Hi everyone-
Tomorrow will be 4 weeks after LIS and skin tag removal for me. The CRS also put one stitch in the fissure. My incision site is totally pain free at this point and for the first couple of weeks it bothered me more than anything. I saw the CRS a week ago yesterday and he felt things were healing well , even though the skin tag area had been irritated more for me the day or two before that. I almost felt like it was coming back, but he said it was not. The CRS clipped a stitch that was in that area and said it had outlived it's usefulness. He said something about that I might see a thread or something and to just leave it alone. The first day or so after I saw him, I thought the skin tag area was better. Then there were a couple of days with increased irritation with BMs in that area a little bit. I have not seen blood since a day or so after surgery until last night. Right before bed, I had my third BM and it was a little firmer (still soft). I don't know how to explain the weird feeling afterward other than that it felt like something was still sitting in the verge area there- almost grainy feeling (which I assumed was some stool that just didn't come out). There was a tiny dot of what looked like blood on the tp which freaked me out although I know in theory that could happen. I soaked a while and then slept almost 10 hours! I woke up today generally down and with more irritation in the skin tag area than I have had in at least 2 weeks. I am so frustrated- I would like to start walking but going to Costco and walking around the store resulted in a discharge or soiling on my undies that looks like a tiny bit of blood mixed with stool. So I soaked in the tub and when I would sit on one side, it was an "ouch" moment. Got out and looked up there- there is a little loop of what looks like gold thread sitting right by the skin tag site- so I wonder if anyone else has had this increased irritation and a little bleeding when the stitches start coming out or dissolving or whatever. I am hoping this is part of a healing process and not a setback. In the bathtub, I found myself just paralyzed with fear and like I just couldn't face another setback. I know I can, but for a second there I just felt that I can't face another thing moment. Sometime in the next week is the one year anniversary of this current fissure crisis, which I think colors my thinking. I can and I will tackle what needs to happen. But has anyone had any similar time during the healing after LIS and skin tag? Did you notice stitches or thread at any point and did it cause a little bleeding when it came loose? The other weird thing I have noticed today and once before a week or so ago was something floating in the tub with me. It almost looks like a tiny piece of pencil shavings- a tiny piece of tan material about an 1/8 to 1/8 square that is rather stiff. Is this something from the surgery site coming loose as well? I noticed the other piece about a week ago floating near me in the tub.
Thanks-
Bambi

Hi Bambi - Sorry you had a down day and that moment of panic in the tub. I know that feeling too - been there, done that!
I can't answer your question in relation to the LIS, but my own recent experience tells me that my own fissure is rather fragile, and therefore leads to the ups-and-downs - much more than I realized before. Especially when you think you are in the healing phase. Three BMs in a day (no matter how soft) would be enough to re-injure me. Are you maybe taking just a touch too much miralax?

Bambi,
If I saw a stitch hanging there, I don't know what I might do, but I'm afraid I would want to pull it. How irritating.
The only way I can relate to this right now, is that something similar happened after my sinus surgery. I'd say it was about a month afterwards, and I was not feeling any better. I was sneezing constantly and dealing with pressure and feeling like I had an infection. When I saw the surgeon, he noticed several of the stitches hadn't dissolved away like they were supposed to.
This caused a foreign body reaction, and all the sneezing and swelling. It did take awhile to calm it all down.
Maybe just give things some more time?

Thanks so much for your answers. Bumbutt- I am gradually reducing my Miralax. I went up to a little over a half dose in the evenings after the surgery, and now I'm back down to 1/2 dose (2 teaspoons). Still, I find it very confusing. Like today, after I've reduced down by 1/2 teaspoon over the past few days, I had a firmer morning BM- not hard, but a little scary when you have been pretty soft. I thought, great, I won't have that annoying, I have to go again thing in 2 hours, but I did. And then 2 hours later, I had to go again and it was just this little tiny bit. I went to the mall with my daughter and had to run off to find a bathroom because I had the feeling I had to go and I feel so insecure. Turned out it was just some gas, but who knows, right? Better safe than sorry has definitely become a motto for now. So I came home pretty annoyed and down. And that area is still acting up today- a little tiny bit of blood and it just looks inflamed to me. I don't have a fever or anything.
Alpine- that's a little of what I wondered about. I have never had stitches elsewhere so I wasn't sure. But I also would not put it past my body to have that kind of a reaction. Sometimes I think I have some undiagnosed auto-immune thing. I tend to become allergic to things (like the sun on first exposure) and have an allergic past to some things. And it feels like my body will easily get stirred up and turn on itself.
I plan to reduce the Miralax down a tiny bit more tonight, but I'm almost afraid to. It seems that the firmness level went up, but the frequency did not.
I still wonder if I should go back to experimenting with the fiber supplements. Metamucal didn't go well months ago and Citrucel was ok. I have not tried Benefiber yet. Maybe that would help things be still soft while I'm reducing? I may ask a separate question in the supplements section about this.
Thanks-
Bambi
I really feel like crying- I am just ready to be over with it, but I know it is a longer road than this!