Hemorrhoid Surgery and PAIN

njftt,
I had stage 3 hems that would bleed and prolapse with each bm. I've had 2 ultroid treatments with decent results. The treatment lasts 10 minutes, and it hurts during the procedure, but afterwards I go to work but stay off my feet. The prolapse went away immediately, though I had discomfort the next 3-5 days, and some bleeding with bms, but nothing like the pain I've read on these posts. I still have more treatments to go since they only do one at a time, so I've been reluctant to say this is the answer, but I was in despair and this has improved my condition greatly. It may be worth it to contact the company and see if there is someone in your area that does it. Sorry, I'm not familiar with the fissure combo to comment on that.

I had my surgery on the 17th of march and spent the first 12 to 14 days swearing i wished i had never had it but as each few days have passed things have got better. I like you have had hemorriods for years but this eventually developed into a proplaspe as well. I would say now i am glad its done I do think things will be much better in a month already the pain has pretty much gone except for bowel movements. It nice to know as well that your butt looks vaguely normal Hurray!!!I would say if you have the surgery try to organise your life so you can do as little as posssible for a while. Pre op ask for an enema cos they didn't give me one and i think that made the pain and urgency for a bm much worse. Its horrible cos people dont speak abt this stuff and when your young you think you are the only one that has it so bad ....good luck what ever you decide :-)

hi guys, there are alternative way of getting rid of hemorrhoids. I've heard horror stories of getting hemorrhoid surgery done by surgeons even by those very experienced ones. eg. making wrong judgement and cut your anus away together with your hemorroids. you can imagine how the pain is like and how are you doing to do your daily toilet bowel after that for the rest of your life?
anyway, i've removed my hemorrhoids thru TCM way by this TCM physician:
I'm 37 and had 5 internal hemorrhoids! Costing me S$2500. So it depends on how bad your hemorrhoids is... he might charged differently.The first time he did is getting rid of the first 3 hemorrhoids, and few days later I had the other 2 hermorrhoids 'tied' and was told it will distached by itself. The TCM physician uses western medicine for pain killer thou... but his TCM method is basically tying some sort of specially treated herbal string at the 'root' of the hemorrhoids and leave it there till the hermorrhoids 'die' off by itself. He quite confidently proclaimed that none of his client come back again to him for hemorrhoids treatment.
He looks like 60++ and has 30-40 years of experience..
Is there pain? Well, the pain is bearable... but comparing the pain and inconvenient you going to suffer with those hemorroids.. it's small issue for me.
The duration required for the whole hemorroids removal treatment by the TCM physician is about 1week.
Anyway, you can sent the physician an email to check it out.

Hope that helps to end the misery you all are suffering from!

***edited by moderator*** web addresses not allowed

Opps.. didn't know about the restriction that web address is not allowed here.
Anyway, the clinic in Singapore is "tonyo medical hall". you can look for the address and contact in google.

Hope that helps.

My hemorrhoidectomy story is quite different than almost everything that I read. I read with horror some of the stories and the description of immense pain associated with this surgery. I had only one, prolapsed hemorrhoid. It didn't bother me constantly and with the descriptions that I'd read regarding this surgery I thought I just leave it there, until it started bleeding too much to ignore. I scheduled surgery with a general surgeon for May 11, but later cancelled. I got a second opinion from a Colo-Rectal surgeon on that same day. He suggested that it be cut out and that he would use the traditional scalpel/stitches. I prepared the best I could for the surgery by reading everything that I could here and elsewhere. I even asked my doctor about the pain medicine I'd get, if I could get Valium, sleep aids, lidocaine cream, antibiotics....... He gave me oxycodone for pain and valium, said the rest was not necessary. I had the hemorrhoid cut out on June 11. The ride home was uncomfortable and I took pain medication and went straight to bed upon getting home. That night I slept fine with the help of the oxycodone. On day 2 I had my first BM, it was painful, but not too bad and I had a hot bathtub waiting which took away the pain an allowed me to cleanse the area. By day two, I felt no discomfort at all when on the oxy, so I stayed on it for 2 days taking it every 4-6 hours if I needed it or not. On day 4 I started easing back on the oxy and only took it when I needed it, usually 1-2 times/day. By day 7 I was off the oxy altogether and only felt mild discomfort occasionally. By day 10 I was essentially pain free, even for daily BMs. By day 15 I was riding my 4-wheeler again, more comfortably that I had in at least a year. It's now a little over a month and I am so glad that I had this surgery. No more bleeding, nothing hanging out of my a$$ all day, not contstantly re-adjusting my seating position, and wiping down there is so much easier. From all that I'd read, recovery from this surgery was going to be hell, it wasn't for me, perhaps this is because I only had one. I'd also asked whoever I could about this surgery, all but one said that it wasn't very bad. Still, I believed what I read here and at other sites. If you're out there and reading this, please know that not all stories about this surgery are horror stories, mild discomfort is the worst I had and it wasn't for very long. I'm very glad that I had this surgery and very pleased at the outcome.

I am extremely thankful for this website and your candid posts! Reading all of your experiences after your hemorrhoidectomy operations have helped me get through recovering from the surgery. I am a 31 year old female and have been suffering from external and internal hemis for about 13 years. Realized back then that straining to get a BM out was NOT normal, and drastically modified my diet and exercise regimen to include at least 7-10 glasses of water a day and more fruits, veggies and fiber. Have had soft, regular BMs every morning but continued to experience hemis...maybe the damage had already been done prior to my lifestyle change. Several visits over the years to my colorectal doctor administering infrared coagulation provided short-term relief but they continued to haunt me. There were days I feared having a BM not knowing what kind of flare up to expect. Sex life was severely affected with my husband. Depression and anxiety became a daily routine for me.

One month ago, saw the doc again and after the exam, told me I had one internal grade III thrombosed hemi and one external grade II hemi and advised that I go through hemorrhoidectomy surgery. She was very clear on the post-op recovery process, repeating twice that the pain will be a 10 on a scale of 1-10. I carefully weighed the pros and cons and decided to undergo surgery. Filled my prescription for 40 Percocet pills, bought Fleet enemas (asked to administer two enemas one hour prior to surgery), Epsom salt for sitz baths, Tucks medicated pads, Colace stool softener, already had Benefiber in the pantry. Surgery was at 12:15pm with general anesthesia, 45 minute operation. Went home same day with no pain for the next 6 hours. Took a percocet as soon as I felt the pain coming on.

Today is day seven post-op and I will honestly say that this has been, hands down, that worst pain I've ever experienced in my life. Having said that, I am happy that I got it done. I'm hoping that after I fully recover, i won't have to deal with hemis ever again! Doc's office provided a very detailed brochure on what to expect during the recovery process. It was good but could've been better. It should've listed what you need to have ready PRIOR to the surgery and then list what to expect on a daily basis. I understand each patient has different types and grades of hemis being removed, but considering the level of pain and anguish involved with this operation and as much as this procedure costs (I have no idea, thank goodness for insurance), the doc should tailor it to each and every patient!!!
PRE-OP
-Take 2 weeks of sick days off from work. I only requested 1 week and am trying to figure out what to tell my boss at this point.
-Alter your diet one week prior to surgery by cutting red meat, high carb foods, and soda pop. Focus on cereal, salads, soups, fruit, oatmeal, water, fruit juices. I'm stunned as to why this is not included in the instructions from the doc's office. You body will need time to adjust to new diet and constipation could be an issue.
-Designate a bedroom with comfy bed and bathroom with a tub on the same floor for recovery. (I read on another post that he lived in an apartment and didn't have a bathtub to soak in after a BM - OMG, I would die without access to a tub! ) Test mattress and pillows, you'll be bedridden here for at least two weeks. I bought a 4-inch foam mattress topper two weeks before surgery on overstock.
-Have all your butt meds ready. The percocet is on the night stand. The colace stool softener and benefiber in the kitchen. The enemas, epsom salt, tucks medicated pads, maxi pads, underwear, extra towels are in the bathroom.
-Go out day before surgery and buy Fiber One cereals, plenty of fruit, veggies, soups, yogurts, prune juice, orange juice, mango juice.
-Have cable TV ready to go in the bedroom with on demand channels, playstation, books, telephone w/charger (doc's number is on voice dial).
-Have chihuahua (or similar cuddly animal) ready to go for plenty of reciprocal TLC.
POST-OP
-Drink as much water and fruit juices as you can tolerate. You have to do this and force it down if you have to.
-Take one Perocet every four hours with food. Stay on a strict schedule. I would say the Percocet and bathtub are the two most important things in recovering with the least amount of pain, followed closely by the stool softener, I take one in the morning and one in the evening. Start the stool softener the next morning after surgery.
-Start the bathtub with hottest water you can tolerate PRIOR to the BM. You will want to jump in there as soon as you are done with the BM because the pain is SEVERE, kind of like razor blades going up your body through your anus. Nope, I'm not going to sugarcoat it. But as soon as your butt hits that water, it's instant relief. I thought about having my BMs in the tub but since I take 5-10 baths a day, didn't want to get an infection.
You can't fear the BM. Lots of posts scared the bejesus out of me because multiple people were talking about being constipated and straining to get it out! I can't imagine the trauma and pain this would cause. Isn't straining what caused most people's hemis in the first place? I would do an enema or take another stool softener pill.
-Don't force the exercise. Your body is drugged with painkillers so going for a prolonged walk may cause more damage without you even feeling it. Yesterday (day 6 post-op) I took my first 15 minute walk with my dogs. It was great to finally get out of the house.

I'm not going to lie, the first 3 days were horrific but if you are mentally prepared for it and have all the necessities above at your fingertips, you can live through the recovery process. Shout out to my loving husband whom without, I might have tried to OD on my percocet pills on day 2. Good luck and best wishes for a speedy recovery to all of you having to go through this ordeal!

oh god, I wish you luck. I know the post-surgery drill, constant agony it's ridiculous. The worst part is that shortly after recovery, you will feel like you can do it all, but you can't. It's like a tease - your body may say that you are ready to go but you know that you aren't. God bless, I hope you feel well soon! :-P

Hemorroid Staple surgery:

Think its important posting this message as my experience has not been torture.

Originally I have some blood in my stool after a big night out and thought its no big deal so ignored the symptoms. Eventually it became worse stage 3 11 hour position and saw the doc after 5 year of bleeding.

To cut the story short I went on this same blog 1 week before surgery and went through emotional agony reading peoples experiences. Then I put one and one together and realised obviously people with bad experiences would blog it (eg % of total).

The worst I have experienced was not being able to pee 12 hours post surgery but then doc told me its due to LOCAL

I just had my hemorrhoid removal procedure done 6 hours ago. It feels like something is burning down there, not sure if it will get worse.... Hope not. I am very dreadful of this procedure after I read the story by the soldier Gust.... I hope, I wish, I prey that mine will be a bit better.........

I had this problem for a long time and once or twice a year after BM it would give me pain, but usually the pain will be gone in one or two days and I was back to normal. But the pain happened one month ago after a BM lasted two weeks and I decided to see my doctor. He told me I got a thrombosed H and sent me to a GI doctor.

I saw the GI doctor the next Monday, by the time I saw him the pain had virtually gone but I could feel the two lumps around my anus. The GI doctor took a look and told me he needed to open it up to get rid of the blood clog. I said it was fine as far as it is helpful. So he injected some local and numed it out and cut the H open. The injection was intensively painful, but fortunately it was short. After like 2 minutes he told me he could not find any blood clog, which means the thrombosed H won't go away. I was like disappointed. Then he told me mine is prolapsed hemorrhoid and got thrombosed and need a surgery ASAP. He did treated it with an electric devise and told me if it worked it would shrink the H in about a week, but not likely based upon his experience because my hemorrhoid is too big. He concluded that I need a hemorrhoidectomy by a surgeon.

I left the clinic full of desperation, and after about 40 minutes, I felt the opened hemorrhoid became very painful and the whole anus kind of falling down. It was bad, very bad!. I took the warm bath and apply the wipes regularly to control the pain and swelling. Then I felt like the urgent to pee but when I went to the bath room, nothing came out. The urge became so strong that I had to stay in the bath room, but still noting came out.

I called the doctor and told him this problem, he told he never heard of it before from his patients, and he told me if I felt really full I need to go ER to check, if the urinary there in the bladder is more than 250ml, it must be get out otherwise my bladder will be enlarged and the bladder wall would be thinned and could rapture. After hang up the phone I went to Web MD and found that about 20% of people who had hemorrhoid procedure would have this issue, and most of them will recover in 12 hours. So I waited and hopping my bladder is fine. After waited three hours I could pee a little, then a little more... eventually I could pee almost normally the next morning. It was not until the next day I could have a long urgent free pee.

