Hello. Just had to chime in here...Does your discharge have any odour? Is it sticky and kind of a clearish yellow (that is, not milky)? If so, this is called serous fluid and is produced by the new tissue forming (called granulation tissue). It is actually a good thing as it brings lots of nutrients to the site. Blood, of course is not a good thing as it indicates tissue damage but is inevitable when the new tissue is still so fragile.

That is excellent info msimon. I had forgotten about this stage and how fragile the tissue is. I know this stage and the discharge is a question many have after fistula surgery.

Hey again!

The only thing I don't understand is that this discharge has been happening for 2 months already.
The surgery was exactly 2 months ago.

The doctor originally said it takes 6-8 weeks for the wound to close up...but it doesn't seem it's happening.

I still have to wear these fabric sticks to prevent staining my clothes....
How long then it takes to finally be over with the whole process?

Doctor's are notorious for giving shorter-than-realistic recovery times to their patient. Oh how I wish they wouldn't do that.

How much discharge are we talking here?

This type of surgery requires about 3 month, average, recovery time. But, everyone is different. I took a couple months longer than most. Recovery time will also depend on the depth of the wound, one's age, nutrition status, etc. Stress is very bad for healing, etc. Hang in there. It will happen, soon.

I use these fabric-like bandage stripes to absorb the discharge.
so about 1-2 times per day I change them..
usually there is about 1 cm long, not too thick, line of discharge.
it's not crazy much, but it's also not changing at all..it's been like this for a while now.

if I move a lot, then the discharge grows...can be 2-2.5 cm

When do you have a follow up with your CRS? How is your pain?

At the moment no pain at all...sometimes minimalistic.
my next meeting there is next month.

That sounds about how much I had for quite a while too. It seemed to go on and on with little change. It also increased with my activity. There did come a time though when it finally did completely close. Was more like 4-5 months for me.

I think when a CRS says 'a wound closes' is different from 'completely healed'. These type of surgeries take a long time for that and I would say, from what I have read on here, is about 3 months. So your case would not be unusual at all then.

That's great about you not having much pain though :)

That's great to hear!
I guess also my clinic failed in preparing me for the aftermath...
There was no talk about sitz-baths or how long the discharge should be.
I was just afraid the fistula is coming back and maybe that's why the discharge keeps appearing...

hoping it's slow but steady :)

thanks again
will keep updating