Hey all. Just woke up from a long post-op nap, thought I'd post my experience so far in the hopes it helps somebody down the road. I'm a twenty-five year old male living in the US, with a fissure that started back in the beginning of November that gave me quite a bit of hell off and on for the last six months. Diet changes, analpram, and nitroglycerine didn't seem to be making headway, so I got a surgical consult in April and finally decided to schedule surgery that same month.
I had about two weeks to spend getting more and more worried about the surgery. I kept myself busy, since I've been mostly symptom-free for the past few weeks. I went ahead with the LIS because my surgeon and doctor were fairly sure that even if this current fissure had healed up (which it hadn't, turns out), this would most likely become a recurring issue.
I went in today at seven in the morning, very tired because I hadn't slept well at all last night, and was positively terrified once I got settled into the wait room with my partner. The surgeon was backed up with an emergency he had to take care of before me, so we had an extra hour and a half to sit and fret. Since I hadn't slept much the night before and my partner hadn't either (looong overnight shift), we just sort of curled up on the bed and drifted in and out of sleep. Had to take a fleet enema at one point, which wasn't anywhere near as bad as I expected, though every bit as effective. There were about a half-dozen times where I honestly considered trying to bail on the surgery, but with the support of my friends and family coming in on my phone during the wait, I managed to stay put and prepared.
When the nurses finally came, I can't lie. I was scared -less. They carted me to the OR, moved me onto the table, and my anesthesia crew immediately went to work talking to me and giving me something to calm me down. Didn't feel drugged or weird from it, just suddenly very relaxed and friendly. If there's a big recommendation I can make for you at this point - tell the staff how you're feeling and make sure they take care of you. After the initial calming dose (valium? not sure. . .), we talked a little more, I got moved into position, and the next thing I knew I was waking up in recovery. Didn't even start a pre-knockout countdown, I was just out. I honestly thought I wasn't done yet, like I had woken up or there had been a delay, because they'd done just that good of a job. My hips were somewhat sore from the position they'd had me in, but so far I haven't felt any pain.
They told me they had performed the LIS, a fissurotomy, and had found a small piece of tissue that they removed to examine further. I've been pretty groggy, and definitely a little dim-witted, but I think that's probably a mercy. Keeps me from overthinking everything I've been through today.
It's now about 5-6 hours after the operation, and I haven't taken the Norco (hydrocodone/acetaminophen) prescribed to me yet. A little nervous about the constipating effects of the hydrocodone on top of everything else they gave me during the surgery, but I think I'll probably take one soon just to keep on top of any pain that might be coming later. Just took some milk of magnesia to try and offset the pain meds. Aside from some pretty mild nausea, I can hardly believe I even had surgery today.
Anybody out there have any tips on when to start taking a look under the gauze, how to clean, etc.? I've read a bit about cleaning with just coconut oil, but different places say different things. And one more thing - a million thanks to all of you, for your experiences and your support to others dealing with this. Finding this board has been a tremendous help for me, as I'm sure it has been lots of folks. Y'all are the best!