Day of surgery

So guys its finally done, much quicker than I thought! It took about an hour and half of nervous wait and I got hauled in, few questions for the anaesthesiologist and I was in wonderland. Woke up about an hour and half later in the day care area and immediately felt a lot of pain at the incision site, the nurses at the hospital were pretty sub standard though because I had to ask for pain killers and it still took them 45 minutes to get me those!
So because I went through the public health care system, you get none of the fancy personalized service some lucky ones (read Davo :)) get. No visit by the surgeon later and the nurses wanting to kick me out with an instruction sheet that details what to do and what not to do.....
Aftere a while we finally left and it was a painful half hour ride back home...Arrived home, had some juice and passed out for a few hours. Woke up and still in pain at the incision site but the rest of the area seemed relatively quiet. Ever since gaining consciousness though I had been generating a lot of gas and surprisingly not able to pass it, I had to really push which I did 3-4 times because it was getting too uncomfortable, did anyone else experience that? I was told there might be some involuntary gas leakage but I experienced quite the opposite!
One thing that is bothering me is no BM yet! And Im frankly scared of the first one which I think will happen tomorrow morning, I have taken softners and stayed on a fluid diet today. I will take miralax before hitting the sack and keep praying.....I do have the plugged up constipated feeling in my bum and it scares me quite a bit but nothing else I can do about that
Also, as the day wore on I started get a tiny bit of pain/discomfort on the other side of the anus (not the side where the incision is) it was occassional but very similar to the fissure kind of pain...also I feel like the area was spasming a bit still, but the whole purpose of the LIS is to ensure that the area does not spasm and lets the fissure heal.....what does this mean, Im horrified thinking of the worst here, does this mean that it hasnt worked for me??
One thing also is that before I went in for the surgery I was doing ok, probably 80% healed but not able to do the last 20%, so I was very manageable to begin with and hence I need to manage my expectations accordingly, but seriously isnt this surgery supposed to be pretty much magic and give you instant relief, atleast thats what I thought.......If it doesnt work, I cant even imagine how bad life would suck........
So in summary my pain has been about a 5-6 at the incision site and since no BM, no judgement on fissure pain yet. Praying for a smooth BM tomorrow and a pain free life soon that doesnt revolve around ensuring I used NTG enough times and sitz baths and fibre and water......
I have one very important question to anybody who has IBS - I have been dealing with it for 2-3 years now and my BM's are almost always wonky and mostly on the loose side. I think that contributed to me having the AF to some extent. And I am scared that not being able to manage that will lead to a patchy recovery or maybe even worse. Am I being foolish here - meaning these are mutually exclusive things and are not related? If not then what have you guys done to ensure mushy mushy BM's? I take probiotics after food and peppermint oil capsules between meals as recommended by my doc.

Hi howtobepositive- congrats on making it through surgery! I just had mine Monday, and I'm feeling a lot of the same emotions/concerns you are. I guess I'd expected something of a magic solution, and the reality of the post-op is that I still have spasms (although far less severe and frequent), and the pain of the fissure is still there- when I'd heard that the fissure pain should be immediately gone. I'm worried that these are signs the LIS didn't work for me, but my husband has reminded me that I'm less than 48 hours out of surgery, and it's far too soon to really tell how I'll be feeling in a week or a month. I'd say the exact same for you... Give yourself some time before jumping to conclusions! Your body has a lot of healing to do, and the LIS doesn't magically heal the AF. Stress will only make the situation worse! As for your BM: you will make it through it! Mine was painful, and I'm still working to regulate consistency and frequency. But we'll get there!

