So, I saw my CRS today, the anxiety was killing me, so I am glad that I finally know that the problem is exactly. First off, the CRS was WAY more gentle in his examination than my GP was! My GP forcefully spread my cheeks and I went home with blood filled underwear! Anyway, what the CRS told me today was that I have a fissure as well as a fistula. He said that the fistula was fairly small and that the fissure is what is giving me the pain/bleeding etc.. he also said it's infected and there is a bit of pus. He told me that I would need the surgery in order for it to heal as it's chronic at this point. I was hoping I wouldn't need surgery... but he said the success rate is extremely high and that the pain afterwards isn't too bad, he also told me that most people say the worst pain post-surgery isn't near the pain that their fissure was at its worst. So, at this point I just need to schedule my surgery... I'm hoping to schedule it at some point in the near future for like a late week date, maybe a Thursday as I don't want to have to take off too much time from work. It seems like most people here have said that the recovery time is fairly quick? I also think I want to request the CRS that examined me to do the surgery, as he has been there for over 30 years and seemed like he really knew his stuff. Any tips etc.. I'm all ears. Thanks guys.

You're making the right decision. LIS is a snap for most people -- I had mine done on March 30 for a chronic fissure, and the fissure has not given me so much as a peep of trouble ever since. I could have gone back to work within four or five days, I'm sure, but I took a total of ten days off before I ventured back. LIS was the best decision I ever made.
Don't be scared of the surgery -- one minute I was falling asleep, the next minute I woke up in the recovery room and felt very numb. I didn't start to feel any discomfort until late that night (felt like I got kicked by a horse, just a bruised feeling), but by the next morning, I felt fine, and got through the day with only a couple of Ibuprofen. Good luck, bro!

Hey fissurepaingy, what a sigh of relief that you finally found out what was wrong. Sorry that you'll need surgery, but a chronic fissure and fistula are things to only get worse without the surgery. The fact that you caught your fistula early, as I did, is also great - that should help with less pain and faster recovery.
I'm not experienced with lis, who knows, I may be in the next month or so as I don't know if my crs seen it, but I know after my fistula surgery, it felt better as soon as I left the office. Bm's also felt better right away.
Just make sure before and after the surgery, you have clear directions of how to take care of yourself, like ask how to clean yourself - showers or baths and how many times a day, with soap or without, and ask about how to clean the fistula wound, it's quite tricky. Also ask what to eat and more importantly what not to eat. I know for sure they'll tell you no coffe or tea or spicy foods for sure, but what else.
Good luck with the surgery! The sooner the date the better!
And if you're going to get the sleep gas, at least you won't feel anything!

Good Luck and I think you have made a wise decision to get your surgery! I second Matt- best thing I could have did! I would get the date ASAP and get the fistula taken care of!
Just keep doing all the smart things you do with your fissure to keep the bm's soft after surgery and it should be just fine. :)

Thanks for all the advice guys. Had a bit of a bad episode yesterday... The other day I guess I got a little over-confident because things were feeling good... so I stopped my fiber supplements and stool softeners... well I guess that stopping them so suddenly was not a good idea! Yesterday morning I had horrible constipation, a lot of blood in the toilet bowl, as I had to strain to get out the BM. Immediately took a sitz bath to try and cool it all down... Had to take the day off from work. Anyway, a little later I had to go AGAIN, and I had eaten very spicy food the previous day, so it just went over what was already irritated and it burned so badly that I felt like screaming in pain. it was horrible! So now I know to stick with the fiber mix 3x a day along with the stool softeners before bed, schedule my surgery and get the LIS going! I just want to be done with all this. It's painful and affecting my life and my work!

Dude, I went through that garbage for almost three years before I bucked up and got the surgery done. Glad you're taking care of it sooner than that!