Just got home from the hospital after having the surgery yesterday and am waiting for that first bowel movement in trepidation but am taking comfort after reading others posts that they had little or no pain with the first bm and have my fingers crossed.
Actually at the moment my throat where they stuck in a breathing tube during surgery and the back of my hand where they stuck in the needle for the general anesthetic currently hurt more than the incision made down below. Have been told to keep using the rectogesic on the af itself and to take laxatives with my panadeine forte so they don't constipate but otherwise that was the only advice I got from my doctor.

Well done, you're on the right side now :) I remember that feeling, thinking that it was odd that some other part of my body (my hand where they messed up the cannula for the anaesthetic) hurt more than my butt! Just think, this time in a week things will be feeling much better, after all this time.
Take it easy and concentrate on recovering, and keep us posted.

Thanks for your words of encouragement :) they are much appreciated

Kat,
Great job on getting through the surgery. I forget to mention in my post about the throat. Mine was sore for two days I guess from the breathing tube. Don't worry about the first BM I hoping you will be pleasantly surprised as I was.
As I said in my other post I am feeling very good this morning with how things are going and in a couple of days you will be feeling the same.
Stay strong.

Welcome home kat and best wishes for a comfortable healing process and full recovery
I guess there's no way around the anxiety we face anticipating the first bm....just do your best to relax through it...you're gonna do just fine
I was so surprised to read of a breathing tube for this surgery...
All this time I've been around the forum I'd never read that before..I thought it was just anesthesia through injection
and you're asleep breathing on your own...it was that way for me.
Always learning something new around here!
Keeping you in my thoughts and prayers Kat, and look forward to your updates..
Angel

Hey Kat,
how are you going today? day 7 post op was the first day I could sit down normally after 3months of pain :) I hope you're feeling like you're starting to get somewhere now.

Hi Tori-tore
The bruising is starting to fade and the swelling has gone down. Have my fingers crossed that i have escaped getting an infection. My doctor mentioned there was a 25% infection rate with this surgery but he didnt say when the risk of infection would have passed?
Every bm is still excruciatingly painful even tho they are relatively soft. Am only using the Rectogesic on the af once a day as am struggling to do it more often (my doctor said aim for four times a day) cause it hurts quite bit to do it and the pain of getting the bm out is bad enough. Did you use rectogesic post op?
Yesterday was a "good" day in that i managed to sit on my bum for a while rather than perching on one side or tucking my foot under me. I was ok while actually sitting but it throbbed a bit when I got up again. Still that's progress as couldn't sit at all a couple of days ago.
I had to do two bms today and just about fell off the loo with pain with the second one! Ouch. Hope I go back to my regular once a day bm tomorrow.
I read in someone elses post that they used their childbirth breathing techniques to get through the pain of a bm. I found before I read that, that I was stopping the bm without finishing them and so then i'd just be dragging out the pain by doing so as id end up having a bit of a spasm whereas now am really focussing on the breathing to get me through and am avoiding that stop start thing I had going for a while there.
I am just using paracetemol for pain relief following a bm. What sort of pain relief did you use in the days following your op?
I appreciate you following up. Thank you!

Hey Kat,
To be honest my doc didn't really talk about infection rates very much, but I gather that if it's going to happen you'd probably know about it in the first couple of weeks. My doc discharged me at my 3 week check up so obviously he was happy by then.
I wasn't prescribed Recto post-op, the surgeon said I could use Ultraproct (steroid and pain relief cream) for any discomfort - but I wasn't putting anything up there, the thought of it was too painful post op! plus I was worried about the skin thinning effects of the steriods long term as I had used them quite a bit.
I did hot salt baths at least 3 times a day too, to keep the area as clean as possible and because they felt nice. I found I had a bit of leakage for a while and this was the best way to keep it clean, and I'd use a hairdryer to make sure everything was nice and dry afterwards.
I know what you mean about getting stuck halfway thru a BM due to the pain - it's such a psychological recovery as well as physical. At about 5 weeks post op I had an episode where I got really nervous about having a BM (long story short my partner and I tried to be intimate for the first time since having the baby and I freaked out that I was going to have done some damage to the healing process - sorry, TMI) and got stuck halfway. This caused a couple of little tears and I freaked out that it was the fissure re-tearing. For the next few days I really struggled to let go when having a BM and it hurt - up until then it had been feeling really good. While the involuntary muscle, the sphincter, had been cut with surgery and could no longer spasm, my voluntary external sphincter was causing me the trouble because I was so nervous.
Luckily I was seeing a women's health physio and she gave me a few tips on how to just 'let go'. Once I got my head around the fact that it was just my fear making it worse for me it helped. She told me to puff my face, cheeks and lips out, full of air, and imagine my face feeling relaxed. Then she said think of your bottom like that, and try to keep it relaxed. I find that if you breathe in thru nose, out thru nose, as deep as you can into your belly, it naturally relaxes your pelvic floor too, and I could actually see (in the mirror) my whole bottom relax when doing this as I was applying the cream. Because we've had so much pain there for so long, we tend to tense those muscles up.
So try doing the puffer fish thing as many times a day as you can, as well as when you're on the loo, and if you don't already, make sure you're in the best position to poo - I get a big stack of old magazines to rest my feet on, some people use those little stools, and sit with your back straight but angled forward, and try to relax. Trust in your healing and try to remember that it will all start to get better, and try and just let that external sphincter relax. Hopefully this will help!
My surgeon was away on holiday for 6 weeks, so of course when at 5 weeks post op I had all that happen, I couldn't go to see him for reassurance. My GP put me on Rectogesic at that stage until the surgeon came back and I could see him. Once I got the nerves under control and could just 'let go' things improved, but I think that my stool was also a bit too hard which further aggravated the tiny tears I had caused from the mid-BM freeze. Once I managed to get things super soft it gradually got better and better.
so the moral of this (very long) story is recovery isn't as straightforward as the surgeons think it is, for some of us there is a major psychological aspect to it, and to try your very best to relax and not stress! which is so easy to say, but it's taken me 10 weeks post op to actually do!
have a good weekend, and just try and concentrate on the times when it's feeling better than it was! good luck and keep us posted

Sorry - more info -
I used voltaren tablets and paracetamol for the first few days, then just paracetamol post op - because I'm still breastfeeding, but that's all I would have been prescribed regardless I think. You know to keep on top of the paracetamol though eh, take it before the BM if you can so it's already kicked in, and don't give it a chance to wear off before taking the next lot.
The other thing I do to help me let go when on the loo is to get a bit of toilet paper and wet it with warm water, then gently press it against my bum - this just gives a different sensation to think about, and helps me to let go, rather than thinking too much about the whole start of the BM happening, it just distracts me a bit. I read it on here and it has really helped.
The weird and wonderful things these AF's make us do!!! hahahahaha. maybe one day we'll all poo like normal, hopefully!

Great advice, thanks. Will definitely try to relax as per your physio's advice.
Yeah a lot of this is in the head. I think that's why it definitely pays to stay positive.
It didn't occur to me to use voltaren.
Working out the right time to resume intimate relations is a tricky thing after childbirth let alone when you throw in an af to the mix!
We are moving to Switzerland in five weeks (am trying not to think about the upcoming long haul 23 hour flight from Australia as I tend to get constipated doing that flight to Europe under normal circumstances - I may just not eat for a couple of days before hand!) so am really really really hoping to be well on my way to recovery by then. Fingers crossed.
I really really appreciate your advice. Thank you again