I haven't had surgery, so I'm only speaking from research and reading posts......my understanding is the LIS surgery provides the condition under which the fissure can heal. Something about bringing blood to the area and, I assume, reducing aggravation due to the spasm at that site. From posts it sounds as though the first week or so can be pretty rough/uncomfortable....so my hope is that you will improve and heal, but it just takes more time! I sure wish there was an easier solution to this miserable problem!! :)

Hi howtobepositive!
Very glad you are on the other side of the surgery.
Thought while you are healing you might like to read a couple of our member's posts on how they got through the time after their surgery. The first one is from Davo, and the rest from Sweet Bugaboo. Hope they help, and the best of luck and thoughts for your healing!
http://anal-fissure.org/t4589-my-lis-diary-march-2012-fully-healed-in-4-weeks
http://anal-fissure.org/t4404-my-update-12-days-post-op
http://anal-fissure.org/t4465-update-3-weeks-post-op

Thanks for the replies guys and especially for the links Saviaci! No BM's yet.......but I think it will happen at some point today, it doesnt help that I can walk around too much as that usually does the trick for me.
One of the biggest things for me to deal with during recovery is ME. I am a worrier and paranoid about things in general, so it isnt uncommon for me to generate negative thoughts :( Which leads to stress and as we all know that isnt good! Im trying my best to keep things in perspective and with a helpful family and HR department at work, I do feel blessed but please pray for me, I need it......_/\_

Also guys for the first BM what should I expect - blood, spasms, pain????? Im crap scared of the first one as I do feel constipated and might have to strain a bit :(
Additionally, for the ones who are fully recovered, how long did it take for you to do the following:
1. go back to work (i have an office job)
2. do the chores and be able to drive without any pain
3. get back to exercise - cardio, yoga etc.
4. get back to sports
5. be able to eat out atleast 1-2 times a week
Im only 1 day post op but cant help picturing all of the above :D

So it happened! And quite contrary to what I expected it was a Type 7 on the bristol scale! And though Id take that over hard stools I realize this is just as bad :( I took 2 tablets of docusate 100mg each and one dose of miralax yesterday and then two glasses of prune juice this am so maybe I overdid it!
And I do have a lot of burning/itching kind of pain all over the anus. I dont think I am spasming which is a good sign but there is a lot of pain post BM which worries me slightly as it is similar to the AF pain I have had for a long time.....hopefully the BM's settle down and I start feeling good again. Any of you had a similar first post-op BM experience?

Yes! I'm exactly there with you. Three loosey-goosey BMs today have left my bum stinging a bit with mild spasms (fortunately no blood). AF/LIS pros: any tips for regulating the BMs? I've scaled back on fruit, had just one teaspoon of Metamucil today, and don't know how many stool softeners I should take at bed time (if any!). I want this bad boy to go away and desperately want the LIS to be effective. Grrr, it's frustrating!

howtobepositive, Thanks very much for the information about your surgery. I've been following it closely as I also have had IBS and been taking anti-anxiety medication for a long time. I hope that things go well for you, the anxiety that this fissure has caused me is almost unbearable. I hope that you make steady progress.

Not related to surgery, but out of experience, I can tell you that if you have IBS or IBS-like symptoms especially those involving loose stools/diarrhea and/or following constipation, having really mushy or liquidy stools can definitely aggravate AF.
The more watery the stool is, the more acid there is and in general, more fluid which comes with more... whatever is in the fluid which can then irritate membranes... especially membranes that might be ulcerated (like a fissure) or raw. Also, spasming of the anal sphincter is more likely (though at this exact moment, I can't remember exactly why).
Chronic watery, mushy stools was actually how I got started on the road towards AFs and then a following bout of constipation to end the episode was the clincher.
For people with IBS (or other GI-related problems aside from AF), successfully managing AF in the long run really seems to go hand in hand with successfully managing IBS.
The reason I say this is because repeated bouts of diarrhea or constipation or both are never a good thing for AF as one or the other or both puts a lot of additional stress in that area. If it isn't higher acidity and extra spasming which can lead to even more spasming, then it's too-hard or too-bulky or moving-too-slowly stools and the urge to strain and push.
And if you have something like IBS, you might even be experiencing GI cramps on top of everything which also contributes to urges to strain and push as well as charlie horse-like symptoms in the colon and rectum.