Days 13 & 14 AFTER SURGERY: DISAPPOINTMENT
Well I was hoping for another super positive post about more improvement, but unfortunately Day 12's evening BM set me back. The BM left me sore and I've been dealing with whitish drainage ever since. Now all of the skin is back to super irritated from constant drainage and I'm not able to walk much before a whole lot of discomfort sets in. Bummer.

I had to push off going back to work on Day 15... to day 18. Praying for another huge improvement day... otherwise Hawaii trip isn't looking too good for me next week.

tight80 wrote:Thank you for your reply, Ansi. I'm so happy to hear that you were feeling great at 1 month! I'm counting the days. I feel lucky to say that I can't feel my fissure anymore. Doc said mine was small and that my tight sphincter / muscle spasm were causing most of my problems. I'm already seeing improvement with my digestive issues since the surgery which has me very hopeful that it was successful.

The incision site is probably the worst part for me so far. Stitches have dissolved already and I lost the scab that had formed on it so now it's just a little divot right next to my bum holethat is very sensitive. I was really hoping that it would heal up quickly. Doc cleared me to swim in the ocean at 3 weeks post op when we are in Hawaii so I think your salt theory is on track with facilitating wound healing.

Ansi, did you find that your bowels were more active during the first few weeks post op? I'm finding that I'm having to use the restroom after almost every meal and I'm not given much time to get to the restroom. I'm hoping that the frequency lessens because I won't have access to the immediate sitz bath afterwards when I start going back to work. So thankful that I have a bathtub in my home. It has been the saving grace.

Glad to hear you're improving & felling better day by day (i felt that way too).
The salty water (regular salt) i used mainly to heal my monkey butt redness & unbearable itching & i it was great cure for it. When you reach the mark of 3 - 4 week i think it's ok to start using salty sit baths if you like. If you still have the monkey butt it will burn a lil bit but the calming feeling after that is great.

Ansi, did you find that your bowels were more active during the first few weeks post op? I'm finding that I'm having to use the restroom after almost every meal

I had this during the first 3 - 4 days, then i was able to poop once a day, at most 2 times during the next 3 - 4 days too, after that everything was great, i go once a day (in the morning) since more than 8 weeks now.
It's all up to your diet, don't eat till you get full (SO IMPORTANT), small meals, 3 times a day for me & that's' it so i'll be able to control my BM in the toilet (no pushing, just sit & let it go easy).

The most important meals that should contain decent amount of fibers are breakfast & Dinner, in lunch i eat what my family eat (which was my doctor's advice). I take one laxative doze only instead of 2 (since my diet is great & full of fibers). Used to take 2 doses of laxative during first 3 - 4 weeks after surgery though.

You'll feel great after 3 - 4 weeks, & by great i mean you can start your regular life again with 0 problems, just make sure your BM is soft enough (softer than tooth paste for me) & everything will get better day after day. If it happens & you liked to eat some food so bad which is not suitable for you (me & LIS patients) right now, no problem, just make sure to add another laxative doze lol just to be careful (that's what i did 2 - 3 time since surgery).

tight80 wrote:DAY 9 AFTER SURGERY:
Had a bit of a setback last night. Had multiple BMs in a row and everything got pretty sore. Drainage is now back today and the swelling is back, too. It really sucks to feel like you're moving backwards instead of forwards so I took it easy today. Couldn't sit for very long. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

DAY 10 AFTER SURGERY:
Feeling a little better today. Eating right and staying hydrated. The incision site looks like it is healing very nicely and no longer has any discharge on it. But I am having some yellow pus / discharge coming either from some of the work that he did internally... or from the area close to the surgical site that is inside the ring of the opening where I can't see. Should there still be any yellow 10 days after the procedure? I may have to call in to get this checked out. I know that abscess is a very low percentage complication (I believe 1 or 2% chance) so hopefully the yellow is just part the normal healing process.

Overall recovery feels like it's moving slow. I had hoped to be sitting more by now, but laying down with pillows supporting my back is still most comfortable. The brown/pinkish drainage has pretty much stopped, but the yellow discharge is still there. I can't wait until all drainage and discharge stops so everything else can work on healing up without the constant irritation.

That yellow pus / discharge comes mainly from incision site, for me it took 4 - 6 week to totally disappear, now very lil to almost nothing comes from my inside the tag removed & scratched old fissure places which will take couple months i suppose to stop (i guess only when those parts totally heal).

Tight80,

I just wanted to send you some positive healing vibes...it is still early days so try not to get too discouraged. It isn't always easy, I know. You had a lot of work done and your body will take the time it needs to heal. If you can take a few extra weeks off, do it. My CRS offered 4 weeks for recovery ! I was ok to go back to work after three weeks but I did not have as much work as you did so give yourself the time to heal and recover.

I am now officially three months out and my quality of life has improved sooo much ! It does get better !!!!

