I’m in Spring of year 1, so still fairly new to the game, but oh my goddd, does it get easier to make money? I’m desperately trying to save up $8K to get the mill and it’s such a grind. 😩 Please tell me it gets easier!
I’m 11 days post op and fairly certain I have a fissure.
Fissures led to me having an LIS procedure in March. Scar tissue and a skin tag led to bacterial build up, which created an abscess and the fistula tract, which led to surgery at the end of May. Now, I think the forceful coughing from my post-op pneumonia paired with the wiping of the drainage has led to a fissure while I’m healing after surgery. 😩😭
Has anyone struggled with this? I’m so tired of this vicious cycle!
Also: when I’m coughing, I feel a bulging sensation in my perineum area. Could this be a pelvic floor issue or just a weak sphincter muscles issue from the LIS and subsequent fistulotomy? Im 35/F, if that matters. Thank you!
You’re right: me.
I’ve never been quite as humbled as I have been this week, when I’ve coughed so hard that weak post-op sphincter muscles cannot hold in the gas, so it just rips out (painfully, might I add) with every cough.
I thought the surgical site infection and c diff I had after my LIS surgery in March were bad enough, but -2/10 recommend any illness that has a forceful cough when you’re attempting to heal from a butthole surgery.
Sigh.
Hi! As the title states, I’m 7 days out from surgery. I had very little pain the first 2-3 days, then pain increased between days 4-7, but mostly surrounding BM. It seemed to be more anal spasms pain connected to the heavy bruising and using those muscles than anything else.
I’m also sick (think I caught a cold or something at the hospital) so I know that is making me feel lousy on top of recovery. Cough, body aches, chills, a small fever for one day, but nothing since then thankfully.
Anyway, the first few days I had some stool leakage and what I would think is normal drainage. The last two days, I’ve had just slight, light green/yellow drainage. It looks exactly like the drainage I had when my abscess first burst and the fistula tract was open. I was never given antibiotics for the abscess, nor did they debride the abscess originally. I know the surgeon did debride the area during surgery, though. Is it normal to have the same kind of drainage or should I call my CRS and see about an antibiotic?
I’m only two surgeries in, and I’m honestly just already mentally exhausted by it all. And maybe it’s because my first surgery recovery was so awful, but I’m terrified of the idea of something being wrong this time around and needing another surgery. I don’t know, it seems silly but in my head calling my surgeon feels like admitting there is a possible issue, and I just don’t want there to be an issue. I just want to be healed and be over it.
Sorry for the long, whiny ramble. I’m feeling rather blah and puny today.
Hi! I (35/f) had a fistulotomy yesterday under general anesthesia.
From doctor notes: Posterior hypertrophied anal papilla excised. Right posterior external os with radial track to the distal portion of the anus with internal os distal to the dentate line. Superficial fistulotomy with minimal division of sphincter muscle.
He said he cauterized the papilla and curetted the tract before also cauterizing it to help with healing. I am—knock on wood—not in a lot of pain. Just tender and a little sore. He specifically stated that this recovery would be worse than the recovery for my LIS back in March, which freaked me out because that recovery was brutal. He specifically said not to sit on my bottom, so I’ve been avoiding that right now, but I’m already up and able to move around and walk some, which I couldn’t do at all after my first surgery.
I haven’t had a bowel movement, but it also hasn’t even been a full 24 hours yet. I am taking MiraLAX and Benefiber, and drinking plenty of water. I assume I’ll liking start hurting more once I pass stool and the burn scabs come off. I have been doing sitz baths and using a peri bottle just for sanitation.
Did anyone get lucky and not have a bunch of pain after surgery? Or did it just take a few days before it kicked in?
I’m extremely glad that it was just a superficial fistula and I’m hoping there are no complications.
Thank you!
Hi! My surgery is next week. Unknown what type of surgery I’ll have. I thought I was having a fistulotomy based on the conversation with my surgeon, but I was reading over visit notes and it states that setons might be placed depending on the complexity of the fistula. We bypassed the MRI and he decided to go straight to surgery to see what was happening in there, so I have no idea if it’s simple or not.
Anyway, I have some days that are decent and some days where I’m so sore I’m bed bound right now. But it always hurts if gas attempts to push through it when I’m having a BM or just passing gas, so I always hold a wipe to my rear end to hold the fistula closed. Does that painful sensation go away after surgery? Or at least get better?
Hi! I have surgery scheduled in two weeks, but am still in that weird healing/draining limbo of the abscess/fistula. Does anyone know if we are allowed to swim in our own pools at home? I didn’t think to ask my surgeon at my appointment this week. All I do really is float rather than swim.
Thank you!
I’m 35/F, born to a mother that was a hoarder and was never taught how to clean.
I taught myself how to clean when I had a baby at 19, but never learned cleaning habits, so I struggle to maintain a clean house. Now, our house isn’t horrible my any means (granted, my standards may be different than most—see again: mother was a hoarder), but I fall behind on dishes, only do laundry once a week, sweep/mop once a week, etc.
