Hi all
I thought I post my experience of advancement flap surgery as I could only find really scary stories on the web before my surgery. Hopefully I will have a positive experience overall and this will help someone who is going to have a similar procedure.
I went to hospital yesterday for this procedure and being in the UK it was on the NHS. Now the NHS is great institution but sometimes it does make you feel a bit like a piece of meat on a conveyor belt thru the hospital.
I hadn't met my surgeon before yesterday and he gave me precisely 2 mins of his time before the surgery and I didn't get to talk to him afterwards and there is no follow up appointment! He met me on the ward and described the procedure to me in front of about 10 other people who were in the room. He asked me to sit whilst he stood over me and just said that's what I'm going to do sign the consent form here! I know surgeons aren't necessarily judged on their communication skills but wow! Anyway the nurses were excellent.
When I came around after the surgery I must have had local anaesethic because I felt no pain in my bum at all. In fact the needle in the back of my hand was the most painful thing at this stage.
So they sent me home (eventually about 3-4 hours after I woke up) with a supply of ibuprofen and paracetemol. Plus some really attractive mesh underwear and linen pad thingys (a bit like muslin squares). There is quite a bit of bleeding (hence the pads) and I can feel (I don't want to look!) stitches which start about 1-2 inches from my anus and disappear up my bum!
So far the pain is manageble and not as bad a fissure when it's really going for it.
Now the real tester is gonna be a BM. I thought I was going to have one last night but it turned out to be just water (I assume they flushed out my bowel in some way). Anyway that didn't actually hurt at all but the anticipation was agony!
I am sure I'll have a BM tomorrow so I'll post again about any changes in pain etc then.