I thought I would share this with you since you are some of the few people in my world that could understand--for me it explains why there was so much inflammation in the area for the past few days. I am sorer than usual now, but better than yesterday.

My butt pain had gotten significantly worse over the past few days to the point where i thought I might have another abscess. so yesterday after the TCM appt. I took a look at my rear. At first I couldn't see anything, but I pressed around a little and felt something pricky. I thought I had given myself another roid and that it had thrombosed majorly. Then I pulled back the skin as far as it would go and saw the tip of a twiggy thing sticking out of the area. I removed it and felt somewhat better, though I am still sore now. Apparently, I have a bit of a keyhole deformity in the posterior position because of the surgery. since the drs opoend down to the mucle, there is no fatty layer btw the skin and the muscle at that point. so that is the first place to open and apparently, the first place where something could get stuck.

2 yrs ago, before this all happened, I would never have even imagined that such things were possible.

Wow-good for you for taking matters into your own hands and finding out what was going on down there.
No wonder you were having pain and inflammation. I wonder if you will need to do self checks from time to time or as a daily part of your routine.
Is this something that will heal over or is it part of your anatomy now?

Well, at least your pain is explainable. I know that is half the battle-trying to figure out what is causing it.

I think this will forever be part of my anatomy now. I am glad I figured it out, though. I'll have to do periodic checks.....

Wht's funny is yesterday, I felt almost back to square one like in Feb. Today I feel like I did in May. Hopefully, by the end of the weekend, I'll feel like I did last week, sore but manageable.

That's pretty amazing, Chris...who'd have thought things could get stuck there like that. Surely your pain from this past is going to get better.
I'm sure it will heal over...

"sore but manageable"
that's how i feel every day. i guess some of us just have to accept this way of life now. sighhh
i think it's really interesting that you were able to figure out what was causing a recent problem. did you diagnose the keyhole deformity yourself, based on what you saw? will you bring this up to your dr next time? what is your pain like during BM, and how long does it last after?

yes, I diagnosed it myself. I remember reading of it as a possible side effect of my surgery since they couldn't suture the wound but had to leave it open so the abscess could drain. It basically looks like a hole where the layers of fat used to be at the back of the canal. It doesn't run the entire length of the canal (most of it, but not all), so thankfully, I haven't had any problems with leakage (which was another possible side effect).

I usually don't have pain with bm, unless I have reinjured myself in some way. Afterwards, I usually have some burning and tenderness for a few hours. Some days, I don't have anything, some days the burning/tenderness lasts all day. I can't figure out what causes those differences. Today, I was extra sore immediately after the bm, but it cleared up in a couple of hours.

Oh, good that you took that thing out !!!! You know, even without that keyhole something similar happened to me a month ago. I felt itchy and irritated and decided to take " a soak". When I was finished and was washing my self again a part of radichio (salad leaf that has that zig-zaggidy edge) fell out !!!!! I felt better immediately !!!! So, one more reason to cook everything !!!!
:&)=: