A somewhat more positive story, 5 days post-op

Hey everyone,

First of all I wanted to say thanks to everyone who has shared their experiences here. I just stumbled onto this message board when googling "hemorrhoidectomy" the night before my procedure and I was very happy to read about what others had been through. It gave me somewhat of an idea what to expect myself - even though most of your experiences scared the hell out of me! :)  That said, I thought it was only fair that I log back on and share my own experience and maybe mine can put someone else's mind at ease before their own procedure.

First of all, I'm 29 years old and live in the United States. I developed hemorrhoids approximately 1 year ago and though they were a slight annoyance, they (3 in all) were all pretty small, external and non-thrombosed. They caused me some itching mostly (sometimes pretty intense and uncomfortable) and the occassional bleeding when having a BM. If I'm being totally honest, and since we're talking about bumps on our anuses I might as well be, I really wanted to have them removed for cosmetic reasons. Vain maybe, but it is what it is.

I had my surgery 5 days ago (Friday morning, today is Tuesday) with a colorectal surgeon in my area who has a very good reputation. Got to the hospital, registered, gowned, etc. Had to receive the dreaded enema which I wasn't really expecting but I guess I should have. Then, I was given an IV line and wheeled down to the OR. I elected to have general anesthesia as opposed to a spinal. Both were offered to me and even though I know the general carries greater risk I elected to go that route to spare myself the embarassment of having to be awake while a room full of people observed my behind. My surgeon used a harmonic scalpel for my particular procedure.

Woke from the surgery and wasn't really in any pain because the surgeon had injected a large dose of local anaesthetic which hadn't quite worn off yet. What I mostly felt was pain in my throat from the intubation and also the sensation of discomfort from the massive amount of gauze that was wadded up my rear. I was discharged with a sitz bath kit, some extra gauze and a perscription for Lortab/Vicodin (hydrocodone + acetaminophen, 7.5mg+500mg) and instructions to begin eating a high fiber diet and taking Colace stool softener 2x/day.

Over all, through the last 5 days I've got to say that my biggest complaint about the recovery is the constipation and the bleeding. I should mention perhaps that I have a very high pain tolerance so maybe that's why my experience hasn't been as bad as others', but so far I'd say I'd do it all over again if I had to. I didn't have my first bowel movement until approximately 36 hours after my surgery which led to some pretty bad bloating, and now 5 days later I'm still only having very small movements 2x/day which are very very firm (so much for the efficacy of the Colace). The pain when having a movement, though painful, is certainly tolerable. What I suppose I was the least prepared for was the bleeding. My surgical site bleeds constantly. I mean 24 hours a day. I have ruined more underwear than I care to count. And when sitting on the toilet the bleeding is bad enough that blood is actually dripping into the water and turning it bright red. I have a follow-up appointment with my surgeon in one week during which I'll ask him if this is normal, but I suspect that it is.

Anyway, just thought I'd share my own progress so far since I benefited so much from reading all of your posts. Good luck to everyone with your journey through this wreched affliction and procedure and if anyone has any questions feel free to ask them and I'll do my best to check back periodically!