Hi Guys!
Just to share,
I am 42 yrs old, male. For the past 4 to 5 months, I felt so depressed, sad, cried a little, like having menses everyday, literally (a man wearing sanitary pads!), asking why me? why me! why there?! the term "pain in the arse" gives a whole new meaning to my life....and losing my job during this period really sunk me to a new low....but luckily I got a supportive wife and parents, it helps a little, but I still need to put up a brave front.
My Story...
I had my anal abscess lanced open and seton inserted on the fistula tract on February'12. After 6 weeks, I had another surgery to remove the seton and had a fistulotomy. After 8 weeks post fistulotomy, I went to see my CRS, he says everything is healing up, but still left a very small opening (a diameter of 1.5mm) which is like red open wounds, near to the anus which is still healing and having some discharge. He explained that this could be my fistula healing is too fast and forms a granulation, instead of healing from inside out.
He propose to wait another month (that will be 12 weeks post fistulotomy). If the wounds is still discharging and does not dries up, he will do some minor scrapping to open it up a bit. Like some of the bros mention here, it will be less worse than the fistulotomy ops, no more packing. I give him the sad look, wanted to mention i lost my job and these illness is affecting my life, but I doubt he will care.
Just wondering, what is the healing time like? is 12 weeks normal? i hope i can be healed by then.
Cheers!

Hi.
I'm sorry for your condition, i'm in a similar one, but I can guarantee you'll overcome this problem. I know it's hard, sometimes I have will to cry too, but don't panic, forget bout jobs now, your health is more important than anything else.
I read that fistulotomy average recovery time is 8.6 weeks, that means 12 weeks is ok too, it's not out of range. Take it easy.
Cheers.

Thanks for your comforting words.
I'm crossing my fingers now. :D
looking forward to my favorite sports,cycling, if it is still not pain in the butt. haha!

Hello Everyone and those searching for a post fistulotomy answer,
My full healing time after the removal of the seton is about 16 weeks, for it to almost stops the damn discharge. so it depends differently on each individual, mine is a little bit stubborn...
Early this September, my CRS discharged me.
The whole ordeal from start to end is 7 months! oh gosh!
For those who feels like it will never heal, please be patient, the day will come, like what i have waited for that day.
i pray i will never have this again.
cheers!

Hey Fistulas,
Patience really is key in all of this, so hang in there. You will get there!!
I'm nearly 3 months post op after a straight forward fistulomy (with no seton) and I still get some discomfort in BM's but nothing too major. Everything feels loads better than it was pre op and it does take a long time. The fistula has healed no problem now (confirmed) and I'm feeling SO much better mentally with it all. It's also been about 7 months from the start of the whole fistula issue for me too...
Discharge can be normal for up to about a year post op ( reading through some of the older posts on this site ) but nothing to be concerned about. It eally depends on the original fistula/ individual etc. Fortunately, I had very little discharge so this is no longer an issue for me.
The CRS told me 6 - 8 weeks for complete healing, which retrospectively, was accurate in my case, but he didn't mention the internal healing aspect and that does seem to have taken much longer. From what I've read of others accounts, this appears to be completely normal too!
Good luck and all the very best in your continuing healing. I too pray none of us ever have to go through this again !! :)