Thanks Hope! I wouldn't mind if some aliens abducted me about now... and took me to a faraway place where everyone's bodies are transparent and no scopes are ever required ... oh yeah and no one has an anus, so no fissures either. One can dream eh?

Hey - there's a colorectal health commercial that has transparent people. That would definitely be very cool - kinda like the toy I had when I was a kid. Don't let the aliens take you. It might sound like a good idea, but I'm thinking my Dr. Death is maybe from a planet of evil aliens, so you're probably better off here. :D

Hey Em! It really, really sucks that you are still in pain and struggling! :(
The Mayo sounds like the exact right place for you. You really need and deserve a good doctor who will commit to you and help you come up with a solution. Looking into pelvic floor disorder is not a bad idea either. There have been a few boardies here who have had that problem and getting the right kind of therapy did help. Please don’t delay too long getting the right kind of help. You really deserve to get good medical treatment.
I’m glad you are enjoying the summer in your lovely place. I hope you’re having a good day today.
Elphie - thanks so much for your good wishes. Wow - we are a bunch of geeks here, aren't we? :D
I've just finished with the pre-op assessment, so now I'm just waiting for Monday. Starting to get a bit jittery, but I'll do my best to keep myself distracted over the weekend. I'm not allowed to eat or drink ANYTHING after 10am on Monday (no water, not even a breath mint!). That'll be a long day! Oh well, so it goes. My butt kinda hurts, but mostly I'm just focusing on keeping the dooms-day thoughts away. I've got a bunch of good movies, so that should help.
I hope everybody is doing well today. :D

hope, please *please* don't stress/obsess about it. Trust me, it WILL be such a breeze. Just think that you will not feel a thing and sleep through it then wake up and be done. Presto!
Strange though you're not allowed to drink water. I had the surgery at 8am and was told I can eat the previous night and drink water whenever I wanted. One hint: when I was in the pre-op room (where they give you the sleep shot) I asked for some water and they actually have some vials of salt-water that they can drip under your tongue. It seemed weird to me at the moment, but they gave me two and they really quenched my thirst.

Thanks for the reassurance, Dexterdude! It is a very good thing that I will be out for this surgery - unlike my LIS! I have to keep reminding myself that this will be a much better experience.
Thanks for the tip about the salt-water. That is strange ... but it's good to know. I think I'll be pretty thirsty (and hungery!) after 5 hours with no food or fluids.

That's great you've got the pre-op over with Hope - one step nearer to getting it over with!
The time after surgery will go so fast, and you'll be groggy from the GA. And they'll take care of any pain you have while you're in the hospital. Then, once you're home, you'll have some strong pain-pills, so it will all be fine! And then you can just rest and concentrate on getting better!
Easier said than done, but try not to panic - it's not that bad!

Oh right, I forgot about the post-op pain, they really do help with it in the hospital. As soon as I came to (and for me it looks like it was a mild ga, as I didn't feel groggy at all, quite refreshed in fact) the first question was "from 1 to 10, how much pain do you feel", i said something like "3-4", then she immediately put something in the IV and in about 30 seconds the pain was totally gone. I almost laughed out loud right there :)

I think it's a wonderful experience coming round from the GA with a numb-bum - absolute bliss after all the pain - until it wears off, of course!

Yeah! Pain meds sound great! I like that idea :D
It is good to know that I'll get lots of good drugs in the hospital. Being groggy and laughing sound good to me - maybe I'll get to be both! The nurse today told me to take whatever pain meds are offered when I am in recovery because the butt numbing wears off. I'm pretty sure I'll happily take anything anybody offers me! I'm actually a real whimp :)
Wouldn't it be nice if we could get long-lasting butt-numbing done at the docs?

You know, I wonder why someone doesn't invent something like that for us.
Perhaps we ought to do the inventing....hmm?