Hi gang,
Well, overall, things have been going pretty smoothly. I have been getting my 25 grams of fiber a day, working out at least 3 times a week, and have been trying to drink more water.
But do you remember my doctor saying i might have a fistula???
Well...again, im really not sure.
There is just one piece of skin on the outside that hurts to the touch. It seems just a bit swollen.
Now heres the dilemma...
I just got new health insurance, but in order to go to any doctor (i.e. my crs) i have to go get a referral first....
also...
I am going to be heading down to north carolina on vacation in a little over 2 weeks...
So...should i go get it looked at...or do you think there are steps I can take to ensure that i dont anger my...whatever it is down there?
Are there certain things that will aggravate this thing??
Has anyone ever had their fistula cut open? What was it like? How long did it take you to recover? Did you go back to work right away?
I am brimming with questions. I guess i just need some guidance, and quick!
Thanks
Kate

Hey Kate-
Your vacation will take you close to me! I'm in South Carolina. I don't have a lot of advice but I am still wondering if that is for sure what you have. Do you think it could be a skin tag and is enlarge and swollen? I had a problem with that-it felt like a lump that was hard and distended. It got irritated easily too.
I think the best thing you can do when you travel is to try to keep to your routine as much as practically possible. Eat the same things, take your fiber, water or stool softeners at the same time like you would at home. Avoid spicy and citric acid foods as well as tomato sauces.
I am findng that aloe vera helps me with healing that area from the skin tag and irritation. I don't know if you might want to try some on it and see. You could also put some A&D ointment on to help protect it from friction from sitting and moving. I also take Aloe Vera orally. It is a mild laxative and also helps with soothing the gut.
I don't have any experience with fistula so I will have to defer to the other boardies but I do wonder if that is for sure what you have and it might be good to see the CRS just to make sure you know what you are dealing with.
Good to hear from you-let us know what you decide!
Lecia

kate,
do you find that the piece of skin does fluctuate in swelling to almost nothing and then to swelling later? if so, i am betting it is more of a thrombosed vien/irritated skin tag. it's a **** and comes and goes.
the worst part is when it feels like a hot poker prodding your ass!!!!!! this could go on for hours or for a few minutes.
definitely have an appt when you return from your trip.
these flare up parts of skin usually like warm/hot water compresses. it helps alleviate the pressure which then causes the irritation/burning feeling.

Don't want to scare you, but I had a painful "skin tag" or at least that's what the drs called it. Finally, after a year of the skin tag nonsense, I pushed on the lump pretty hard and out came about a tablespoon of puss from my rear end. Apparently the fissure was infected just as I had been telling the drs it felt. Well, the puss finally convinced them and they "opened" the abscess (read cut me from my fissure to the outside along the path of the abscess, you know to clean it out). Unfortunately, as barabric as it seems, this was the best solution offered. But at least, they gave me mega pain pills, which didn't help with the pain really, but made it so I just didn't care.
Anyway, as I said, don't want to scare you, but insist to you dr that the possibility of an infection be checked out. Believe me, the fissure, which I though was utterly excruciating, was nothing compared to an opened abscess in the same place!
If you have a fistula, there will be two (or more) openeings, at least one on the inside and usually at least one on the outside. If you do have one of these, insist you get a fistula plug, which is basically an antibiotic sponge that is threaded through the fistula and disolves. The added benefit is that both ends of the fistula are sewed up--stitches are a little annoying, but there will be no more fissure!! I haven't had one myself, but a plug just seems so much nicer of an option than flaying open an anal wound. Plus, you can always get the fistulotomy later if the plug doesn't work.

Thanks for the information. That is interesting though I hate that you had to go through that yourself.
I know from time to time people ask about fistulas so this will be a good reference for us.
Thanks for sharing your story!

Sure. Hopefully, it will help someone. It is amazing the lack of knowledge that medical professionals often suffer from, espcially when the proper materials are so readily accessible to them.

yes definitely insiste on a fistula plug for a fistulotomy.