have the surgery chris! the more of your posts i read, the more i'm rooting for you too. there's no harm in doing it! plus, if it brings you even one step closer to a normal life, then it will have done something right.
by the time you have your surgery, i'll be just a few days away from going back to work and i'll let you know how i'm feeling by then (after 2 weeks off work) :)

Thanks Juney! Definitely keep me informed. How long did you have to take pain meds after the surgery?

i took 4 percocets the day of surgery. (the prescription said take 1-2 pills every 4 hours as needed and i needed them that day!)
i was constipated for 2 days afterward and that really freaked me out, so i didn't take any more narcotics at all. now i take 1 or 2 800mg motrins a day, usually after a bowel movement.

the pain is really not that much more than i'm used to in dealing with the fissure. there's a stinging type pain after bm's and it's just overall really sore down there. i take LOTS of hot baths and that really helps. i'm also a lot more cautious of sitting and moving certain ways.

had LIS this year. fissure healed. doing much better now. have to watch what i eat.
i took just one painkiller after the surgery and no more. i did drink a lot of water the whole night. had to use a shower head to clean the area after BMs for some time. sitz baths will help.
things should get better after a week. fissure should clear up within a few weeks to a couple of months. good luck.

Juney,
I thought having a BM after the surgery was supposed to be easier, not more painful?

well i think i took too many pain pills or something, because i was constipated for 2 days afterwards and i'm NEVER constipated. so that definitely didn't make for an easy bm. and the milk of magnesia i took to help the constipation made things watery and burning. it's only been 5 days since my surgery, so it's pretty normal for bm's to still be uncomfortable and cause some pain afterwards. that area is very sensitive.
remember, they're not changing the size of the hole it comes out of (sorry to be graphic, but it's true), they're just releasing the pressure on the sphincter inside. it doesn't just slide out, you still have to be careful about how much water, fiber, etc you take in and you still have to be careful not to strain too much.
surgery is not a quick fix, as i found out in may. it just creates a better environment for healing.