Haemorrhoids, haemorroidectomy and recovery.....my detailed accoumt

So it started 20+years ago, I started suffer from haemorrhoids, they were a pain in the ar5e but manageable. over the years they flared up on occasion, big time! I used over the counter creams and ointments which usually worked but the best thing I ever used was prescribed by the GP, Lidocaine!

Fast forward to 3 years ago, no matter what my dietary intake (major increase of fibre etc) stool softeners, laxatives, I still went between 4-10 days between bowel movements, this in turn made it harder to eventually pass the stools, which in turn aggravated the piles 😩 you can see my dilemma, I eventually had a colonoscopy which picked up the internal piles (which I didn't know i had) but made the consultant diagnose "slow transit gut" where as my gut (intestines) didn't contract as fast as they should, therefore my body didn't process food as quickly as it should, I was prescribed Resolor, which I have to say, was a god send! pop one of those bad boys each night and wake up the next morning to have a bowel movement! But the 17 years of straining had left me with the lovely marble sized piles 😬 which hurt like a Son of a gun at every BM but I put up with it, I was embarrassed, I managed 😞....oh how I wish I had had something done about them then 😒

fast forward again to 6 months ago, mid covid National lockdown, one particular day I had a BM but for unknown reason it was very loose, initially I thought it was great, no straining, no pushing, just out it came, I got off the loo with a little smile 🙂 but within 10 minutes I was in complete AGONY! a horrible dull, heavy pushing feeling from inside the rectum 😫 it felt like there was a bowling bowl in my bowel, trying to push everything out of my bum hole 😫😫, its lasted hours then faded... unfortunately every BM after that was the same, it was torture, when the pain came, I couldn't sit or lay, the only way to make it less was stand or walk but it was lasting around 4-7 hours before fading. I eventually rang the GP (still in mid lockdown so no face to face appointment) over the phone I was initially prescribed suppositories, I used them for a week, they did nothing, then INSTILLAGEL, ( little syringes of numbing agent), they were also fruitless.....I was at my wits end. The GP finally agreed to see me and examine me, (not a pleasant experience but when you're desperate....) she could see the extremely large external piles, which I've had years and come to class them as family and she could feel internal piles but nothing out of the ordinary. she saw how distressed I was at the pain I was now in after having her fiddle with me so wrote off to the specialist.

fast forward a month, I have an appointment with an anal specialist (thats a sh1t job) after I tell him all of the above, he examines me, he says with everything I'd told him he was sure he would find a fissure but hadn't, he had however seen my little friends (the external piles) but the only way to determine the cause of the pain was to "open me up" 😲 and investigate, he said it would definitely be either the piles or a fissure and he would deal with them accordingly. so my surgery date came, I was asked if I would prefer general anesthesia or epidural pfffttt like I wanted to stay awake while someone was fiddling with my bum hole? erm no thanks, knock me out and make sure its enough for the whole job thanks .... I woke up after the surgery, obviously still in cloud cuckoo land, the surgeon briefly visited, I said "what was it in the end?" he replied "those big haemorrhoids " ...then he left.....I spent that night in the hospital, high on morphine etc, i couldn't go home until I'd had a wee, which i did early hours am but i really had to focus to squeeze the bugger out. early next morning i was packing my bags to go home. Still full of analgesia I felt fine, a bit sore but I'd expected that, hmmm I though, this ain't so bad.........

so I got home, laid on the sofa and read my recovery leaflets, it would be painful to poo for a while but It would get easier...... that first evening, I had my first BM, now I wanted to try and delay it but I knew it would only make it worse, so I sat on the loo and braced myself.....it felt weird, I pushed but my body sort of took over and did all the pushing involuntary, first of all the gauze that had been left in there came out (it was only Google that told me this would happen) it was so painful i was physically shaking, I was howling so loud my neighbour heard me (I live in a detached house) then the softest of stools came, I hadn't realised that when stitching me back up, it would alter the shape of my bum hole 😮 it made the stools flat! After about 15 minutes I actually saw stars and thought I was gonna pass out but I was sure I'd finished. there was so much blood, I cried so much that night, in so much pain, the only pain relief id been told to take was paracetamol (can't have anything with codeine cos it causes constipation) and ibuprofen for the swelling, to my absolute horror after every BM i was in same position i was in before the dull, heavy dragging pain but it was intensified X5 .ever day for 8 days was like that, I was finding it hard to wee (still unsure why) but everytime I tried to wee, my body took over again and pushed a stool, I never felt like I'd quite finished but since found out, due to the swelling this was how it felt, I was in a horrible miserable state. I tried the sitz baths as recommended but couldn't sit comfortably in the bath and in honesty it still didn't make a difference. it got easier to have the actual BM, still hurt like buggery but not much more than it had hurt before the surgery, it was just the after pain, which lasted literally 5-8 hours so on days when I would need a poo 2-3 times, I was in constant distress. on day 8 I finally rang my GP, in tears , telling her I think the surgeon misdiagnosed me and he'd made my initial problem worse. obviously she was having none of it and told me to wait until my follow up appointment to stress my concerns 😒

THEN day 9, I woke up and as usual went to the loo, I had a BM and it wasn't quite as painful (still painful just not quite as painful) i got off the loo and it felt different, the heavy dull pain I was expecting didn't quite come, it was more like his baby brother, a bit of a heavy feeling but nothing that I couldn't cope with, I walked round the house in shock, the sun was shining through the window and i felt happy 😲....was this a fluke? whats happening, im not in hours of pain? that day I went out for a walk, I washed my car, I was in such a good mood it was all I wanted.

today is day 10, I woke up this morning, and had a BM, I was anticipating the after pain, I had a feeling I might have to pay for the "day off" yesterday bit nope! ! a little discomfort but no heavy dragging pain! its a bloody miracle! its still sore, there's still a little blood and I have had a few sharp spasms inside there somewhere but I'll take those over hours of pain any day, so the sun is out again and I'm wondering what I can do pain free today 😀😀

I hope this account might help at least one person, I googled the hell out of Google to find out whether my experience was normal but didn't find anyone who had had quite the same experience as me so if there are any of you out there, hopefully you can look forward, knowing that it WILL get easier .

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