I had my LIS on November 15th and had absolutely no bleeding and nothing more than a little tenderness immediately post-op for a couple of weeks. I continued the strict regimen of water, fiber, soft diet, three daily soaks and miralax morning and evening until about April - I wanted to give myself every opportunity to heal this sucker (though I do know complete healing takes a year or two).
I've been doing very well. I will say it was almost May before I began to stop being apprehensive when I had to have a bowel movement and I wondered if I would ever be nonchalant about it as a normal bodily function ever again. I still do a good long soak each morning following my main bowel movement, which insists on taking place between 4-4:30am and I reduced my miralax to a full dose nightly at bedtime. I will never be able to stop taking the miralax because I must take 2,000 mg of calcium daily, which WILL constipate you, and I have to do this for life.
Was terrified to start back with the calcium because it definitely caused my fissure, but I had no choice and through trial and error learned that one full dose of miralax nightly keeps me straight . . . or, it had been . . .
Don't know what happened last week, but on last Wednesday my stool was formed, a little more dense, not hard, but very sluggish. I wasn't concerned about it being formed as I know the muscle must get used to the stretching again. There wasn't any pain, but an uncomfortable stretching. However, by Thursday, it was VERY sensitive and would burn immediately after elimination and last for 3-4 hours at the peak which was this weekend. I became concerned that I had re-torn the fissure because when I read back over my diary immediately prior to the first fissure, I experienced similar feelings for a couple of weeks prior to the fissure actually happening. Had no bleeding whatsoever, but then, I didn't have bleeding with the fissure . . . just blinding, mind-numbing pain and spasms and . . . oh, the HORROR!!!!!
Oh, dear God NOO . . . . . . this CANNOT happen again and I've been so careful. I will not survive it (a bit over-dramatic I know, but I was in the moment). The only thing I did was indulge in some cashews - making sure to chew thoroughly and last week, I made a batch of salmon salad (made the same as tuna, but with canned salmon) and I was meticulous in cleaning the salmon of anything remotely resembling a bone.
I tried to take comfort from the many people on this board who have said re-tears can be common during the first months post-LIS, but they also heal very quickly, so . . .Starting on Friday, I cut out the cashews added 1/2 dose of miralax back in the morning and returned to my three daily soaks. WAs still very sensitive during the weekend, but never got to the point of real pain, if I had to give it a number, I'd say 1.5. What mde it so bad was the fear of what it meant.
Had my regular PT/INR check Monday morning one floor down from my CRS, so I stopped in his office to let them know my status, what I was doing and if there was anything else they'd recommend. He said he wanted to see me so I was back in there the afternoon, he checked and said he saw no evidence of a re-tear, but it does sound like something majorly irritated the area. Continue what I'm doing and come back to him if needed.
The last few days brought back horrible memories of my fissure-days, but with each day, I've noticed a definite improvement in how strong the burn is afterward and how long it lasts, etc. Yesterday, things were still sluggish which I couldn't understand with the extra miralax and I really wanted to get that sludge out, so I did a dose of MOM around 6pm and my regular full dose of miralax at bedtime. Not sluggish this morning, but more formed that I would have expected with MOM and miralax in me.
So, this morning, I did a full miralax dose and will try to get it back to very soft stage for the next few weeks, then slowly, carefully balance back out - learning from this little episode I hope. One thing that I did wonder, I usually have large, golden delicious apple for a snack around 10am each day and 2-3 days last week, I neglected to eat my apple. I wonder if that could make a difference - there's some to that "apple a day" saying.
So, while I'm not convinced I didn't re-tear, I'm claiming that I didn't, it's just major irritation and I'm on the upswing now. I did finally experience the "zingers" I heard someone refer to on this board - or, at least, what I think they are. I'm hoping that means there's some healing taking place in those nerve endings.
That's where I am, for the benefit of anyone who may experience a hitch months after LIS. I thought I was home-free at almost 8 months, but there you go. I don't think I was careless, but perhaps not as careful as I still needed to be. Not making that mistake again. I would appreciate any input from others who have had hitches months after LIS. Thanks.