Hi everyone! I'm home from my surgery now. I won't post much right now as I'm using my cell phone but I just wanted to let you all know that I'm done. Apparently all went well. Immot feeling any pain right now except when I walk I feel a very anal pinching sensation. My bum is still frozen though so I'll have to see what tomorrow brings! I'm going to have a bath tonight and maybe I'll take a look down there and see what the new landscape looks like. I will post the whole story tomorrow. Thanks again for all your thoughts, prayers and well wishes. I'm so glad that it's all over. So far, it's been WAY easier than I expected.

Good to hear Scaredy-butt! Here's to your speedy recovery...

Glad it's over with for you! Hope your recovery goes well :)

Glad to hear it went well scaredy-butt.For a scaredy butt you sure are brave taking a look down there after surgery :) .Had a different kind of butt surgery myself and I was not brave enough to look at my own butt afterwards

awesome scaredy_butt!!!!!
i hope you had a good nite's rest and if you did check your booty out, i hope it didn't stress you out.
i haven't even wanted to see what mine looks like but by day 2, i did want to take a "feel".
if you had 2 or 3 skin tags, you probably have swelling - i only had 1 skin tag but my CRS cut a lot of skin out in all different places.
i can say a week out for me, i am about 85-90% swollen-free. which is remarkable.
happy recovering!

Ok, here's the story. Checked in at the hospital at 1:30. Registered and was sent upstairs to wait. Waited there for 10 mins or so and was called in to another room where a nurse gave me the lovely gown etc. to change into. Low and behold I discover that I've started my period as I'm getting changed. Wasn't due for another 2 days, but apparently mother nature or stress decided otherwise. Got changed and waited another 10 mins or so. Overheard that my surgeon was the only one running on time! Was taken in for pre-op stuff, weight, BP etc and then sent into another waiting area. Waited there for a long time, and it was cold in there! Finally someone brought me and the other 4 people waiting there a warm blanket. Was finally called in after probably an hour or so. Hopped on a stretcher and was wheeled into the hall outside the OR while they wheeled the person before me out, and cleaned up etc. I was talked to by the nurse, the Dr. and the anesthetist and was wheeled into the OR. Feeling pretty nervous about post op pain and waking up afterwards etc. My surgery was supposed to be at 2:50, but I think it was a bit later than that. Got an IV started, someone put a mask on my face and the next thing I remember is waking up in the recovery room thinking, "where am I?" Then I remembered what I had just had done. I had a hideous taste in my mouth, was a little groggy and my legs were shaking like crazy! That lasted about 15-20 mins and I started to feel better and better. I didn't have any pain at all except when the nurse asked me to roll over to check my dressing, there was a small pinching feeling. There was a long wait to get into the daycare surgery area where you get dressed and eat and stuff so I sat in the recovery room for 2 hours. I noticed that my BP had dropped to 75/35 when I first came out of surgery but the nurse said that's pretty normal becausse I was still sedated. I wasn't intubated during surgery, they used an LMA (which looks like a vagina on a stick if you ask me). I had asked about post op pain meds but the Dr. hadn't left a prescription for anything because for some reason he thought I had something at home already. The nurse gave him a call and he came and wrote a prescription for Tramacet. The nurse brought me some water and 2 Tylenol 3's. I still wasn't having any pain. Then she brought me a muffin and a juice which tasted like heaven after 19 hours of not eating! I peed on a bedpan (which was kinda hard to do). The pre-op nurse had told me I'd probably be out by 5:15 so when 6, then 6:30 rolled around I was thinking that my family must have been freaking out. (They were). Finally I was taken into the daycare area, given some ginger ale, and waited there some more. I had to pee so bad my eyeballs were floating so the nurse took out my IV and wheeled me to the bathroom. She told me to ring when I was done but I felt really good so I just walked back to my bed. She brought me my clothes, gave me my instructions and I waited for my hubby to pick me up. I think it was nearly 8pm by the time I was leaving. When we got home I had a bath and discovered that the pinching feeling was from a piece of gauze that was stuck to my anus. That soaked off in the tub. I had a look, everything was quite swollen. The skin tag is gone, but he left 2 other little areas that I thought he'd remove. I guess they aren't skin tags, just little triangular pieces of skin. Oh well. I took a Tramacet before bed even though I wasn't having any pain, I just didn't want to wake up in pain when the freezing wore off. I had a good sleep and woke up this morning still having no real pain. I can tell something happened down there, it just feels like a little burning sensation or something and only when I walk. If I'm still I don't feel a thing. I've been putting a gauze with some polysporin between my cheeks. There has been little discharge and I haven't had any leakage. I passed some gas last night, totally under my own control. Had another bath this morning and things are still quite swollen. I'm quite surprised at how little pain I am having. WAY less than the worst days of my fissure. Now I guess the next hurdle is the first BM. I have no packing so I don't have to worry about passing that.
When the surgeon talked to me after surgery he said that I was a bit tricky because it was hard to differenctiate between my internal and external sphincters, but once he found it everything was fine. He also said I had more than one fissure and that one of them was sort of off to the side which is uncommon. He said it looked pretty nasty. Nice hey? I am so glad that is over and it really hasn't been as bad as I expected. The Dr. told me to bath twice a day and after each BM but I am going to do it more like 4 times a day and after of course. Not sure if I will even need to take anymore pain meds. I'm going to take it nice and easy today, my dad has made a huge pot of homemade clam chowder and I'm looking forward to eating some of that!
Anyways, this is a pretty long post so I will sign off now, but will update as required!
WOOHOO MY LIS IS DONE!!!!!!!!!!!

That's brilliant news, I'm so glad everything went ok and you seem to be doing great, keep up with the bathing and diet etc and you'll be good to go.

Good to hear everything went well! dont stress to much about the first bm.

Yay Scaredy_Butt! Rock on with that new butt of yours!!
As Steve said take the baths and stick w/ the diet. Take it easy and stay off your butt :)

So....I had my first BM this evening. After much fanfare and false alarms (a lot of gas), finally it came. It was a bit looser than I would have liked. It didnt hurt on the way out, but has left that burning sensation I'm sure many of you are familiar with! My bum didn't feel any more loose than it did before, is it supposed to? Maybe there's still a lot of swelling since I only had the surgery yesterday. I know it's early but I can't help but feel a bit down about my results thus far. I'm ecstatic that my pain had been minimal but I feel a little upset about what was left behind. I was hoping to have all the extra skin removed, not just the one skin tag. I know I didn't have the surgery for cosmetic reasons but I guess I was just hoping to look a bit more normal down there. Oh well. I will be patient and count my blessings that I have minimal pain and that I have so far maintained complete control of my bowels. If in the end the fissure heals and I no longer feel like I'm pooping razor blades or that I might bleed to death, the surgery will be a success in my books, even if I have some physical reminders of the last 13 or 14 years right? I haven't taken anything for pain at all today bug I'm debating taking something now to help get rid of the burning. I bet an Advil would do although I might just go for the good stuff. Might as well, I've earned it! Night all, I will post again tomorrow! (Thanks for listening to my whining).