And I HATE cleaning. I despise it. It exhausts me and feels like an all day chore. I want to get into the habit of doing some things every day so that I’m not spending my weekends cleaning, but I struggle to create chore charts or build new habits. And I know I’ve done a shit job of instilling cleaning habits in my own child, just like my mom did to me. It sucks. I feel like I’ve failed them.
Just for example: our living room is clean, as in no items or trash on the floor or coffee table, but it’s dusty and needs to be swept and mopped (we have three dogs, so dog fur) so my OCD brain sees it as filthy. Our kitchen is similar. The sink has dishes in it, and our kitchen table has books on it from where I started a project (removing paint from the credenza; added the stripper, stripped it, but haven’t sanded it down to restain. Started two weeks ago 😫) and never finished, but again, my brain is screaming at me that it’s filthy because it’s not perfectly spotless but I’m stuck in this weird limbo where I still can’t do anything about it sometimes. Does anyone else struggle with this? It drives me CRAZY.
Sorry for the ramble. Just looking for advice or suggestions or someone that deals with the same issues.
Saw my surgeon yesterday and am scheduled for a fistulotomy on May 26th. He said to expect to be off work for about 5 days. Does that sound right? I only ask because my recovery for my LIS procedure was three weeks, and that seemed like a less invasive procedure. I ended up having complications (thus the fistula) and am still out of work, but that’s another story.
Just looking to gather some expectations. I’m a 35/female, if that makes a difference. Thank you!
So sorry for the double post, but I’m almost positive I have a fistula (don’t see doctor until next week) and have some questions. I’m breaking it up into backstory and questions in case you don’t care about the backstory.
Backstory:
I had LIS surgery back in March. I ended up with an infection and c diff from that. I just finished my last RX of meds for c diff last week. During this time, I had been having pain off and on (mostly on) which made it difficult to sit + struggled with a feeling of intense pressure whenever standing. I also dealt with pelvic floor spasms throughout my recovery and that honestly made the recovery fairly miserable.
On Friday, I started having extreme pain when having a BM. It was a vastly different pain from the fissures prior to surgery. It began as an extremely sharp pain when my rectum would close after a BM. I initially thought it was intense anal spasms from the scar tissue because the tissue felt knotted up and hard. Eventually, the pain went from occasional to constant. If I wasn’t having the intense spasm-like pain, then I had a deep throbbing pain. The sharp, burning spasm pain even woke me up at night. When the spasms would occur, it was so intense and painful that it legitimately made me gasp and toward the end, it brought me to tears.
Early Monday morning, I had another “spasm” and something popped. Brownish-pink pus shot out. Then I had thick yellow-ish green pus. Went to the ER, but they could not even visualize the hole where the pus was coming from, nor did any pocket of infection appear on the CT scan. They sent me home and told me to call my surgeon.
Since then, the pain has decreased significantly. It hurts when I pass gas because it appears to be trying to come out of the unknown hole. It stings when that happens, so I’ve started holding a wipe to that area and applying pressure when I feel the need to pass gas and that seems to be helping. I’m also still having some discharge or pus, but as of today, it also seems like I’m leaking stool. I just feel constantly wet because of it and I cannot stand the sensation. There is also some burning pain that happens at random times, even when I’m laying still and not doing anything. It starts at my rectum and feels like it burns up to my tailbone. I’m running a low grade fever, but my surgeon told me not to worry unless it got above 101 Fahrenheit.
So, my questions:
1: Are cream or ointments beneficial? I have a plethora of creams from dealing with the fissures, just unsure if they’re helpful or a hindrance when trying to keep the area clean.
2: I’m doing sitz baths after every BM. Is there anything else I need to be doing? I have chronic diarrhea, so I’m in the bathroom 5-7x a day, and I’m already over sitz baths.
3: Do fistulas get infected regularly? From this forum it appears as though people have these for months prior to getting surgery. How do you avoid infection?
4: Once you get fistulas, do they keep appearing?
5: What is the difference in the surgeries? I looked up setons and they look painful and miserable. The recovery from the LIS was so horrible that the idea of having a constant, draining opening sounds awful. I’m terrified of going through a recovery like that again.
6: Do people ever require an ostomy bag to heal?
7: Is there a specific diet or anything that helps?
Sorry for the novel; I’m just overwhelmed and sad and ready for my butt to be healed.
Thank you!
I’m honestly terrified and hoping someone here has been through something similar and has advice.
I’ve been out of work since February due to severe anal fissures. I had surgery in early March, but I’ve had multiple complications since then, and now my doctors think I may have developed a fistula, which could mean another surgery.
The problem is my short-term disability already ran out because I had to use some of it last year too. My company only offers 90 days total. I do have long-term disability coverage, but it doesn’t kick in until August because of the waiting period.
My manager told me I may be at risk employment-wise since my STD is exhausted and I don’t qualify for FMLA (been there for over a year, have over 1250 hours total, but they do it by a rolling 12 months and because I was out last year, I only have 1150 hours). My STD benefits reset on May 25th, so if I need another surgery after that date, I should theoretically be able to file again. But I’m scared they’ll somehow hold these “uncovered” days against me in the meantime.
Has anyone dealt with this weird gap between STD and LTD before? What happened? Were you able to keep your job?