Well, my hemorrhoid pain was bad the next morning, so I took the day off, and kept on the bath, wipe, etc. and in day two I had a BM, it was BAD, very bad and I had to immediately went into the bath tub for relieve. It lasted two days like this and in day three, I was much better and went to work. It became better and better in the weekend and I did not feel any pain in day 7, which is today and went to see the GI doctor for the follow up. I already determined not go the surgery after the pain from the GI doctor's procedure and will asked him for my electric treatment. NO SURGERY!!!!!

By the way we booked a trip to the Bahama but because of this issue, it had to be canceled and the airline really sucked, I mean they sucked in a lot of fee for the concealation.


Once I was in the GI clinic, the first thing he asked me was if I had contacted the general surgeon he recommended to get the the H babies cut off. I said I did but they scheduled it on Jan 4th next year. In my heart I did not want to see the surgeon because I knew it may put me into the hell for this Christmas. He asked me to wait and immediately called the surgeon. 5 minutes later he told me the surgeon was waiting for me!!! I told him I did not want to do the procedure and wanted him to keep treating me. He said it did not hurt to hear a 2nd opinion, and the surgeon had a lot more weapons for this problem than he did. He could continue to keep me using the conservative way. I read a lot of published papers, for the case like mine, the conservative way will not likely to eliminate the problem but could definitely put it under control.

So here I went to discuss my options with the surgeon. I waited about half an hour before the surgeon showed up. I did some research online about him and he had very good reputation. and I guess he treated many many H patients like me so he must be very experienced. He looked very nice and talked very nice. After a brief chatting he started checking my hemorrhoids. I felt very painful when he touched one, then he told me he needed some further check so he would put some local on me so that I would not feel too bad. Again the injection was brief and intensively painful, like a knife directly cut into your brain. Then he told me the hemorrhoid was stuck and he needed to do something. I immediately asked if he would cut it off now? he did not answer. He stood up and got a nurse in to help hold my but. Then after one minute I smelled the burning meat. I asked again if he was cutting it off. He said it was done!!!! I felt DEAD!

Then I started to ask for the pain killer, especially the Oxycondine. He said he I only need the level 3 pain killer not the level 4. I pushed again he told me he did not have it in the clinic if I really need I could ask my primiary or GI. I asked him to load more local on the wound so that it could last longer. He said it did not matter how much he load there because the effect of the local will only last 20 minutes. I thought I was doomed! Then I asked how long did it take to recover? can I work? etc? all silly questions I knew the answer. He smiled and told me if I felt OK I could go back the work any time!!! Then he told me to see him in two weeks!

I felt so bad and realized that I did not have much time to do anything before the pain starts to kill me! I rushed back to my company, send out a email to my boss explaining to my boss what had happened and asked for one to two weeks sick day. and quickly sent out a email to my collegues saying I will be off next week. Then I headed home hopping the pain will not cause me to drive crazily.


I came home, asked my wife to go Wallgreen for the prescibed pain killers. and immediately called my prim. The primary said the surgeon need to call the parmaucy to get the med. ..... OMG. so the surgeon lied to me! I knew I would suffer but .....

The pain is getting worse now, like a fire is burning all the time ........ not sure what will happen tonight, and the days ahead.... Never thought I would have such a Christmas......

Crikey I cannot believe he did that in the office and sent you back. Did he actually cut, or did he laser you or what. I had two laser treatments and went straight back to work, no pain etc at all. When i actually had the hemarroidectomy, i was put under.
I hope you are doing ok. Make sure to use a lot of sitz baths. Did he do stitches afterwards?
What country did you have this done in?

