I gotta have heomorroid surgery

If you are anemic due to your internals bleeding I would not delay at all if you can avoid to. I was severly anemic due to my internals for over 6 years. I had a 4 pint transfusion 6 years ago and was still afraid to get the surgery. I finally went in a few months ago after continual bleeding over the years (not spotting but streaming blood, prob a 1/2 a cup or so each time, sometimes more, before I could get it to stop, from the internals after patting / wiping with flushable wipes). Went in and got my blood levels checked (Hemoglobin / Hematecrit) in Feb and the h/h levels were around 55% of what they should have been. I have been fatigued and my chest has hurt most of the last 6 years. When I recently read that almost half the heart attack sufferer's are anemic and that anemia increases your risk by almost 50% I finall got scared enough to find a Colo / Rectal surgeon. Thankfully my referred doc's staff got all the insurance approvals done in a matter of days and got the surgury sheduled within a few weeks of the first exam he did. He also did an edoscopy and colonoscopy an hour befor the surgery, he wasnt entirely convinced all of my blood loss was due to my internals and said only like 3% of people with internals bleed severe enough to be chonic anemics. Both scopes came produced no signs of any other issues (thank goodness) and so I guess I was part of the unlucky 3%.

Had my surgery on March 9th 2012, He removed 3 internals and one external (cut and stiched as Ocean mentioned above). 1st week was hell, I wont lie, it was horrible the first 4 or 5 days. Second was better.. 1st bowel movement was pretty bad and mine was loose.

I 100% agree with Ocean above.. fiber, fiber and more fiber. I took Colace stool softener twice a day the first week and dialed back to once a day the second week.

I cant speak to the differnt type of fiber but can tell you that I ate Fiber-One cereal in the morning, two fiber choice chewable w/ probiotics in the afternoon / early evening and a bowl of the High fiber oatmeal (Maple and Brown suger), I ate a normal lunch and dinner around all that with no special diet beyond the increased fiber that i mentioned. I tried metemucel but didnt care for it and didnt seem to need it. I was taking vicodin 5/500's every 4 hours and 800 mg Motrin every 8 hours. Like clockwork for about a week and a half. I started dailing them back as soon as I felt comfortable enough.

Now 5 weeks later I am pissed at myself for not getting this done years ago. The BM process is so much faster and easier now, no more bleeding, no more lumps hanging out after. Almost smooth as a babies bottom again. It still itches around the area for now (still healing), but worth all the recovery pain I think. First few BM's suck pretty bad for sure. BM cycle went like this.. BM, wet wipes to pat the area only (no wiping), straight to hot shower to soap and rinse area, then stright to tub soak for at least 20 min or more. after the first two weeks you can probably get away with just the wet wipes only. You will have to play it by ear. You will notice the area to be swelling and painful to touch (patting after BM), kind of wierd like you almost have new small hemorrhoids you didnt have before, this should be normal post op and will start to reduce and mostly go away after a week or two (maybe 3?).

I was actually glad I had it done at my 2 week follow up which kind of surprised the Doc. Hope this info will help you decide one way or the other. Dont let the pain scare you from doing it, yes it will be very painful especially the first week, but it is worth going through.

My biggest advice is to find a good Colon and Rectal specialist / surgeon that has several years experience. Reseach what you can about them for complaints, you may not find much if anything but its worth looking for.