Dawn,
I'm sorry that we couldn't meet while we were in Fort Myers Beach. Things (more people) were getting more crowded in the final days of our stay. My husband enjoyed his airboat ride in the Everglades! He went with some of the others in our group. I didn't want to pay $100 to see alligators and snakes!!!

You know Dawn, I've kind of wondered for a while if this whole "butt doesn't always feel 100% clean until I wipe again" thing that we've been talking about is what the clinical studies call "incontinence." Some of those studies quote ridiculously high rates of incontinence following LIS. It doesn't seem too far fetched to me that this kind of minor thing is what they're referring to. If this is all they're talking about, then the risk of LIS is really overblown. For what it's worth, my "dirty butt feeling" has gotten better and better with time. I can almost wipe like a normal person now, and I really think my personal need to bath the area frequently is largely psychological. After all, before my fissure, my ass was just an afterthought like a garbage can; now it's an integral part of my daily thoughts like a glistening diamond on a pedestal!
IMO all of us would've been a lot less panicky and worried after surgery if our docs had just given us realistic timelines for full recovery. Here I am, about 9 months after LIS ... if my doc had told me it would take a year or so for recovery, I'd actually feel ahead of the curve.
Cheryl, it's about 65 here right now. I'll go out in my shorts at lunch and do a little sun worshipping for ya

Well, thanks for rubbing it in, NG!! Now I know how the people back here felt when I told them I was walking around in shorts while they could not see across the street from their houses during the blizzard!! I think we are going to go below zero tonight. I stopped listening to my weather radio!!
Maybe you should consider being an author since you use such eloquent, descriptive language:
After all, before my fissure, my ass was just an afterthought like a garbage can; now it's an integral part of my daily thoughts like a glistening diamond on a pedestal!

Cheryl,
I can't believe you didn't want to see Alligators and Snakes.... and get mosquito bites! Lol I don't blame you...I'm not to crazy about the airboat tours. Was it Wooten's Everglades air boat tours? The Seafood festival was last weekend in the Everglades. My daughter and her husband usually go but weren't able to make it this year.
I'm sorry we didn't get to meet either. Maybe next time! :)
NG, that would be crazy if we're incontinent by text book terms.... LOL
I agree, I never paid too much attention to that area before the fissure. My husband says it's naturally a hard area to keep spotless. I don't actually have any (your terms ,LOL) skid marks or anything. It just gets kind of a raw feeling and I know I need to clean it. Oh well, hopefully that will end soon!

Dawn,
I didn't hear about anyone getting mosquito bites on the airboat tour, but they saw plenty of snakes and gators-- my husband doesn't remember the name of the airboat tour. One of our friends (a female) from our tour group had a snake wrapped around her neck (we have a pic of that), and also "kissed" a snake, held a gator and also a taranchula spider. I told her husband he had been forsaken for a snake, which is pretty bad!!
None of that is my cup of tea!! Especially don't like to PAY for those types of activities. I'll take that $$$ and spend it on jewelry or clothing, thank you very much.

Oh Dawn, I'm so thrilled you're doing so well. You're such a great resource and inspiration here.
I'm joining you and NG in the Not Clean As a Whistle buttclub. I feel exactly the same way, but I don't think it's incontinence. I think it's just a fear of wiping! Or humor me and let me believe it is. I wouldn't go so far as to say skidmarks, but I've had to switch from thong panties to granny panties. Ugh. A thong and this would be a whole different sad story. I'm not brave enough now to wear white like you did, my bum is still bleeding off and on and of course I have no idea why. I sure hope SP is right, that this wiping poop goop too shall pass after a few months. Summer's coming!
Are you having any pain still? My bum is really sore. It wasn't until a few weeks ago and of course I'm wondering why.
NP, I'm so glad to see you back! You had me worried! How are you doing???
I sure hope I'll be healed enough to get out to Disney in CA with my kids this spring, or I'll definitely be on everyone's bad mom list. I'm running out of excuses.

Dawn, we should nominate you for LIS Poster Girl! :D ... if there were such a thing!

A good way to rid yourself of that constant wiping is to firm up your stools, it worked 100% for me, the miralax was making stools way too loose and with the sphincter being slack it's inevitable that loose stool will seep out now and again, now that I have more formed and bulky stools I only have to dab the area once or twice and have never had leakage since, IMO loose stools are a major nightmare for burning the area too, I'll never use Movicol ever again.

Hey Caligirl,
I'm not having any pain- Knock on wood. Once in awhile I'll get the irritation and I'll clean the area again and it goes away. It usually happens when I walk a lot, like shopping all day. I haven't seen blood since the first week of my LIS, but from what I've read on all the older post it's really not unusual to see some for awhile.
A thong is definitely out of the question,LOL
I also think you're right about the wiping. I still dab or shower it off....
Bumbutt, that's funny! That would be my luck, I've never been nominated for anything so a Poster Girl for LIS would rock....NOT!! Too funny:)
Steve, I have well formed Bm's but soft. I'm deathly afraid of stopping the miralax right now, but you are probably right. I just can't decide if possibly having a hard stool is too risky right now.
Cherylk,
I guess it was too cool and the fact that we haven't had hardly any rain helped out on the mosquito's attacking. They're usually awful down there.
I'm with ya on shopping versus snakes and alligators though, but as I've said before I'm a shop-aholic.

Dawn,
I also think you should be the LIS poster girl! I'm sending our friend the pic of herself with a snake wrapped around her neck!!