hi everyone,
I just had mine done dec14, and i am ok now, only after the BM is painful. the first 2 days was the nightmare, but it was because of me also, I didnt take Percoset. I had one at the surgery center and it caused me vomitting, I was so sick from it. So I only use tylenol extra strength every 6 hours, I used the sitz bath 4 times a day, and i love it, the only thing make me feel less painful. I have one external and one internal after giving birth to my son who is 4 yrs old now. It does swelling up and painful everytime I go to the bathroom so i decided to have surgery. So far it was painful but mostly just after the BM. Take couples hours to be normal. Just this morning I had my BM and I was screaming crying because it hurt so badly.i took meltamulcil, dulcolax stool softerner, didnt help at all. I only eat veggi now, no meats, no fried food, drink water like crazy. I drank prune juice a lot in my first BM, 2 days after the surgery and i had diarrhea after. But I did drink it again a day after, I go everyday and it's my night meare every morning. I am thinking buying Colace softerner t see if it helps.
I sent my husband out to buy Fiber one cereal, Psyllium husk, and I called my doctor told him the stool softener didnt work with me He told me to use Miralax, I took it this afternoon. Hope it will work tomorrow, I will use it along with my stool softener, prune juice and psyllium husk, just to make my BM soft. I eat lot of fruits, papaya is very good, it helps ur system. I even made my husband bought me a sprayer, the one that you can attach easily to any bathroom sink, I have a basic sink faucet. He bought it in Petsmart, it is called "Rinse Ace Three-Way Pet Faucet Sprayer".and it's such a life saver, I dont need to stand up and down or wait for my husband giving me the bucket hot water. I just sit on my sitz bath with Epsom salt, turn on the spray and here it is, the hot water. I sit there for full 20 mins and i feel like a person again. i regret i didnt get it earlier. This morning when i was constipated, i use it to spray hot water to my anus to make me easy to go.
I can walk around for a long time now, just panic about the BM, just sore down there, only hurt after BM. I bought a donut foam, but havent use it yet, I didnt feel comfortable. Hope everyone a speedy recovery. I feel I am not lonely with this now.

Today is day 6 for me and I am feeling ok, only Tylenol in the morning. I woke up at 6 am this morning because I was so hungry. I ate 2 rings of steam jam, drank a cup warm water, a little prune juice. Then about 10 mins I went. It was very fast, and soft, no push at all, it is just came out and I couldnt control it. I think the Miralax works, I will try to stop the stool softener. Only Miralax for now. I eat very little because of my BM nightmare.
I go everyday now. I eat lot of fruits like honey dew, papaya, very little apple, and I drink prune juice through out the day. I realize if I drink too much in the same time, it causes diarrhea. I took Miralax around 2 pm, i mix it with apple juice, I take metamucil 6 tables a day, and 2 full spoons of citrucel fiber. I also drink a lot of water. Half galon a day, I can see it is really helps.

I only feel pain after BM, it was soft but still hurt, I had to lay down for couple hour, so make sure take your pain kille before you go to BM. I am still in love with my sprayer, I use sitzbath 3 times a day with Epsom salt, I think i am healing pretty ok.
But I still see my H there, there is a new one it's getting big, I hope it will go away as everyone said.

I lived a living nightmare after hemmoroid surgery.Was sent home with a minimal amount of pain med. and was told stearnly after surgery there was going to be pain.
Screamed for seven days and the trauma from all the pain has brought on shingles.
I will never go through this again.

Hi there,

I know every person's experience of pain is different but, 5 days out from hemorrhoid surgery (plus removal of 5 skin tags) my experience is so markedly different from the posts on this page that I thought I should share my experience to give an alternative story (lest anyone be totally put off reading this thread).

Firstly, let me say this - get yourself a good, no great, colorectal surgeon. For those in Sydney, Australia, I see Dr George Orlay in Randwick. George has banded 3 hemorrhoids for me in the past but with a recurrence recently suggested surgery. He had previously advised against removal of the tags as this is, his words, 'excruciating' and only cosmetic but as I was proceeding with the hemorrhoid excision I figured I might as well kill 2 birds.

George left me with no illusions about the pain associated with recovery from this procedure, so I took 6 days post-op leave from work and basically cleared my calendar for a week. In the pre-surgical consult, the anesthetist (Dr Lander) gave me a prescription for panadeine forte (i.e. codeine) and agarol (a laxative). I followed him into the theatre, laughed at his joke and smiled as he put me under, knowing it could be my last for a while.

The surgery went fine (i'm told) and I woke in recovery feeling pretty good. George injected a pudendal (nerve) block during the procedure, which gave me about 6 hours of pain relief post-op. The anesthetist suggested taking panadeine forte as I started to feel that wearing off. My wife picked me up and within 3 hours of arriving I was on my way home, feeling pretty good about it all (even stopping off at the chemist to fill the scripts and to pick up some lunch - and fibre tablets).

As the afternoon wore on I felt the steady increase in pain, which was accompanied by a sensation of pressure and a dull pulsating in my rectum and anus. It is, to say the least, most uncomfortable (but quite bearable).