Tatie wrote:Tight80,

I just wanted to send you some positive healing vibes...it is still early days so try not to get too discouraged. It isn't always easy, I know. You had a lot of work done and your body will take the time it needs to heal. If you can take a few extra weeks off, do it. My CRS offered 4 weeks for recovery ! I was ok to go back to work after three weeks but I did not have as much work as you did so give yourself the time to heal and recover.

I am now officially three months out and my quality of life has improved sooo much ! It does get better !!!!

I'm gonna be 3 months too tomorrow November 1st
I barely feel the fissure during BM which is more than great.
Keeping my diet so strict & willing to keep it that way for the next 3 more months.

Good luck to all AF LIS patients & may god help us get rid of this misery for good.

@tight80 how are you going now? Hope you managed the trip to Hawaii. I'm 9 days post LIS and hemorrhoidectomy and it's certainly helped to read your posts.

Tatie - thank you for your positive vibes. I can't tell you how much I appreciate them! : )

Ansi - great advice on the meal sizes... I’m following your rule now.

Congrats to you both on the 3 month mark! I can't wait until I am right there with you...

Flaneur - A lot has happened this past week, which is why I haven't posted. And yes I did make it to Hawaii! It really is one of the best places for recuperation. Are you posting about your recovery? Please let me know how you are doing... sending you lots of positive healing thoughts.

Here's this last week's worth of updates:

DAY 15 AFTER SURGERY - STILL NOT READY FOR WORK
I had wanted to go back to work today, but wasn’t feeling up to it so I stayed home. Not much to update otherwise. I still think that improvement is happening… just very slowly.

DAYS 16 THROUGH 20 - WILDFIRES, EVACUATIONS AND POWER OUTAGES
I live in Northern CA where the wildfires happened and my boyfriend's parents were evacuated from their home and came to stay with us at my house. PG&E also implemented mandatory power shut offs for almost 72 hours. I was blessed that I still had hot water... I don't know if I would have made it without the sitz baths. I take about 4 a day and they have been crucial to my healing.

I went back to work on Day 18 and it was difficult. Up at 5:30... an hour-long commute and 8.5 hours of sitting. I brought a cushion but it honestly didn't help much. By the end of the day I was at roughly a pain level 8 on my commute home. Boyfriend drew me a bath and it really helped. I had two major reports to deliver in the next 48 hours for work and I didn’t know how I was going to complete them with the power outage issue and my need to be lying down for healing now since I was hurting so much.

Day 20 was the same. I finished my work by the deadline but it took another full day of sitting and I'm just not there yet unfortunately. But I met my deadline and made it home in time to pack for Hawaii. I was so tired and hurting that I couldn't see straight and part of me was thinking that going to Hawaii at the 3 week mark was not a very good idea… but I powered through, packed my bag and was off to Maui on Day 21.

DAY 21 AFTER SURGERY - TRAVEL
So my boyfriend rocks and upgraded me to first class and jeez did I need it. Travel was SUPER ROUGH. I actually started feeling pain from my fissure site for the first time since surgery because I had pushed myself so hard this week. And the strain of travel and sitting on a 5 hour flight just made it worse. The reclining seats were what kept me somewhat comfortable... that and traveling with a seat cushion. I have no shame. But the worst part of today was having to use the restroom on the plane. I felt the urge and as I looked down into that little tiny toilet with nowhere to really sit... I just couldn't do it. So I held it for another 3 hours until we landed. Then when I could use the normal bathroom in the terminal I finally went and it hurt like hell. And sorry if this is TMI but ever since the surgery it's kind of a mess when I go... so I travelled with a portable mini bidet that I got on amazon and that saved the day. It was my first BM without a shower afterward so I cleaned up as best as I could and off we went to shop for groceries and head to our condo. It took us about two hours to get to the condo and I was pretty miserable. Loved the bidet for what it could do but it just couldn't do what a shower can do. So I showered and rested for about 4 hours. I felt pretty bad but wanted to rally for the Halloween parade so I popped an advil and we put our costumes on and off we went. It was super fun and I’m so glad I went!

DAYS 22 to 24– PARADISE
After a good night of sleep I felt LOADS better the next day. Went to the beach and just reclined and relaxed. Handled dinner pretty well by bringing my cushion. Had a nice cocktail and I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed my first night back of being social and spending time with friends. Looking forward to more beach and more relaxing for the next 8 Days.

So right now my pain level has improved and I’m just pacing myself based on what my body is telling me. I pretty much have great mornings and find myself needing to rest by mid afternoon. Still need a cushion for long periods of sitting. A good lie down gets me through the dinner portion of the evening and I’m ready to repeat the next day.

The only real negative I’m dealing with now is leakage of stool. It has been upsetting because I’m not understanding why this would start happening 3 weeks into my recovery. It isn’t very much leakage at all, but I do have to dab every few hours with water and tissue and wear thin pads just in case. Really hoping that this resolves soon. If any of you have dealt with this please chime in on how long it usually lasts for. More updates to come soon...

tight80 wrote:Tatie - thank you for your positive vibes. I can't tell you how much I appreciate them! : )
The only real negative I’m dealing with now is leakage of stool. It has been upsetting because I’m not understanding why this would start happening 3 weeks into my recovery. It isn’t very much leakage at all, but I do have to dab every few hours with water and tissue and wear thin pads just in case. Really hoping that this resolves soon. If any of you have dealt with this please chime in on how long it usually lasts for. More updates to come soon...

