Its 2 AM, and still no poop! :oops:
I can't believe I drank a full bottle of magnesium citrate and all I got was a good spirt of gas.
The good news is that the baths are wonderful. I think I have to stop taking so much pain medicine, even though I'm in a lot of pain.

Thank you coconut for responding so quickly. : ) It sounds like you have a much worse fissure than I do. My pain is bad at times, but not nearly that bad. I was just curious how you came to the decision to get surgery so I know when I might possibly need to get it (still hopeful I will never need it, though!). I'm a total wuss when it comes to surgery or anything medical-related and I give you major credit for going through with it to get your life back.
Also, do they usually do a full exam (under general anesthetic) before they decide to do surgery? Or do they just do the surgery based on symptoms and what they can see so far on the outside and repair whatever is there when you're asleep? I know they usually don't do anoscopies on people who have fissures without sedation, so I'm curious.
I really hope you poop soon! I can understand how you just want to get it over with. I hope it won't be too painful for you. Hang in there and I hope you feel better very, very soon!

Luka wrote:Thank you coconut for responding so quickly. : ) It sounds like you have a much worse fissure than I do. My pain is bad at times, but not nearly that bad. I was just curious how you came to the decision to get surgery so I know when I might possibly need to get it (still hopeful I will never need it, though!). I'm a total wuss when it comes to surgery or anything medical-related and I give you major credit for going through with it to get your life back.
Also, do they usually do a full exam (under general anesthetic) before they decide to do surgery? Or do they just do the surgery based on symptoms and what they can see so far on the outside and repair whatever is there when you're asleep? I know they usually don't do anoscopies on people who have fissures without sedation, so I'm curious.
I really hope you poop soon! I can understand how you just want to get it over with. I hope it won't be too painful for you. Hang in there and I hope you feel better very, very soon!

The doctor's decision to do surgery does not have to be based on an internal exam. Some people undergo a sphig____ something. Its like a colonoscopy but only of the bottom part of the colon and the prep for it isn't so bad. My doctor made the decision based on symptoms I reported and viewing the externally visible skin tag. Since he didn't know exactly what he would find when he did the surgery, I gave my permission to do a range of procedures, based on what he found.
I'm a wuss, too. This is my first surgery. I turned down surgery on my pinky finger when it broke because I'd rather have a crocked finger for the rest of my life than get surgery.

I finally pooped at 7 AM this morning. Touchdown!!!
At first, I was relieved that it came out soft, then the pain started and I had diarrhea twice. The pain was off the scale. I blacked out a little. I took two percocet for the first time since this started, fell asleep and just now woke up. Here's hoping that's its better tomorrow.

Yay! Glad the first stool's happened.
I hope the pain's improved tomorrow. When I had the LIS I too was hoping that I'd be one of those people I'd read about who were in virtually zero pain immediately after the procedure. However that didn't happen for me either and it took a while for the pain to gradually reduce. However it did get back to normal - the operation was a Godsend. Hope things start improving for you really rapidly. The first bowel movement is always a tense time and of course, the anus may be tighter because of swelling, which will eventually go down. I also developed two new fissures during the surgery itself, one at the front and one at the back (the surgeon told me immediately post op) so had those to heal as well as the incision site. However because I'd had the LIS, they healed.
If you've had diarrhoea twice, that will also irritate the anus. I know you eat a really healthy diet, so hopefully your bowel habit will settle down now.

Lauren12 wrote:Yay! Glad the first stool's happened.
I hope the pain's improved tomorrow. When I had the LIS I too was hoping that I'd be one of those people I'd read about who were in virtually zero pain immediately after the procedure. However that didn't happen for me either and it took a while for the pain to gradually reduce. However it did get back to normal - the operation was a Godsend. Hope things start improving for you really rapidly. The first bowel movement is always a tense time and of course, the anus may be tighter because of swelling, which will eventually go down. I also developed two new fissures during the surgery itself, one at the front and one at the back (the surgeon told me immediately post op) so had those to heal as well as the incision site. However because I'd had the LIS, they healed.
If you've had diarrhoea twice, that will also irritate the anus. I know you eat a really healthy diet, so hopefully your bowel habit will settle down now.

