I'm new to the forum but have been reading Your posts with interest. I had the lis surgery performed 10 weeks ago for a fissure. The incision site still hurts and bleeds with bms most mornings even though the stool is extremely soft (so much so that it is not even formed). I also have difficulty walking. My surgeon says that it is taking me this long to recover because he was a little too conservative with the cut. The pain and blood appears to be coming from the left side, where the incision was made. Has anyone else had this problem? The surgeon has suggested a Botox injection. I'm so tired of all this. It seems my biggest battle is trying to recover from the surgery incision rather than the fissure.

Hi Red, I am roughly where you are with the post-op, I still get a little discomfort now and again, mainly from the left side, my incision site used to sting like crazy but has calmed down a lot in the past few weeks, I just get the odd twinge, I don't get any blood either but I never have.
Try bulking up your stools a little so that it's not too mushy, watery and overly soft stools irritate the surgical site like crazy, I found that stopping Movicol relieved most of my pain, I occasionally use Fybogel to make the stool bulkier and get rid of more BM in one go rather than several trips to the loo.

Thanks steve. I did notice we had our surgeries around the same time and found your posts really useful.
I did try bulking up the stool but when I did, it was usually more painful & bled more. I'm beginning to get worried that the incision is effectively another fissure that won't heal because the muscle is too tight. I'm not sure whether a botox injection will help to relax the muscle and let the incision heal. I'm seeing the surgeon on Tuesday so I'll ask him then.

My incision site was slow to heal also. Even though no infection was readily apparent, my doc gave me antibiotics. Took two courses (20 days) of flagyl. Started to feel less pain after the first few days on the meds. I know you have to be careful with antibiotics but maybe a minor infection can be present without the usual symptoms.

I took Flagyl for 14 days after the op, they made me poop like a trooper

oh yeah , flagyl will make you poop

Hey Red, unfortunately some people do heal very, very slowly after LIS. I had mine back in early May 2010 and still have discomfort from both the fissure and incision site. It's slowly calming down, but it was nowhere near the established guidelines for this procedure, and I'm definitely far from 100%.
One thing that seems weird in your case is the bleeding though. Has the doc checked for an abscess or fistula at all? It could be (and likely is) a case of slow healing or the doc being too conservative with the cut (meaning the surgery didn't work), but those are things you'd want to get ruled out, at least. I developed an abscess after LIS which is why I'm always a bit gun shy there.
Assuming that nothing else is amiss, then I'd personally consider Botox. I had Botox before LIS and it worked great for a few months. I did retear the fissure after a few months of bliss but that was mostly because I got real sloppy with my diet. I don't see what there is to lose by trying Botox -- the main risk is that it doesn't work, in which case you'd end up back where you are now, where the options are frankly to continue on as-is or try LIS again (some folks here have had it more than once before it worked, same with Botox).

I was previously given two courses of flagyl and was also admitted to hospital to receive antibiotics via a drip. It did ease the difficulty I had with walking. But I had no other symptoms of infection such as discharge or fever.
I saw the surgeon today. He suggested taking a look with a scope under general anesthetic, although I'm worried that a scope may cause further damage or tearing. I'll be seeing another surgeon next week for a second opinion.

Spoke to the surgeon again today and he suggested a colonoscopy and CT scan because of the bleeding. The blood is bright red which would suggest to me that it is lower down in the tract than the colon (and most likely where the pain is coming from, which is the incision site). But perhaps the prudent thing is to have it done to rule out anything more serious.
Has anyone had a colonoscopy before, and how did the low fibre clear liquid diet required for the procedure impact on your fissure / incision site?

Hi Red, sorry for finding this post late - I am not often here : (.
Yes - do any scope they suggest - it will be done under anesthesia and no, it should do no more damage in experienced hands ! I had colonoscopy before my second LIS and I even felt better after it !!!!! Almost to the point if "rethinking" my second LIS!
"Cleansing" part before the procedure is not pleasant but FAR from being terrible. I had open fissure before the "cleansing" and thought that I would die of pain having 12 BMs in a row - but there was none !!! It is because
you will have 2 soft poops and after just a water that is not even acidic as is regular diarrhea - just water .
So, I can honestly say that I panicked without any reason and my preparation as well as colonoscopy was really no big deal at all! BUT, I had great CRS that performed it - so it is important that you have one too !!!!!
Wishing you the best of luck with it all !!! Please let us know how it went and what they decided to do !!!!
Slow healing sometimes happens, but is far from being a norm and one should always check things out if they are looking "fishy" : (((