I have it till now (3 months 17 days).
It's not serious leakage like you said, but like more sweat of your anus, i guess it's normal since the sphincter is still loose & won't be the same again, probably after few more months like i read it once in here. Someone here said it will take 1 & a half year to get 80% of your sphincter strength back, i guess it differs from person to person.

My small leakage i deal with by putting small, round piece of cotton infront of my anus so anything coming out, that piece of cotton will take care of it, i change it 3 time a days. Not bothering me too much tbh, it's the cost of getting rid of the fissure i guess.
The good thing about that small piece of cotton is that you won't feel it there at all because it's soft enough.

Thank you for the reply, ansi. I like the cotton idea and think I will try that. I see my CRS in a few weeks for my first check up, and I plan to ask him about this.
What I have realized now that the swelling is gone is that my opening is different now based on how I healed. Basically it looks like everything got stretched out on the surgery side and the leakage is coming from a small groove on the farthest part on that side, which I did not have prior to surgery. Keeping my fingers crossed that once the sphincter gets stronger the leakage will stop and I'm just left with this minor skin deformity.

WEEK 4 AFTER SURGERY:
This is when I really started to notice some improvement. The internal swelling and discomfort has pretty much diminished and I only feel minor pain now after long periods of exertion or sitting. BMs are not painful, but I do still have irritation on the surgery side afterwards due to the little bit of leakage I'm dealing with. The incision site looks like it is close to being fully healed.
Starting week 4 in Hawaii was the best decision I made even though the travel to get there was rough. At week 4 I was able to join my boyfriend and our friends for meals out and beach days and I finally got myself into the ocean! We snorkeled with three beautiful turtles. I made sure to do a fresh water rinse at the beach after each swim and the surgical incision was slightly irritated, but totally fine. Walking a little farther each day and sitting for a little bit longer each day. I feel like some serious progress is finally happening.
FLIGHT HOME:
Wow - Flying at 4.5 weeks versus 3 weeks was night and day different. I had no problem sitting for 5 hours this time. Carrying bags was way easier, too. Pretty much a piece of cake.
WEEK 5 AFTER SURGERY:
Back to work and I'm able to sit the entire day now. I still have my pillow with me and need to bring it out in the afternoons but I'm doing so much better than where I was when I tried to go back to work at week 2.5. I'm still sitzing in the mornings and evenings for comfort. Honestly I'm feeling back to myself again with the exception of two things: 1.) Fear of having BM away from home and 2.) Minor leakage causing skin irritation.
One thing I want to mention that I wasn't informed about prior to surgery is that you may end up with an altered exit point like I have now. Basically everything got shifted far left for me and it's WAY messier when I go now. Luckily I usually only go once a day and in the morning so I can shower right after... but with my IBS problems I know that this won't be the case every day so I carry a mini travel bidet bottle in my purse to be safe.
I see my CRS for my first follow up at week 7 and will post my progress then.

WEEK 7 AFTER SURGERY:
I had my first follow up appointment with my surgeon today and he is pleased with my healing progress so far. What a relief! I am so happy to hear this because my recovery has had so many ups and downs... but he assured me that the ups and downs are considered "normal recovery" for the amount of surgery that I had. The basic update is that my left side hasn't healed yet. My left side is the LIS side and he said that it may take up to 3 more months before it's fully healed. Also - while my surgical incision has closed, the tissue underneath is still healing, too. I was actually relieved to hear all of this because while I feel about 90% now... the left side is still quite sore and I needed the reminder that this recovery is a PROCESS... and that everything will continue to slowly improve with time.

I had a digital exam and I am stoked to report that I had no pain on my right side! That was where my fissure was located (and apparently the side that I had the MOST surgery on) so I was very happy that I felt no pain there. The left hurt, but it was to be expected. He said that there is no infection and that everything is looking pretty good!

Next we discussed the skin tags and small groove I have developed as a result of healing from the surgical procedure. These types of healing developments/deformities happen (more frequently than I thought) and he is hopeful that the groove will fill in a bit more as I continue to heal... but there is a chance that it won't. This was disappointing to hear, but the good news is that the stool leakage from the groove should go away if I can manage to firm up my loose stools. A small dose of immodium each day is what he recommends and he said that it fixes the majority of his patients who have this problem. So my homework is to increase my fiber to try to bulk up my stools and then try immodium if fiber alone isn't enough. So all in all it was a pretty good follow up and he wants to see me again in 3 months when I am fully healed.

On a side note: I'm also happy to report that at 7.5 weeks I can sit for what feels like an unlimited amount of time without pain now! So for those of you who might be feeling discouraged about how long it's taking to feel like yourself again... it will happen! It just takes some of us a little longer than others to get there.