In what can only be put down to stupidity, I started taking panadeine forte as advised but under-dosed (1 instead of 2), which lead to a great deal of pain developing as night one wore on. I couldn’t sleep and after rolling around in bed for a few hours (you can’t get comfortable with this pulsating agony going on), my wife kicked me out and told me it was time for 2 more panadeine forte. Eureka!

I watched tele for an hour or so (still in a lot of discomfort) until the drugs kicked in and then went back for a fairly fitful night ‘sleep’. That was by far the worst night and by day 2, I was feeling much better. Conscious of the risk of constipation, I stopped taking codeine and switched to regular paracetamol.

A nurse from the day centre called to discuss how I was doing and I saw George again in his rooms that afternoon. All good.

The next step was a bowel motion. This came on the evening of day 2. The psychological fear of this far outweighed the actual pain of the motion itself (which was actually fairly smooth). It did take some doing to actually bring the motion down (and out), but I put this down to my colon being in a state of shock akin to a spasm.

Afterwards however, I was in a lot of pain. A lot. I showered, then bathed, then did a salt water wash. Nothing helped. 2 more panadeine forte and about 1.5 hours of (almost) writhing around on the sofa, and I returned to a pre-stool state. That was by far the worst point of my whole experience and again, can be put down to poor pain management. Before and after this point I was really doing fine. In a fair bit of discomfort to be clear but nothing like the agony described in some entries above.

I have a regular bowel motion routine and since that first stuff-up, have made sure I have had 2 panadeine forte well before the motion is anticipated. I say again, the motions themselves are not overly painful (although still take some moving about, sitting, standing, squatting, gentle pushing etc) but the after-effects have put me on my back each time.

So, today is day 6 and I am back at work tomorrow (though probably not a full day). I am still in some discomfort but walking around, helping cook dinner and just about to have a glass of wine after putting my kid to bed. That is to say, I am now almost fully functional. The only trouble I have now is putting up with the effect of the bowel motion but George (Dr Orlay) advised this was down to the removal of the 5 tags, rather than hemorrhoid excision.

I have kept a normal (healthy) diet throughout (no junk food but meat, vegetables, lots of salad, fibre but nothing pureed or mashed). I even allowed myself a single bottle of beer on night 5 to watch the rugby. I have bathed the area in salt 3 times a day (and after each bowel motion). I cancelled my diary and have an amazing wife who, up till today, has done absolutely everything around the house and left me laying on the sofa watching DVD box sets and satellite tv for the last week.

Best still - my hemorrhoid and skin tags are gone for good!

Cheers and all the best.

I have also had the H surgery, having internal and external removed. I was quite used to mine so I must say the pain after surgery is much worse than the pain I had before, but the itching is gone. :P However, after reading so many posts on this surgery, I am astonished by how so many people have suffered so much pain. Enough so that I probably wouldn't have had the surgery had I read up on it.

Granted, it's not a picnic but overall I am glad I had it done. My surgery was four days ago. This morning I am in quite a bit of pain but yesterday you'd have never known that I had it done. Strange. Could be because I have a baby that I have to pick up and carry, I might be irritating it.

I wasn't able to go potty right at first but since I am going and going - making up for lost time I guess. I went two days before a BM, but was waiting for that "I have to go RIGHT NOW" feeling rather than the "My tummy feels like maybe I might but maybe I wont". My doctor does want me to change my diet, which I am working on.

Anyway, the point of my post is to suggest taking Motrin every four hours, and very, very hot baths. A warm tub of water doesn't seem to do anything for me, but a hot one does. I need the water so hot that it stings my feet, but it sure works. Also, per my doctor, I am drinking Metamucil, drinking about (at least) four glasses a day with a heaping tablespoon in each. Surprisingly enough the orange flavor isn't too bad to drink - much better than the Milk of Magnesia (yuck). I do have some Norco pain medicine to take and take it usually at bedtime (otherwise for some reason about 3am I feel like I have knife in backend) but otherwise I am not taking much of it, as I don't need to become constipated from it to add to the problems.

Anyway, that's my two cents. I hope it might help someone else out there. Sitting on a hard chair to use the computer doesn't help too much either - the couch is way better. Maybe I will graduate to a pillow on the chair!

BTW, my surgery was with a general anastethic - this might be why I am not suffering quite as bad as others, perhaps the drugs lasted longer where my body could begin healing?