Thanks for responding Lauren. I was just reading other people's reports about their first BMs and I was feeling bitter - like I'm the only one still hurting this much two days in.
Another big concern with me is that if I'm this bad on Monday, I won't be able to work and its a lot of work for me to call off work. Not working involves calling every single patient who was supposed to come in and rescheduling each one. I don't have to be super well to see patients, especially since I work out of my home, but I need to be better than this. And then there's my growing fear that something went horribly wrong in the surgery and they just aren't telling me. Anywho, yah. Panic is settling in. I'm not a very good patient. I just don't seem to be getting a break on this stuff.

I know, I had the same thoughts after my LIS surgery as well - there's something wrong, it must have failed, etc. because I kept reading reports of people being almost entirely relieved of their pain immediately following surgery. Nothing was wrong however, it just took longer. One reason was because I had developed a 'pain cycle' between anus and brain - I'd been in pain so intensely and for so long, that sensations which on a normal anus would have registered as minor were registering as painful to me. The pain cycle took a while to downgrade so that sensations in that area were again felt at a normal level. As an example, I used a glycerin suppository in the months following the surgery, whilst things were still settling down. As you know, these are really mild and people with normal anuses have no pain and irritation as a result of using a glycerine suppository. However my anus was sensitive, so whatever the substance is in the suppository that promotes peristalsis irritated my anus for 48 hours! I had to cancel a dinner date because using a suppository had upped the pain. However, only a couple of months later, using glyercin suppositories caused me no pain and irritation at all and I never have trouble with them any more. The awareness of pain from the anus in the brain had downgraded to a normal level.
If you're in too much pain, you can't work on Monday hun. I know it must be difficult to cancel so many patients and of course lose the income that would have come from those appointments, but I think the patients will be understanding if you've only recently had surgery. I arrived to see a therapist once and she was on her way out of the door at the time carrying her dog, who needed urgent vetinary attention and of course I couldn't have the session. But those things happen in life. Alternative practitioners are human as well.
If you're panicking worrying about something going wrong, that's going to make the pain worse. I had confirmation from my CRS that anxiety and panic will make the experience of anal pain worse (I had plenty of episodes of both on the way to healing!). If you're worried about the level of pain though, can you get feedback and reassurance from the surgeon of what it's normal to expect? They will know what is normal and what is not.
Anyway, I did have some very painful episodes on the way to healing but all the time, nothing was wrong, it was healing just fine. It's very early days for you and the first bowel movement is probably the most stressful point in the recovery. The fact you then had two bouts of diarrhoea almost certainly agitated things further. Even on a normal anus that has never had surgery, two bouts of diarrhoea following a bowel movement is going to cause soreness and irritation. Your bowel habit will revert to normal and the anus will have an easier time of it as a result.
My CRS said that the anus is a delicate apparatus and can take a long time to settle down after a disruption, such as a fissure or surgery. For example he personally had had a haemorrhoidectomy and said he didn't revert to completely normal until six months post op. So longer recovery times aren't unusual. He wasn't worried about me taking longer. If you're getting high levels of pain however, do get it checked out with your surgeon. That would only be sensible.
I hope to read tomorrow that you're having an easier time of it. It's only early days yet!

I am so much better this afternoon. Still having diarrhea, but I've got Vaseline slathered down there, so it didn't hurt so much. I'm on alieve instead of percocet this afternoon and I'm still improving hour to hour.
Lauren - it was really helpful to be reminded to see this pain as a normal part of healing. You are absolutely on track with me in saying that viewing the pain as something wrong and fearful makes the pain worse. When I was just having muscle spasms, they improved hugely when I was able to confirm that they were simple spasms and not something more sinister. Thank you!

Glad to hear you're so much better and improving. :)

Day 3 Post-op
In today's poop report, things were a lot better, but still not great. I didn't have much pain on pooping, but it did start to sting a few minutes later when I was soaking in the bath. I had planned ahead this time and taken the percocet immediately after pooping, so it kicked in a few minutes after the pain started. I'm feeling pretty good right now. It was still too loose and very small. I had so much diarrhea yesterday, I think things are still off from that.
Its hard to decide what is best to get the poop back to good consistency. I still took the miralax yesterday, because sometimes loose stools can swing into hard ones, especially with the percocet in my system. I'm going to try to go back to my old routine as much as possible and hope I get back to that perfect stool quickly.