I’m especially panicked because I also have Huntington’s disease, and losing my health insurance or life insurance would be devastating. Getting new life insurance after an HD diagnosis is basically impossible.
I did have ADA in place for extra/extended bathroom breaks related to my stomach issues—which caused the fissures and subsequent surgeries—but don’t know if that helps me at all.
I’m honestly terrified and hoping someone here has been through something similar and has advice.
I’ve been out of work since February due to severe anal fissures. I had surgery in early March, but I’ve had multiple complications since then, and now my doctors think I may have developed a fistula, which could mean another surgery.
The problem is my short-term disability already ran out because I had to use some of it last year too. My company only offers 90 days total. I do have long-term disability coverage, but it doesn’t kick in until August because of the waiting period.
My manager told me I may be at risk employment-wise since my STD is exhausted and I don’t qualify for FMLA (been there for over a year, have over 1250 hours total, but they do it by a rolling 12 months and because I was out last year, I only have 1150 hours). My STD benefits reset on May 25th, so if I need another surgery after that date, I should theoretically be able to file again. But I’m scared they’ll somehow hold these “uncovered” days against me in the meantime.
Has anyone dealt with this weird gap between STD and LTD before? What happened? Were you able to keep your job?
I’m especially panicked because I also have Huntington’s disease, and losing my health insurance or life insurance would be devastating. Getting new life insurance after an HD diagnosis is basically impossible.
Hi! I (35/F) had LIS surgery back in March. I had a difficult recovery and am still struggling. On Friday I began having severe pain when having a BM. The BM itself didn’t hurt, but the clench when my sphincter closed sent sharp, stabbing pain through my rectum. I initially thought it was just the surgical tissue that was knotted up and causing anal spasms. Sunday hits and the pain is getting worse. I’m having to pee standing up because anytime my cheeks would spread—indescribable pain. My right cheek begins to swell and is sore to the touch, but hard, like it was filled with fluid.
Early Monday morning, I was in tears from the pain when I had an anal spasm and *POP!*, something near my surgical scar burst and released blood and pus. I end up at the ER because it’s 5am and I’m still in a world of pain. My wife had to drive me and I literally laid on my stomach in the backseat for the trip because I couldn’t sit down.
The ER does a CT scan and a manual examination but they don’t see an obvious abscess or any pockets of infection on the imaging. They give me pain meds intravenously and send me home. I follow up with my surgeon and he says to do sitz baths 3x and keep my appointment with him next Tuesday.
Since the abscess or whatever popped, the pain has decreased significantly. But now it hurts when I try to pass gas. I SWEAR it feels like it’s going through the small abscess hole. It’s stingy and makes a high pitched whistling noise. This is making me think I may have a fistula.
Anyway, what can I do to help keep it clean and pain-free until my appointment next week? I’m terrified of it filling back up and having the same pain I was experiencing.
Hi.
I had a partial LIS surgery on March 6th. Initial recovery was brutal—had an infection, still fighting off C Diff, the anal and pelvic floor spasms were near intolerable.
Now, almost two months later, I’m struggling with tense and knotted scar tissue. It’s caused a new fissure. The pain is slightly different, though. It doesn’t hurt during a bowel movement rather when I’m finished and my sphincter clenches to close. The sharp pain has even woken me from sleep when I move wrong or I clench in my sleep. Until about a week ago, I was struggling with full pelvic floor spasms still and unbearable pressure anytime I stood, sat, or walked. Now, it’s like the spasm is just in that tense scar tissue.
There is also an odd feeling of air entering or bubbling in my rectum when I bend over or lift a leg. Has anyone else struggled with that? It’s such an odd sensation. Not painful, just weird and uncomfortable.
I see my surgeon again next week, but I’m so hesitant to have another surgery because of how terrible the recovery has been. We are also supposed to go on vacation early June and I’m terrified that if I have another surgery, we won’t be able to go. We already had to cancel one vacation because of my first surgery, so we had planned it later in the year. I know missing a vacation isn’t the end of the world but we NEVER go on vacation, so this was going to be super special for my kiddo’s 16th birthday.
Has anyone else had to have a second surgery? If your recovery experience was poor the first round, was it better for the second one?
Thank you!
Hi all.
I developed C Diff after a surgery and antibiotic use. I did a round of Vancomycin but unbeknownst to me at the time, the pharmacy didn’t fill the whole RX. I was missing 10 pills. After I thought my 10 day treatment was over, I received a text stating I had an RX ready for pick up—it was the rest of my antibiotics. There was a 3-4 day lapse in antibiotic usage but I did finish the antibiotics. I lost about 20lbs in a month after surgery + the c diff.
Fast forward to last Thursday. I am given Difficid via the ER. My WBC count is slightly elevated, my RBC and hematoctit are low, indicating come anemia but not enough to need a transfusion. The other bloodwork shows markers for inflammation. All of this seems pretty normal for having c diff. Anyway, I have just been exhausted since starting the Difficid. I slept almost 18 hours today. Is this pretty normal for that antibiotic? Or could it just be a symptom of the c diff?
Just curious what everyone else’s experiences were. Thank you!